Indonesia in race against time to
take advantage of tax amnesty
Grace D. Amianti
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta | Fri, March 17, 2017 |
09:28 am
Entering
the final two weeks of its tax amnesty, the government has pledged to make an
all-out effort to ensure the success of the signature program amid the dire
need to safeguard tax revenue this year.
The government(S) expects(V1) to
increase its tax revenue by 18 percent this year
to Rp 1.31 quadrillion (US$98 billion) after a disappointing result in 2016,
during which it saw tax-revenue realization up by only 3.5 percent, despite a
boost from tax amnesty penalties. If
penalties from the tax amnesty are excluded, routine tax revenue realization
declined by 4.8 percent last year, showing the country’s lack of adequate power
to improve tax collection.
Finance
Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government would optimize its efforts
by heightening its publicity campaign on the tax amnesty, including through
persuasion of various business players to partake in the program.
“We’re(S) optimizing(Ving) the effort in these
two weeks because it is [currently] running in parallel with the annual tax
return form [SPT] submission for individual taxpayers,” she said recently. Through
the introduction of the nine-month tax amnesty program, which will end on March
31, the government hoped to repatriate billions of dollars that citizens had
parked overseas. The penalty payments are also expected to help close the gap
in state revenue amid declining energy prices and a sluggish global economy.
Approaching
the tax amnesty deadline, the
Directorate General of Taxation(S) is still routinely conducting(Ving) publicity campaigns in regional offices and it
claims that there is an uptrend in participants in the program, with an
average of 4,000 taxpayers joining per day.
Tax
amnesty participants reached more than 700,000 as of this week, up from the
425,000 recorded by the end of last year when the program completed its second
phase.
Penalties
from the tax amnesty reached Rp 106 trillion as of Thursday evening, tax
authority data show. “Our
[tax revenue] target is challenging and we don’t have the luxury of taking a
break,” tax authority spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama said. “After the tax amnesty
ends, we will keep moving on to secure tax revenue this year.”
The taxation directorate general(S)
is preparing(Ving) to deploy at least 5,000 account representatives as temporary
inspectors to help with investigation as part of
law-enforcement measures post-tax amnesty to punish those still owning
undeclared assets, as mandated by the 2016 Tax Amnesty Law.
The
government-appointed tax reform team, which was launched last year to improve
the performance of tax authorities, is also expected to dig deeper in potential
sectors that remain untapped by tax collection as well as enhance data and
information sharing between regional offices and tax service branches, Minister
Sri Mulyani said. “This
will allow data on potential tax collection held by the headquarters to be
shared with the lowest tax service offices,” she said.
The
taxation directorate general claimed that tax collection in the first two
months of this year showed a positive trend as it reached Rp 134.6 trillion by
February, which represents around 10 percent of the 2017 targeted figure, says
Yon Arsal, tax revenue and compliance director at the directorate general. The
figure, which includes oil and gas tax revenue, increased by 8.15 percent
compared to the same period last year.
Jakarta-based
think-tank Center for Indonesia Taxation Analysis (CITA) executive director
Yustinus Prastowo, meanwhile, said that in order to ensure stronger law
enforcement, the directorate general might need to conduct sampling audits by
selecting tax service branches and regional offices seen as having potential
untapped taxpayers.
- Simple Present Tense
(+)The government expects to increase its tax revenue by 18 percent this year
(-)
The government doesn’t expect....................
(?)
Does the government expect...................?
- Simple Present Continous Tense
(+)We’re optimizing the effort in these two weeks.
(-) We are not optimizing the effort in these two weeks.
(?) Are we optimizing the effort in these two weeks?
(+)The
Directorate General of Taxation is still routinely conducting publicity
campaigns in regional offices and it claims that there is an uptrend in
participants in the program.
(-)The
Directorate General of Taxation is not
still routinely conducting publicity campaigns in regional offices and it
claims that there is an uptrend in participants in the program.
(?)
Is The Directorate General of Taxation still routinely conducting publicity
campaigns in regional offices and it claims that there is an uptrend in
participants in the program?
(+)
The taxation directorate general is preparing to deploy at least 5,000 account
representatives as temporary inspectors.
(-)
The taxation directorate general is not
preparing to deploy at least 5,000 account representatives as temporary
inspectors.
(?)
Is the taxation directorate general preparing to deploy at least 5,000 account
representatives as temporary inspectors.
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