What it costs to enter and run a Cambodian business

Short answer

The official Cambodian fees are smaller than most people expect: KHR 1,680,000 to incorporate a private limited company, KHR 40,000 to reserve a name, and a 1% minimum tax on turnover. The cost that decides whether a project works is usually not the fees but the professional work around them, the payroll, and the audit and compliance stack you carry in year one.

The official fees as of 2026

These are the published government fees. They are the floor, not the cost of a project.

Step	Official fee	Source
Reserve a company name	KHR 40,000	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Incorporate a private limited company, name already reserved	KHR 1,680,000	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Incorporate a private limited company, name reserved in the same application	KHR 1,720,000	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Incorporate a public limited company	KHR 1,680,000 with a reserved name, KHR 1,720,000 without	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Annual declaration of commercial enterprise (ADCE)	KHR 80,000, with a KHR 1,000,000 penalty for late filing	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Tax registration, patent tax per business activity	Set by activity and company size; 50% discount in the first year after registration	Single Portal pricing scheme; General Department of Taxation
Enterprise establishment registration	KHR 120,000	Single Portal user guide
Qualified Investment Project registration	KHR 15,000,000, with a 20 working day registration timeline	Cambodian Investment Board service fees

The Ministry of Commerce schedule and the Single Portal pricing scheme are two different published schedules. Quote the Ministry of Commerce schedule for registration fees and the portal scheme for tax and labour charges, and never add them together without checking which is current.

What the professional work costs

Nobody publishes a single figure for professional fees in Cambodia, because the scope is the variable. The honest way to compare is to compare inclusions, not headlines.

Budget for these workstreams separately, and check what each quote includes:

Incorporation agent. Company formation, name reservation, the Single Portal filings, the tax and labour registrations, and a registered address. Watch for quotes that exclude the tax and labour registrations, or that treat the patent tax as optional.
Legal advice. Structuring, shareholder arrangements, the land position, the distribution agreement. This is where licensed Cambodian counsel is needed and where the fee is a professional judgement, not a published price.
Accounting and tax. Bookkeeping, monthly filings, the annual profit tax return, and the audit if a Qualified Investment Project or a size threshold requires one.
Company secretarial. The ADCE each year, director and shareholder changes, and the CamDigiKey access change that now applies to every filing.

Our own fees are quoted in a written proposal after the first conversation, because we scope to the decision rather than selling a package. We are not the cheapest way to incorporate a company, and we do not pretend to be; the value is in the sequence, the checks and the outcome.

The year-one compliance stack as of 2026

Once the company exists, the recurring costs are what most budgets miss.

Item	Shape of the cost	Source
Patent tax	Annual, per business activity, due 31 March; a new company usually holds more than one	General Department of Taxation; Ministry of Commerce schedule
ADCE	Annual, KHR 80,000, filed in the three months before the registration anniversary, with a 15-day grace period	Ministry of Commerce fee schedule
Tax returns	Monthly VAT, withholding tax and pre-payment of tax on income, and the annual profit tax return	General Department of Taxation
Audit	Compulsory for public limited companies and Qualified Investment Projects; otherwise where two of turnover above KHR 4bn, assets above KHR 3bn, or more than 100 employees apply	Deloitte, 2025
Social security	Employer and employee contributions for Cambodian staff, per the National Social Security Fund	National Social Security Fund; Andersen labour booklet 2026
Minimum tax	1% of turnover including taxes other than VAT	PwC, 2 April 2026
Work permits and quotas	Per foreign employee, plus a quota position; fees displayed in the Ministry of Labour system	Ministry of Labour FWCMS

The 1% minimum tax deserves particular attention. It is charged regardless of profit, and the exemption for enterprises maintaining proper accounting records is the difference between a real tax cost and a rounding error, so the accounting from day one is not optional if the exemption is to be available.

Building the model honestly

A budget that survives contact with reality does four things.

Separate one-off from recurring. Incorporation is one-off; the patent tax, the ADCE, the audit and the monthly filings are not.
Model the minimum tax and the payroll together. On a thin margin, 1% of turnover plus social insurance can decide whether a project works.
Add the professional fees for the work you actually need. A low formation quote often means the tax, labour and land work is still ahead of you.
Carry a contingency for the things that are not in any schedule. Certificates of origin that have to be re-issued, a licence that needs a new assessment, a duty classification that is challenged.

And if you are comparing countries, use the same structure in each: our comparison guide uses one set of rows for all three so the numbers mean the same thing.

Questions investors ask

How much does it cost to set up a company in Cambodia?

The Ministry of Commerce charges KHR 1,680,000 to incorporate a private limited company when the name has been reserved separately, or KHR 1,720,000 when the name is reserved in the same application, plus KHR 40,000 for the reservation itself. Tax, labour and any Qualified Investment Project fees sit on top, and so do professional fees.

Do I need to pay a patent tax every year?

Yes. The patent tax is the annual business licence tax per activity, due 31 March, and it is charged even in a loss-making year. The first year after registration carries a 50% discount on the tax itself. A company with more than one activity can owe more than one patent tax.

What does it cost to run a Cambodian company each year?

Budget for the annual patent tax, the annual declaration of commercial enterprise at KHR 80,000, monthly tax filings, the annual profit tax return, an audit where one is compulsory, social security contributions, and the 1% minimum tax on turnover. The audit is compulsory for public limited companies and Qualified Investment Projects.

Is the 1% minimum tax avoidable?

Not for most companies. It is 1% of annual turnover including taxes other than VAT, charged regardless of profit. Enterprises that maintain proper accounting records have been exempt since 1 January 2017, so the accounting is the thing that makes the exemption available.

Are there hidden costs when setting up a Cambodian company?

The common surprises are professional fees quoted without tax, labour or land work included; a patent tax for each activity rather than one; foreign work permit and quota fees; and the recurring compliance stack of patent tax, annual declaration, audit and monthly filings that a first-year budget often omits.

How long does it take to register a company?

The Single Portal states eight working days for business registration if the documents are complete and sufficient. That is the registration itself; licences, product approvals, the annual declaration cycle and, where relevant, Qualified Investment Project registration run on their own clocks around it.

Can I register a company from outside Cambodia?

Yes, through an accredited agent, and the Single Portal is entirely online. It does require Cambodian-situation documents: a land title or lease for the registered address, the director’s Cambodian identity card, and the articles of association.

How much do you charge?

We scope after the first conversation and put the scope, deliverables, timeline and fees in a written proposal before any work starts. We are not a low-cost incorporation service; the fees reflect research, verification and coordination work that a formation-only package does not include.

Official tools to use alongside this guide

Sources

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. Laws, rules and figures change. Confirm the current position with licensed Cambodian professionals before acting.

What it actually costs to enter and run a Cambodian business