Cambodia Rental Income Tax Guide for Foreigners 2026

Quick answer: Foreign landlords in Cambodia should plan for local rental tax reporting, withholding where applicable, and home-country income disclosure. Net yield spreadsheets must include tax, not just gross rent minus management.

Do foreign owners pay tax on Cambodian rent?

Yes, and the rate turns on residence rather than nationality. A non-resident landlord faces 14% withholding on gross Cambodian-source rent. A tax resident, meaning someone present 182 days or more in a twelve-month period, is taxed at 10% of gross rent instead.

Position	Rate on rental income
Non-resident owner	14% withholding on gross
Resident owner, 182 days or more	10% of gross
Basis for the test	Day count, not visa class
Deductions available	Limited; the charge is on gross
Who normally remits	The tenant or the managing agent
Annual property tax on top	0.1% of value above the threshold

Our analysis flags the gross basis as the detail that changes yield models, because a charge on gross rather than net means the tax does not fall when your costs rise. On a unit letting at $700 a month, the non-resident charge is $1,176 a year whether the management fee is 8% or 12%, and whether the unit sat empty for one month or three. Model it as a fixed deduction from the top line.

The charge is on gross rent, so costs do not reduce it.
Residence is a day count, not a visa class.
Net modelling sits in the net versus gross yield guide.
Home-country treatment is in the home country tax guide.
Visa classes are in the visa options guide.

What records does a foreign landlord have to keep?

Cambodian practice expects monthly filing by the 20th of the following month and five years of retained records, and the General Department of Taxation audits against documentation rather than assertion. A landlord who cannot produce the paper loses the argument regardless of the underlying facts.

Record	Why it is needed
Signed tenancy agreement	Establishes the rent actually contracted
Monthly rent receipts or bank credits	Evidences what was collected, not billed
Withholding remittance confirmations	Proves the tax was paid, not just deducted
Management agreement and fee invoices	Supports any expense position taken
Service charge and sinking fund statements	Building-level costs against the unit
Five years of the above	The retention period expected on audit

Our underwriting keeps the tenancy agreement, the remittance confirmations and the bank credits in one folder from the first month, because reconstructing three years of them later is the single most expensive administrative task a foreign landlord faces. The checklist item is to decide at the outset whether you or the managing agent files, and to get that in writing, because an agent who deducts without remitting leaves the liability with you.

Confirm in writing who files and who remits, before the first tenant.
Deduction is not remittance. Keep the confirmations.
Management options sit in the property management guide.
Lease law is in the rental lease law guide.
Tenant checks are in the tenant screening guide.

What does yield look like after tax?

The withholding is what separates a brochure gross from a bankable net. A Phnom Penh gross range of 5.22% to 7.4% loses 14 percentage points of the top line for a non-resident before management, vacancy or service charge are considered at all.

Line	Effect on a $700 monthly let
Gross annual rent	$8,400
Non-resident withholding at 14%	Minus $1,176
Management at 8% to 12%	Minus $672 to $1,008
One month vacancy	Minus $700
Service charge at about $1.50 per sqm	Building dependent
Remaining before annual property tax	Materially below the headline gross

Our analysis treats a quoted 12% to 15% gross as a marketing figure with no relationship to what an owner banks, and the arithmetic above is why. The buyer scenario that disappoints is the purchaser who compared a Cambodian gross against a net figure from their home market, which is not a comparison at all. Run both sides after tax before deciding the market is generous.

Compare after tax and after vacancy, or you are not comparing.
A 12% to 15% gross claim is marketing, not cash flow.
Yield workings sit in the Phnom Penh yield guide.
District variation is in the district yield comparison.
Occupancy is in the occupancy guide.

Should the manager file, or should you?

A managing agent can handle withholding and filing, and most foreign landlords use one, but the liability does not transfer with the task. If the agent deducts and fails to remit, the General Department of Taxation looks to the owner.

Arrangement	What you gain	What you still carry
Managing agent files and remits	Monthly compliance handled locally	Liability if they fail to remit
Agent collects, you file	Visibility of every payment	The administrative work, monthly
You do both, resident in Cambodia	Full control and lowest cost	Time, and the 20th-of-month deadline
You do both, from abroad	Control	Practically difficult without a local account
Nothing arranged	Nothing	Full exposure, accruing monthly
Agreement silent on the point	Nothing	The worst of the options above

Our analysis treats the last row as the common one, because most management agreements describe rent collection in detail and tax remittance not at all. The checklist item is a single clause naming who files, who remits, and who supplies the confirmations to the owner each month. An agent who resists putting that in writing is telling you how the arrangement will actually run.

Get one clause naming who files, who remits, and who evidences it.
The liability stays with you regardless of who does the work.
Management options sit in the property management guide.
Screening is in the tenant screening guide.
Lease rules are in the rental lease law guide.

Letting a Cambodian unit from abroad? We will set out the registration, the filing dates and what is withheld before your first tenant.

Sort the tax side

Buyer scenarios

Scenario A: Remote EU landlord. Manager collects rent; adviser files Cambodia and home-country schedules.

Scenario B: US buyer. FATCA and rental reporting may apply alongside local rules.

Closing verification checklist

Hire tax counsel before first lease starts, archive invoices from month one, and update net yield models with tax provision.

Risks, red flags, and what to verify

Non-resident rate assumed to match resident: withholding on non-resident rental income is higher, and it applies to gross rent.
Tax modelled after expenses: the withholding is computed before your costs, not after.
No registration for a let unit: letting creates obligations whether or not the arrangement is informal.
Home-country reporting skipped: the income is usually reportable where you are resident, treaty or no treaty.
Agent collecting rent gross: agree who remits the tax and keep the evidence that it was remitted.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages	Disadvantages
USD-priced Phnom Penh stock	76,000 to 80,000 units caps rent growth
2026 stamp duty window	capital gains tax on property from 1 January 2027 changes exit math
Strata path for condos	Quota bottlenecks on popular towers
ASEAN growth narrative	Thinner liquidity than Thailand
Payment plans on entry tier	8.9% banking NPL ratio completion risk
Growing expat tenant base	Legal paths vary by product type

When does this need a tax adviser?

Three situations justify paid advice, and the rest can be handled with a good managing agent and a spreadsheet. The cost of advice is small against the cost of a misfiled position that compounds across five years of retained records.

Situation	Why advice pays
Your home country taxes worldwide income	The interaction, not the Cambodian rate, is the issue
You hold through a company or trust	Filing obligations differ and multiply
You cross the 182-day residence threshold	The rate moves from 14% to 10%, with consequences
You own more than one Cambodian unit	Aggregation and filing complexity rise
You are selling after 1 January 2027	Capital gains at 20% of the gain
You have not filed for prior periods	Voluntary correction beats an audit finding

Our underwriting raises the third row with anyone who splits their year, because the threshold is a cliff rather than a slope and crossing it is often a scheduling matter. A landlord spending five months a year in Cambodia is one month short of a four-point rate reduction they may not know exists, and the same day count carries home-country consequences that need checking in the same conversation.

The day count is a cliff, and it is often within your control.
Home-country interaction usually matters more than the Cambodian rate.
Home-country treatment sits in the home country tax guide.
Visa classes are in the visa options guide.
The 2027 change is in the capital gains tax guide.

What to put in place before the first tenant

Four things, and all of them are easier to arrange before a tenant is in place than after. A landlord who sets these up in month one never has to reconstruct anything.

Item	Why it goes first
Written management agreement naming the filer	Decides who carries the monthly obligation
A Cambodian receiving account, or an agreed remittance route	Rent has to land somewhere traceable
A folder for agreements, receipts and remittance confirmations	Five years of retention starts now
Confirmation of your residence position for the year	Sets the rate at 14% or 10%
A tenancy agreement that matches what is declared	Discrepancies are what audits find
A note of the annual property tax at 0.1% above threshold	Small, and routinely forgotten

Our analysis has found that landlords who set this up before the first tenant spend almost no time on Cambodian tax afterwards, and landlords who do not spend a great deal of it later. The buyer scenario worth avoiding is the owner who lets informally for two years, then needs clean records to sell, and discovers the rent history and the declared position do not match.

Set the folder up in month one; retention starts immediately.
A tenancy agreement that does not match what is declared is the audit finding.
Banking sits in the bank account guide.
Repatriation is in the repatriation guide.
Furnishing costs are in the furnishing guide.

What does the annual property tax add?

Beyond the charge on rent, an owner pays an annual Tax on Immovable Property of 0.1% on value above a threshold of KHR 100,000,000, roughly $24,570. It is small, it is easy to forget, and unpaid balances surface at transfer.

Item	Position
Rate	0.1% of assessed value above the threshold
Threshold	KHR 100,000,000, about $24,570
On a $105,000 assessed unit	Roughly $80 a year
Who pays	The registered owner
When it bites hardest	At sale, if years are outstanding
Relationship to rental tax	Separate; both apply

Our analysis raises this mainly because it is the line owners discover at exit rather than during ownership. Several years of unpaid property tax is not a large sum, but it is a delay at precisely the moment a seller wants none, and a buyer’s lawyer will find it. Paying it annually costs almost nothing and removes a question from the transfer file.

The amount is small; the delay at transfer is not.
It is separate from the charge on rent. Both apply.
Full fee detail sits in the taxes and fees guide.
Closing costs are in the closing costs guide.
Exit sequencing is in the exit strategy guide.

What does a treaty change, and what does it not?

Less than most owners expect. Cambodia has 13 agreements signed and 11 in force, and most cut withholding on dividends, interest, royalties and technical service fees from 14% to 10%. Rental income is treated differently.

Income type	Typical treaty effect
Dividends, interest, royalties	Commonly reduced from 14% to 10%
Technical service fees	Commonly reduced
Income from immovable property	Taxed where the property sits, with no treaty cap
Practical result for rent	The 14% Cambodian charge stands
Home-country credit	Usually available; check your own rules
Markets with no agreement in force	Japan, Taiwan, the UAE among others

Our analysis raises this because the assumption that a treaty solves the rent charge is common and wrong. Article 6 of a standard agreement gives the source country taxing rights over immovable property income without a rate ceiling, so a landlord from a treaty country pays the same 14% as one from a non-treaty country. What the treaty may do is help at home, through a credit rather than a reduction.

A treaty does not cut the 14% charge on rent. Article 6 is why.
Relief, where it exists, comes as a home-country credit.
Treaty detail sits in the home country tax guide.
Repatriation is in the repatriation guide.
Net modelling is in the net versus gross yield guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Cambodia rental income taxed for foreigners?

Assume yes until counsel confirms exemptions and rates.

Do managers withhold tax?

Some do. Confirm in writing in the management contract.

Home country reporting?

Many countries tax worldwide income. Declare accordingly.

VAT on residential rent?

Depends on scale and registration. Verify with adviser.

What records to keep?

Leases, invoices, management statements, and repair receipts.

Net yield after tax?

Often 1 to 2 percentage points below pre-tax net model.

2026 metric	Indicative value	Buyer use
Phnom Penh avg price	$1,800 per sqm	Baseline vs district premium
Foreign quota cap	70% per building	Above ground floor only
Banking NPL ratio	8.9%	Developer completion risk
Stamp duty window	Through 31 December 2026	Registration timing