Indonesia Bids Adieu to Tax Amnesty
Jakarta. Indonesia has ended its tax amnesty program with hundreds rushing to tax offices on Friday (31/03) to come clean about their previously unreported assets and avoid bigger penalties in the future.
"I'm satisfied with the work of the Directorate General of Taxes employees in the past nine months," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters minutes before the deadline.
Sri Mulyani said that nearly 1 million taxpayers joined the amnesty program, which indicates that tax compliance should still be improved.
"My own target has not been met, but the results are rather good, so I'm pleased," she said.
Exactly at midnight, the dashboard at the tax office's official website showed that Rp 135 trillion ($10.1 billion) was collected in additional tax revenue.
Previously unreported assets reached Rp 4,854.6 trillion, including Rp 147.1 trillion worth of repatriated assets, Rp 1,031.5 trillion in offshore assets and Rp 3,676 trillion of assets disclosed in the country.
The numbers are still subject to change.
The government's initial target was Rp 4,000 trillion in wealth declarations, Rp 1,000 trillion in repatriated assets and Rp 165 trillion in additional tax revenue.
"With this data, the Directorate General of Taxes has to improve itself. If the amount of previously undeclared assets can be this high and remain unknown, Indonesia is still lagging in tax compliance," Sri said.
Yustinus Prastowo, executive director at the Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA), said he gives "7.5 points out of 10" for the program implementation.
He added that a follow-up strategy to maintain the effectiveness of tax collection will be the next important step.
"It's our habit to lose focus. After this, the most important thing is to maintain the effectiveness," Yustinus said.
Ken Dwijugiasteadi, director general of the tax office, told reporters at a press conference on Saturday that he is optimistic about tax collection after the program.
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