Question 1

What is KitMel?

Accepted Answer

KitMel is a set of free calculators for money questions in Cambodia: your salary after tax and NSSF, what a loan will really cost, and the seniority payment your employer owes you.

Question 2

Are the results official?

Accepted Answer

No. KitMel gives estimates from the published rules, so you can plan and ask better questions. Your payslip, bank or employer has the final word.

Some rules are still drafts. Those pages say so next to the date the rules were last checked.

Question 3

Where is my information kept?

Accepted Answer

In this browser, on this device. KitMel has no accounts, and what you type is not sent anywhere to be calculated.

Your settings and recent results are saved this way. You can erase them any time under Settings › Your data.

Question 4

Which exchange rate does KitMel use?

Accepted Answer

The official rate by default. You can enter your own rate from the exchange rate button at the top of any page, and switch between riel and US dollars there too.

Calculations are done in the currency the rules use; the rate only changes how amounts are shown.

Question 5

Can I use KitMel in Khmer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use the language button at the top of any page, or choose a language under Settings. The Khmer text is still a draft and is being reviewed.

Question 6

I think a number is wrong. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

Please tell us. Use Feedback in the menu, choose "Wrong number" and say what you entered and what you expected.

Question 7

Why is NSSF taken from my pay?

Accepted Answer

NSSF is Cambodia's National Social Security Fund. Each month your employer takes your pension contribution, 2% of your wage, and adds 2% of their own.

Your employer also pays for occupational risk and health care on your behalf. Those don't come out of your pay, but they are part of what you cost them.

Contributions are worked out on a wage between 400,000 ៛ and 1,200,000 ៛ a month, so above that ceiling they stop growing.

Question 8

How is salary tax worked out?

Accepted Answer

For a tax resident the rate rises in steps. The first 1,500,000 ៛ a month is tax-free, then 5% up to 2,000,000 ៛, 10% up to 8,500,000 ៛, 15% up to 12,500,000 ៛ and 20% above that.

Each rate applies only to the part of your salary inside its step, so a raise never lowers your take-home. Your NSSF pension share is taken off first, so you are not taxed on it.

Question 9

Am I a tax resident?

Accepted Answer

Usually yes if you live in Cambodia, or have been here for more than 182 days in any 12 months.

Non-residents pay a flat 20% on their whole salary, with no tax-free first step and no allowance for dependants.

Question 10

Who counts as a dependant?

Accepted Answer

Typically a spouse who stays at home, and children who are minors or in full-time study. Each one takes 150,000 ៛ a month off your taxable salary.

Only tax residents get this allowance, and your employer applies it from what you have declared to them, so check with HR who is on your record.

Question 11

Can I start from the take-home pay I was offered?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Under "I know my", choose "Net (take-home)" and enter the amount. KitMel finds the gross salary that leaves exactly that take-home, then shows the full breakdown.

This helps when a job offer is quoted net and you want to know the gross to put in the contract.

Question 12

Which exchange rate is used?

Accepted Answer

Salary tax is worked out in riel, so a dollar salary is converted first. KitMel uses the National Bank of Cambodia's official rate, shown in the header and updated each morning. If that rate can't be read, it uses 4,000 ៛ per dollar. You can enter your own rate in the header.

Employers convert at the official monthly rate for tax, so your payslip may differ by a little.

Question 13

What's the difference between a flat rate and a declining balance?

Accepted Answer

With a declining balance, interest is charged only on what you still owe, so it shrinks as you pay the loan back.

With a flat rate, interest is charged on the full amount every month, even after you have paid part of it back. At the same quoted rate, a flat-rate loan costs much more.

Question 14

Should I pick a fixed payment or a reducing payment?

Accepted Answer

Both charge interest only on what you still owe. With a fixed payment, every payment is the same and more of it goes to the loan as the months pass.

With a reducing payment (equal principal), the same amount comes off the loan every month, so the first payments are the largest and each one after is smaller. You pay the loan down faster, so the total interest is lower, but the first months cost more.

Question 15

What is the real yearly rate?

Accepted Answer

It is what the loan actually costs per year once fees are counted and interest is measured against what you really still owe.

Two offers with the same quoted rate can have very different real rates. Compare offers by this number, not by the monthly payment alone.

Question 16

Is the rate per month or per year?

Accepted Answer

Lenders in Cambodia often quote a monthly rate, such as 1.2% a month. Pick "per month" or "per year" to match the offer exactly as it was quoted.

1.2% a month is 14.4% a year before fees, and more once fees are counted.

Question 17

Which fees should I add?

Accepted Answer

Anything you pay to get the loan: admin or processing fees, insurance the lender requires, and valuation or registration fees.

Enter the total for each fee over the whole loan. KitMel counts fees as paid when the loan starts, which is how they usually work.

Question 18

Why is the last payment slightly different?

Accepted Answer

Every payment is rounded to the cent, or to the riel for a riel loan. The last payment takes up whatever rounding is left over, so it can differ by a little.

Question 19

What is a seniority payment?

Accepted Answer

Money your employer owes you for the time you have worked, under Cambodia's Labour Law. How and when it is paid depends on your contract.

Question 20

When is it paid if my contract has no end date?

Accepted Answer

Twice a year, in June and December. Each year of work earns 15 days of wages, so each payment is usually 7.5 days.

If you started partway through a half-year, your first payment covers only the months you worked, so it is smaller.

Question 21

How is a day's wage worked out?

Accepted Answer

Your monthly wage divided by the working days in a month: 26, unless your employer counts 24 or 22 (choose it under Working days in a month). Enter the wage you are paid each month before tax.

Question 22

What if I am on a fixed-term contract?

Accepted Answer

You are paid once, when the contract ends: 5% of all the wages you were paid over the contract.

Question 23

What about the years I worked before 2019?

Accepted Answer

Service before 2019 is owed as back-pay on its own schedule. That schedule is still being confirmed, so KitMel counts only your service from 2019 for now and says so on your result.

Question 24

Is a seniority payment taxed?

Accepted Answer

Seniority pay above 4,000,000 ៛ a year may be taxed, but the rule can be read two ways. KitMel will show the tax once an accountant confirms which reading applies.

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