TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Industry Minister Saleh Husin confirmed on Thursday, August 27, that four companies, will obtain tax-holiday facility from the government.

The four companies are PT Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia, PT Petrokimia Buadiene Indonesia, PT Energi Sejahtera Mas and PT OKI Pulp and Paper.

“The requirements in the new tax-holiday regulation were relaxed to attract as many investors as possible,” said at the Finance Minister.

The government is currently considering to provide such tax-holiday facility for other companies, including PT Caterpillar Indonesia Batam, PT Feni Halim, PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery and PT Synthetic Rubber Indonesia. Two other companies, PT Sulawesi Mining Investment and PT Indorama Polycherm Indonesia, have made proposals to obtain the tax-holiday facility.

The government has completed the amendment of the Finance Minister Regulation on the Tax Holiday that reduces corporate income tax.

“The consideration is not only the sector, but also the size of the investment,” Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said.

Bambang explained that the requirements to obtain the tax-holiday facility set forth in the new regulation will be more qualitative in nature. In addition to the investment value, an industry capable of significantly reducing its imports would be considered to be provided with the tax-holiday facility.

The government will provide a corporate tax discount as high as 50 percent, particularly for the heavy equipment and telecommunication industries, with an investment between Rp 500 billion (US$35.7 million) and Rp 1 trillion (US$71.5 million). For a company committing an investment of more than Rp 1 trillion, the government will provide 100 percent tax-holiday facility.

In the new regulation, four new industries to be added to the list of tax-holiday receivers in addition to the other five in the previous regulation.

TRI ARTINING PUTRI