Government will seek to boost tax receipts through a reinvention policy to prevent total receipts from falling too low.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is introducing a reinvention policy in an effort to boost tax receipts, which as of the second half of this year have not reached 50 percent.
Director General of Taxation Sigit Priadi Pramudito of the Ministry of Finance said that tax collections in the first half of 2015 stood at Rp531.1 trillion, 41.04 percent of the Rp1,294.2 trillion target set in the 2015 Revised Stage Budget.
Therefore, the government will seek to boost tax receipts through a reinvention policy to prevent total receipts from falling too low.
Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said on Friday that the details in the reinvention policy included the declaration of one year of tax guidance, wherein all taxpayers are urged to correct their tax reports and pay their arrears of the past five years on their own. They will be provided with an administrative penalty-free procedure.
Individuals and corporate bodies who have fulfilled requirements as taxpayers but do not have taxpayer numbers yet are expected to register, submit their tax reports and pay their tax obligations.
"In the year of tax guidance (2015), taxpayers can pay their five-year arrears until the end of the year. They do not have to pay it right away. They can pay it at the end of the year, or even in installments till then," he explained.
The finance minister further noted that 2015 will be the last chance for taxpayers to increase their tax payments before the law is enforced more strenuously in 2016.
He further said that the policy had been useful and helped increase the amount of taxes collected in the first six months of 2015, particularly the collection of income taxes (PPh).
Tax receipts from Value Added Tax (PPN) sector, however, have not increased due to the gloomy economy.
Brodjonegoro said tax collection receipts this year could be close to the Rp1,294.2 trillion target set in the 2015 Revised Stage Budget.
"From our experience in collecting taxes last year, we know that receipts were higher in the second semester. Tax collections rose at the end of the year," he said on Friday.
Tax receipts from value added tax have yet to grow due to the sluggish economy. "Earnings from value added taxes can still increase because the current year of tax guidance was not designed only for income tax, but for value added tax, as well. Besides, we will also develop an electronic invoicing system to ensure that those registered for tax restitution are the correct recipients," he affirmed.
Minister Brodjonegoro predicted that the tax receipts target for 2015 may fall short by Rp120 trillion due to the low prices of commodities worldwide and the rupiahs weakening against the dollar.
"We believe there could be a potential shortfall of Rp120 trillion, or even higher," he said.
The government had set the budget deficit target in the revised 2015 state budget at 1.9 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). It is determined to maintain the deficit at not more than 2.2 percent of the GDP.
"We will maintain the deficit at 2.2 percent," the minister affirmed. One of the factors causing tax receipts to fall short of the target of Rp1,244.7 trillion this year is the declining revenue from income tax in the oil and gas sector.
At the end of June, state revenues from income tax in the oil and gas sector fell sharply to Rp27.7 trillion, from Rp44.6 trillion in the same period last year.
State revenue from income tax in the oil and gas sector is expected to plunge this year due to the weakening price of oil worldwide, which is a result of geopolitical factors.
In addition, state revenue from value added tax and luxury sales tax also dropped to Rp175.1 trillion at the end of June, from Rp185.3 trillion in the corresponding period last year.
Earlier, Sigit Priadi Pramudito, the director general of taxation at the Ministry of Finance, had reported that the realization of tax collections in the first half of 2015 stood at Rp531.1 trillion, 41.04 percent of the Rp1,294.2 trillion target set in the 2015 Revised Stage Budget.
One of the major contributors to the tax collection in the first half of the year was non-oil/non-gas PPh taxes which grew 13.55 percent to Rp293.5 trillion at the end of July 2015 from Rp258.4 trillion at the end of July 2014.
The non-oil/non-gas PPh tax growth --which took place amid the decline of revenues in other tax sectors-- was supported by the growth of non-oil/non-gas PPn tax types, such as PPh Article 25/29 on individuals, PPh Article 25/29 on corporate bodies, PPh final taxes, and PPh tax articles 21, 26, and 23.
However, the directorate general of taxation also recorded a decline of 8.52 percent in tax receipts based upon the PPh article 22 on imports.
The tax collection in this sector amounted to Rp23.68 trillion, as compared with that in the same period in 2014 valued at Rp25.88 trillion. This was due to the weakening rupiah and the drop in imports.
The PPh Article 22 tax also declined by 6.43 percent, where the collected tax amounted to Rp3.33 trillion, down from Rp3.56 trillion in the same period in 2014. This is due to the fact that the budget had not yet been optimally absorbed, particularly capital expenditures.
The decline in imports also influenced tax collection in the PPN tax import, declining by 13.18 percent to Rp74.1 trillion from Rp85.4 trillion in the same period one year earlier.
Tax collection declines were also recorded in sale taxes on imported luxury goods (PPnBW Impor). They were recorded to have declined by 25.42 percent to Rp2.58 trillion from Rp3.46 trillion in the same period in 2014.
Economic downturns also drove down consumption levels at home, contributing to the decline in the domestic PPN tax collection by 0.46 percent, or Rp120.53 trillion as compared with that in 2014, valued at Rp121.04 trillion.(*)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
