Now that the tax amnesty program has ended, the government will begin tracing the hidden assets of tax evaders, both at home and abroad.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government, which is in dire need of funds to finance its development programs, is harboring high hopes of collecting adequate taxes and is optimistic that taxpayers would meet their tax obligation.

However, several big fish tax evaders hide their assets in banks under the bank secrecy regulation or stash them overseas.

In its efforts to track down tax evaders, the government will cooperate with other countries in the launch of what is called the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), while at home, the Finance Ministry and the Financial Service Authority (OJK) will issue a policy for the launch of a licensing system to provide access to bank accounts for tax investigation.

Before tightening the nook around tax evaders, the government had given them an opportunity to take part in the tax amnesty program it had launched for nine months from July 2016 until March 31, 2017.

The government has estimated that assets parked abroad were worth Rp4,000 trillion and hopes to repatriate about one thousand trillion rupiah. Thus, the government will be able to collect some Rp165 trillion in redemption money and asset declaration funds in the nine-month period.

However, until the end of the tax amnesty program on March 31, 2017, only Rp1,032 trillion worth of assets were declared overseas, Rp147 trillion others were repatriated, while assets declared at home amounted to Rp3,687 trillion.

Thus, in total, the amount of assets declared during the program reached Rp4,866 trillion, while additional tax collection in redemption money totaled Rp135 trillion, or about 89 percent of the targeted Rp165 trillion.

Now that the tax amnesty program has ended, the government will begin tracing the hidden assets of tax evaders, both at home and abroad. The government will be able to uncover assets hidden in banks through the policy on the permit to investigate bank accounts.

For assets stashed overseas, the government will be able to unveil it through the implementation of the AEOI program that it will implement in 2018. The Indonesian government has made assurance that taxpayers will no longer be able to hide their assets overseas after the end of the tax amnesty program.

"We will implement the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) program," Head of the Directorate General of Taxation for Central Java I Irawan stated in Semarang, Central Java, on Monday (Apr 10).

He stated that the AEOI program of transparent taxation data will be exchanged among countries. The Indonesian government is planning to implement the program in 2018.

Indonesia is set to adopt a tough policy against tax evasion after the deadline of its tax amnesty program by the end of March.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said by May, 2017 the government would finish drafting regulations to back up implementation of agreement on the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) under which all bank accounts in the world are accessible for investigation of taxable assets.

"All regulations have to be ready by May, this year, namely law regulations on access to information. This means there would be no more banking secrecy in Indonesia," Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta recently (March 22).

The minister said the era of openness of bank data for the sake of transparency in taxation will soon be in place and Indonesia has been committed to taking part in data exchange among nations in 2018.

At home, the Finance Ministry and the Financial Service Authority (OJK) have launched a license system to provide access to bank accounts for tax investigation through Application for Proposal to Unveil Bank Secrecy (Akasia) and Application for Unveiling Bank Secrecy (Akrab).

The system could simplify the process of opening data on the accounts of bank customers for tax investigation. "Opening data about the account of a bank customer for tax investigation would take around 239 working days with 20 officials to sign," Mulyani noted at the office of the Taxation Directorate General.

Through applications of Akrab and Akasia, which are connected to each other in a system, the time could be cut short from originally more than six months to only two weeks, she remarked.

Regarding the AEOI, Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the draft government regulation inn lieu of law (Perppu) on Automatic Exchange of Information will soon be handed over to the President.

AEOI is a new global standard to reduce the possibility for tax evasion. Under AEOI all bank accounts in the world would be accessible to investigations of taxable assets. "We will wrap up the drafting by Monday next week before it is to be handed over to the president," Darmin Nasution said after coordinating meeting on AEO last Tuesday (April 4).

The government, determined to fight tax evasion, has decided that Indonesia would adopt AEOI in 2018.

"With the implementation of the AEOI program, taxpayers will not be able to hide their assets overseas from the tax authorities. Taxpayers who do not join the recent tax amnesty program for fear of uncovering their assets will be exposed with the implementation of the AEOI program," Head of the Directorate General of Taxation for Central Java I Irawan, remaked.

The AEOI program was agreed in a meeting by the finance ministers of a number of countries. The finance ministers in the meeting were convinced that taxpayers who hide assets overseas would be exposed.

All countries based on the regulation will exchange information under the taxation authorities. All people in each of the countries are obliged to abide by the provisions.

Under the AEOI, all bank accounts in the world are accessible to investigation for taxable assets giving no safe place for tax evasion.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017