Cambodia
| Pros |
|---|
| Competitive corporate tax rates and significant tax exemptions for strategic investment projects |
| Extensive dollarization of the economy to minimize currency risk and simplify international transactions |
| Relatively open markets with few restrictions on foreign capital and business ownership |
| Cons |
|---|
| Pervasive corruption within the judiciary and bureaucracy to undermine legal protections and contract enforcement |
| Inadequate infrastructure and high energy costs to increase the overall expense of doing business |
| Weak rule of law and risks of arbitrary state intervention in private business activities |
Long story short: In Cambodia, official taxes are light, but everything gets negotiated under the table, from building permits to visa renewals. Corruption is the real local tax here, quiet and constant.
The upside: you can set up a company in three days, keep your dollars with no exchange controls, in an economy that's been running full throttle for a decade.
Other than that: decent infrastructure in Phnom Penh, rough everywhere else, a young but stable banking system thanks to the dollar, easy security in the nice neighborhoods, great food, and stunning scenery from Angkor to the coast.
Will your income be taxed?
Long story short: YES, FAIRLY.
Cambodia takes an intermediate 20% off personal income, paired with a residency test that leaves you alone.
You won't fall into the net by accident. But once you're in, the cut is no rounding error.
If you earn a year, you will pay .
Roughly effective, with a marginal rate of .
Will your wealth be taxed?
Long story short: NO.
Cambodia keeps its hands off what you hold. No capital gains tax, no annual wealth grab, no inheritance regime.
Your portfolio compounds in peace and leaves the way it came in; nobody's standing at the door with their palm out.
Easy to run a company there?
Long story short: NO.
Corporate tax in Cambodia is 20%, but the rate isn't what hurts. Misuse of corporate assets is a criminal offense; the textbook case is the French abus de biens sociaux: spend your own company's money on yourself and you can end up prosecuted, even as sole shareholder, because the company is a separate legal person and your consent means nothing.
And the registries are public: your name as shareholder, free to browse.
For an owner-operator, those two together weigh far more than the rate, and unlike the rate they don't negotiate. Run it clean and you're fine; run it casually and you'll get burned.
A good fit for a holding?
Long story short: NOT REALLY.
Cambodia is a structurally weak holding base: a measly 1 treaties and no participation exemption to soften the domestic layer.
Cross-border dividends get clipped at every step of the journey. Keep walking.
| Country | Status | Dividends | Interest | Royalties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| ∅ // no treaties match | ||||
Easy to come and go?
Long story short: SOME.
Cambodia taxes your worldwide income while you're resident, but at least the exit is free: no exit tax on the way out.
Leaving costs you paperwork, not money; your unrealised gains walk out the door with you, untouched.
Is your money watched?
Long story short: NO.
Foreign tax offices see next to nothing of what you do in Cambodia: it has signed few exchange frameworks.
But the corporate registries are public: your shareholdings and directorships are one search away for anyone curious. Invisible from abroad, on display at home.
Is it blacklisted?
Long story short: NO.
Cambodia sits on no major blacklist, though it's outside the FATF club.
Some counterparties will run a bit of extra due diligence out of habit, but there's no formal stigma: you won't get hassled for dealing with it.
Do you feel free there?
Long story short: NO.
Press freedom in Cambodia is locked down (RSF rank #161). Independent media and civic space operate under pressure (when they operate at all), and that kind of grip usually spills over into economic life too.
Small mercy: crypto isn't formally banned.
Connected to the world?
Long story short: POORLY CONNECTED.
The two rails that matter are both dead in Cambodia. Stripe won't onboard you, so card payments mean a foreign structure or a local processor with its own rules. Amazon doesn't deliver either.
Some secondary services run (4/11), but for an online business this is swimming against the current.
Other jurisdictions worth comparing
Picked by similarity of strategic profile to Cambodia. No editorial ranking — neighbours in the same scoring space.