Indonesia to Start Second Tax Amnesty Program Next Year

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Indonesia will again implement its tax amnesty program on January 1, 2022, after the House of Representatives on Thursday, October 7 passed a bill to overhaul tax regulations.

The Harmonized Tax Law, or known by its Indonesian acronym HPP, will raise value-added taxes and scrap a planned corporate tax cut. Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly said on Thursday that the tax amnesty program, which was initially granted in 2016, aims to increase taxpayer compliance.

“Based on the theory of tax compliance supported by research in various countries, efforts to facilitate the good intention of taxpayers who are willing to be open can improve voluntary tax compliance in the future,” Yasonna said during a plenary session at the parliament building on Thursday, October 7.

Also read: Industry Minister Calls for Extension of Tax Cut for New Cars

The minister highlighted the importance of implementing fair and consistent supervision and law enforcement, as well as providing fair treatment and service to compliant and low-level risks taxpayers.

“In this context, the voluntary disclosure of assets [PPS] is a policy that cannot be separated from what has been called tax reform, which as previously discussed,” said Yasonna.

“The program, which will run in the first half of 2022, will provide an opportunity for taxpayers to disclose their unreported assets in the 2016/2017 tax amnesty program or in the 2020 annual tax return,” he said.

The law calls for the value-added tax (VAT) rate for sales of nearly all goods and services to be raised from 10 percent now to 11 percent next April and to 12 percent by 2025, according to Reuters.

Also read: Indonesia Imposes Tax Exemption for Import of Health Equipment

Meanwhile, the taxation director general at the Ministry of Finance Suryo Utomo said that the tax amnesty program will be done online to reduce the interaction of people.

“The goal is to declare it online to make it easier, faster, and more accountable as it reduces interactions between tax officials and taxpayers,” Suryo Utomo told a press conference, on Thursday, October 7.

Currently, his party immediately prepares the digital infrastructure to support the process of the tax amnesty program next year. Therefore, this year the taxation directorate general will intensify the efforts to provide all information to the public.

“We are currently preparing for all that we need to implement the policy on voluntary disclosure of assets, which will begin on January 1. The infrastructure is being prepared for it and in less than three months we have to inform the public,” he said.

(Writer: Fika Nurul Ulya | Editor: Erlangga Djumena, Bambang P. Jatmiko)

Sources: https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/10/07/145216026/mulai-1-januari-2022-pemerintah-jalankan-tax-amnesty-untuk-kedua-kalinya?page=all#page2.

https://money.kompas.com/read/2021/10/08/124100126/kemenkeu--pelaporan-tax-amnesty-tahun-depan-dilakukan-secara-online?page=all#page2.