Selling a Cambodian condo as a foreigner: the tax gate, the buyer pool, the wire home.

What tax is paid when a Cambodian condo is sold?

The transfer tax is 4 percent and Article 160 imposes it on the transferee, so it is your buyer's tax rather than yours. Article 162 gives three months to file and pay, and Article 163 blocks the Cadastral Administration from issuing or transferring the title until it is settled.

Which makes your buyer's tax compliance your completion risk. If the 4 percent is not paid, the title does not move, and under Article 8 of the Law of 24 May 2010 the transfer is not effective until registered.

Article 159(1) sets the base as market value at the time of transfer, and lets the Ministry of Economy and Finance determine the value for the tax base, so the figure is not simply 4 percent of your agreed price.

The buy-side view of the same numbers: Cambodia property buying costs.

Does a foreign seller pay capital gains tax in Cambodia?

The statute says 20 percent and it reaches non-residents. Article 168 sets the rate; Article 165 applies it to a non-resident taxpayer achieving capital gains from selling or transferring in Cambodia. But commencement for immovable property is deferred, most recently to 1 January 2027, and that date has moved more than once.

What applies when it does apply. Article 167 includes immovable property and leases in the definition of capital, and defines capital gains as taxable income from the sale or transfer minus allowable expenses. Article 170 allows a cost-base deduction method or a standard deduction method. Article 171 requires declaration and payment no more than three months after the gain. Article 169 exempts the residence which is the taxpayer's principal place, which is an exemption a non-resident owner generally cannot reach.

On the date, this page relies on professional reporting. DFDL reported in January 2026 that the regime was set out in Prakas 496 MEF.PRK of 18 July 2025 and that implementation for immovable property has been deferred to 1 January 2027, while capital gains tax on other capital such as shares and leases was scheduled from 1 January 2026. The deferring notification number was not confirmed directly, and the tax authority's own FAQ still describes capital gains as postponed. Treat 1 January 2027 as a dated position and re-check it before you commit to a sale timetable.

Who can a foreigner sell a Cambodian strata unit to?

Either a Khmer citizen or another foreigner, and the two are not the same transaction. Article 9 provides that a Khmer buyer acquires ownership of the private unit plus undivided ownership of the common areas, while a foreign buyer acquires the unit and only the right to use and enjoy the common areas.

So your resale pool has a structural shape, and it is set by the same rules you bought under.

• A foreign buyer is still bound by the floor rule in Article 6 and by the 70 percent area cap in Sub-Decree No. 82, Article 2, at the building level. If the building is at or near its cap by area, the foreign side of your market is constrained regardless of price.
• A Khmer buyer is not subject to either, and Article 9 gives them the fuller bundle over the common areas.

This is worth knowing on the way in, not on the way out. How the cap is measured, and why the unit count misleads: Cambodia's 70 percent foreign ownership cap.

Can a foreigner take the sale money out of Cambodia?

Yes, through a bank. The Law on Foreign Exchange, Article 5(1), provides that there are no restrictions on transfers and capital flows between residents and non-residents, but that such operations shall be undertaken solely through authorised intermediaries, which Article 5(2) defines as banks permanently established in Cambodia.

The reporting duties sit on the bank, not on you. Article 17 requires the authorised intermediary to report to the Central Bank the amount of each transfer relating to investment or liquidation of investment at or above USD 100,000. Article 15 provides that where liquidation of foreign investment takes place in accordance with the Investment Law, the proceeds may be transferred freely, and Article 14 routes foreign-investment capital flows to that law.

Two thresholds not to confuse:

• USD 100,000, the bank's duty. Reported by the bank on an investment transfer. Article 16's separate USD 100,000 prior-declaration rule applies to residents investing abroad, not to a foreign buyer bringing money in.
• USD 10,000, yours. Article 13 requires a traveller to declare means of payment at or above USD 10,000 to customs at a border crossing. Article 12 applies the same rule to raw gold and uncut precious stones.

Article 3 treats anyone whose main professional activity or main residence has been in Cambodia for 182 days or more as a resident, whatever their nationality, and Article 4 treats a foreign individual under that threshold as non-resident. That test is what decides which of these rules applies to you.

Worth knowing rather than worrying about: Articles 6 and 7 let the Central Bank impose temporary restrictions for a maximum of three months in a foreign exchange crisis, extendable only with approval from the Head of the Royal Government on a joint request from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. No such measure is reported in force.

What do you need in order to sell a Cambodian condo?

The registered ownership certificate for the private unit, and a transfer that gets registered. Article 7 provides that special co-ownership is created, transferred or modified by agreement among the parties under the laws in force, or by succession. Article 8 makes registration the thing that makes it effective.

No notary is named anywhere in the 2010 law or in Sub-Decree No. 82. The actor they name is the Cadastral Authority, which issues the certificate and writes each unit's surface-size proportion onto it, and whose conduct Article 21 polices by reference to Article 264 of the Land Law. Whether a notarised deed is required in practice for a strata transfer could not be established from a primary source for this page.

On timing, a cadastral transfer of a hard, LMAP or strata title is commonly described in market guidance as taking roughly 12 weeks. That comes from a named commercial publisher and the timing was not verified, so it is an expectation to test rather than a date to rely on. The statutory clock that does exist is the three months in Article 162 for the transfer tax return.

What is on the certificate, and the entry that is set by statute: the Cambodian strata title, explained.

What could not be confirmed about selling in Cambodia?

Three things, and they are named here rather than guessed. Agent commission norms. Notary and registry fee scales. And whether a non-resident seller needs a Cambodian tax identification number to file. No primary source was found for any of them.

Treat each as a question to put in writing before you list, not as a cost to estimate from a forum post. An agent's fee belongs in the engagement letter; the registry and any notary cost belongs in a written quote; the tax registration question belongs with a Cambodian tax adviser.

One more, for completeness. Whether VAT applies to a developer's sale of a new residential strata unit could not be confirmed either, which matters to a seller competing against new stock in the same building.

Header photo: Kiensvay, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.