JAKARTA: At least 2,000 foreign companies in Indonesia have been avoiding billions of dollars of tax in the last 10 years by claiming that their companies are currently running at a loss, Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro has reported.
Each company, according to him, should have paid a minimum average of Rp 75 billion in tax liabilities per year. In total they have caused at least Rp 100 trillion (US$7.5 billion) in state losses.
“Thus, in the last 10 years we’ve lost Rp 100 trillion just from those 2,000 foreign corporate tax payers that haven’t complied with the rules. This is a form of tax fraud that needs to be resolved,” Bambang said at the Presidential Palace, as quoted by setkab.go.id.
As for individual taxpayers, he continued, their tax obedience was also quite low. There were only 900,000 taxpayers, out of 5 million NPWP (tax identification number) holders with two or three sources of income who last year paid personal-income tax, a total of Rp 9 trillion.
“It is less than one percent of last year’s non-oil and gas tax revenue target of Rp 1 quadrillion,” Bambang said.
The government will encourage the tax office and Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) to cooperate in listing taxpayer data, as well as integrating IT infrastructure between the two institutions.
The measures are in accordance with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s instruction to increase the tax ratio. “Our tax ratio is still 11 percent. The President is aiming for a growth of 12 or 13 percent in the future, and 15 percent if possible,” Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said Tuesday.
