TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Regional Office Head of Jakarta`s Tax Directorate General, Muhammad Haniv, declared his readiness in chasing down non-compliant taxpayers that did not participate in the tax amnesty program. He claims that there are more than 15,000 tax DG employees that are ready to enforce the law from door-to-door.

“Our inspectors are currently limited to 6,000 personnel, but there are 11,000 of our representatives that will make into inspectors later on,” he said on March 10, 2017.

Haniv stated that the mobilization will be commenced in April, after the tax amnesty program officially ends on March 31, 2017. The inspection will be using the regular tax violation rates, which includes a 48 percent fine, a 43 percent deviation from the 5 percent tariff during the tax amnesty program. The Tax DG, according to Haniv, is optimistic considering that the Government Regulation Replacing the Law on the Freedom of Information for Tax Banking is being finalized in the executive level.

Until Sunday, March 12, 2017, the total amount of tax retribution received by the state only reached Rp105 trillion; far from the original target of Rp165 trillion. The majority of the Rp145 trillion repatriated assets are still kept in banks.

Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani, agrees that Indonesia’s level of tax compliance is still low around 11 percent. “We will prepare analysis and details up to the subsector if the tax contribution against the gross domestic product is still low,” she said.

Financial Services Authority (OJK) Chairman, Muliaman Hadad, stated that individuals who own assets in banks and capital markets must be ready to tax authorities’ probe. He reasoned that the state members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have confirmed that the implementation of the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) would be globally effective by next year.

“If [we] don’t participate in the AEoI, Indonesia will be alienated,” he said.

Muliaman states that OJK will soon issue a circular letter as a head start and socialization for capital owners. The circular letter, that will be issued in April, will consist of the complete due diligence procedures for foreign clients. As well as a guide to deliver information for non-Indonesian customers to the OJK.

ANDI IBNU