TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Tax Directorate General is reviewing Google's unpaid taxes. The Tax DG's director of counseling, services and public relations Hestu Yoga Saksama said they receive help from the Finance Ministry and the Communication and Informatics Ministry.
Hestu said once there are "concrete steps", the Tax DG will announce the review result.
He asserted the government will take all steps necessary to collect Google's tax arrears of five years, which is estimated to reach Rp5.5 trillion.
"We would appreciate all forms of public support," he said at the IDX building Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Not just Goodle, the Tax DG also plans to pursue other digital businesses operating and making money in Indonesia, such as Twitter and Yahoo.
The government continues to pursue Google, asking the internet giant to pay five years-worth of taxes. If Google is proven to have been evading taxes these past five years, the company may have to pay more than Rp5.5 trillion tax bill for 2015 alone.
Reuters reported that most of Google's income generated in Indonesia is booked in Singapore-based Google Asia Pacific's ledger. In June, Google Asia Pacific declined to have their taxes audited.
"Google's argument is that they just did tax planning," head of the tax office's special cases branch Muhammad Haniv said as quoted by Reuters.
According to Haniv, Google's tax planning is legal. "But aggressive tax planning—to the extent that the country where the revenue is made does not get anything—is not legal."
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