TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo confirmed that a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on taxpayer’s financial information transparency will be released soon. The new bill is aimed at preventing taxpayers hiding their assets in Indonesia and overseas.
"This is to welcome the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). The regulation will be issued in July 2017," President Jokowi said during the dissemination of the tax amnesty policy in Jakarta on Tuesday, February 28, 2017.
The government drafted the regulation on financial information transparency in order to acquire access to information on Indonesian bank accounts overseas. In addition, the regulation is one of the requirements to join with 100 countries to ratify the AEOI policy that will be implemented in 2017-2018.
President Jokowi explained that his decision to issue a legal base in the form of Perppu was due to time sensitiveness. According to President Jokowi, if the legal base was to be enacted in the form of law, it must be finalized in July 2017.
With the issuance of the Perppu, articles related to taxpayers confidentiality set forth in several laws will no longer apply. Among the laws are the law on sharia banking, the law on the capital market, and the law on general provisions of taxation.
President Jokowi refused to provide details about the Perppu. However, President Jokowi asserted that the Perppu was initiated to meet the requirements of information transparency law and to express the country’s commitment to addressing tax evasion issues.
"If we don't issue the Perppu, we will be excommunicated by other countries. They will view Indonesia as a country without credibility. I want the world to trust Indonesia," Jokowi asserted.
ISTMAN MP
