"I stress once again that we will continue to work together with the government of Singapore to rule out the possibility of preventing taxpayers from taking part in the tax amnesty program in Singapore," Sri Mulyani said.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - News that Singapore will report tax amnesty participants as criminals is false, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said.
The clarification came after taxpayers voiced concern that Singapore will report them as criminals if they take part in the tax amnesty program being launched by the Indonesian government.
The Singapore government was contacted to seek clarification on the news which stated that Singapore banks were required to submit the taxpayers data because they were considered to have committed the criminal offense of tax evasion, Sri Mulyani said in Parliament on Thursday night.
Singapores central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, assured that the Singapore government had urged banks to support their clients in the tax amnesty program conducted in Indonesia, she added.
"In the context of the tax amnesty program in Indonesia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore stressed that the participation of Indonesian citizens in the tax amnesty program cannot be regarded as an act that could attract or trigger a criminal investigation," Sri Mulyani said.
Messages containing the concerns of the Indonesian taxpayers taking part in the tax amnesty program in Singapore were received by the ministry, she noted.
The concern arose due to the issue of Singapore banks needing to report their customers taking part in the tax amnesty to the law enforcement authorities for investigation because they could have committed tax evasion.
"I stress once again that we will continue to work together with the government of Singapore to rule out the possibility of preventing taxpayers from taking part in the tax amnesty program in Singapore," she said.
Therefore, there the taxpayers can take part in the tax amnesty program without being worried about being reported as criminals of tax evasion, she added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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