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  • Jakarta’s tax amnesty gets a rich boost

    Jakarta’s tax amnesty gets a rich boost

    Two of Indonesia’s wealthiest men say they will participate in a government-led tax amnesty to clear their past omissions, boosting the scheme’s credibility.

    Mr James Riady, the son of Lippo Group’s founder, went to the Jakarta tax office yesterday to take part, said his spokesman Danang Kemayan Jati. Mr Tahir, founder of Bank Mayapada, who goes by one name, said by phone that his family would submit documents this month to support the plan.

    “If a big fish like Riady joins the programme in a public way, that lessens the restraint for everybody else to follow suit,” said OCBC Bank economist Wellian Wiranto in Singapore, according to Bloomberg.

    “We have seen the momentum start to build, so things are starting to look up for the tax amnesty.”

    President Joko Widodo has staked his credibility on a programme that the government estimates will generate 165 trillion rupiah (S$17 billion) in revenue.

    He ordered his Cabinet to summon the largest taxpayers, especially those with assets overseas, to ensure they take part. Since the amnesty began in July, the finance ministry has seen 4 trillion rupiah in penalty fees, or 2.4 per cent of the target.

    Tax rates under the amnesty will range from 2 per cent to 10 per cent over three stages, depending on how soon individuals declare their previously untaxed assets and whether the funds are repatriated.

    Indonesia has a population of 250 million, but only 27 million are registered taxpayers. Of these, just a million file tax returns regularly each year – one of the lowest figures among countries in the region.

    Newly minted Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said she is putting trust-building at the top of her agenda as she tries to get more Indonesians to pay taxes, to raise funds for a massive infrastructure plan aimed at stimulating growth in South-east Asia’s largest economy.

    “It’s not acceptable for a country like Indonesia to have a tax ratio that is very low,” she told Bloomberg in an interview last month. “This is… because both sides, the taxpayers as well as the government, have not been able to establish a good relationship based on trust, confidence and credibility.”

    She also pledged to address Indonesia’s complicated procedures and high tax rates compared with neighbouring countries.

    Individuals who sign up for the plan will be allowed to invest in assets such as gold, property and infrastructure projects, according to the finance ministry. Participants can also move funds between approved assets before a three-year holding period ends, the ministry said.

    The scheme has got off to a slow start, but could pick up pace with big businesses getting on board.

    Lippo Group, founded by Mr Mochtiar Riady in the 1950s, has stakes in property developer Lippo Karawaci, healthcare firm Siloam International Hospitals and retailer Matahari Department Store. It also has stakes in Singapore-based First Real Estate Investment Trust and Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust.

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  • Honda hoping for 20% industrywide sales jump on Indonesian tax amnesty

    Honda hoping for 20% industrywide sales jump on Indonesian tax amnesty

    Indonesia’s tax amnesty could boost industrywide car sales by a fifth as people spend their newly declared wealth on big-ticket items, according to the local unit of Honda Motor Co.

    “The car ownership ratio in Indonesia is relatively low and there’s enough room for producers to sell more,” Jonfis Fandy, head of sales and marketing at PT Honda Prospect Motor, said in an interview Friday at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Motor Show.

    “If the tax amnesty program proves to be a success, we could see an increase of as much as 20 percent next year,” he said as people crowded around the latest models at the annual expo in Jakarta.

    Indonesia’s central bank estimates the reprieve, which runs through March 2017, could lure as much as 560 trillion rupiah ($43 billion) of undeclared income back to the country from overseas.

    If the amnesty lives up to those projections, it will lift economic growth and enable the government to continue with an ambitious infrastructure program.

    With a population of 256 million, Indonesia is Honda’s third-biggest overseas market after the U.S. and China.

    Honda, which is No. 2 in the Indonesian car market behind Toyota Motor Corp., posted 35 percent sales growth in the first half, official data show, compared with 1.2 percent expansion for the industry as a whole.

    Some of Honda’s fastest expansion is occurring in outlying areas of the archipelago, such as Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia, Fandy said. If the 20 percent growth estimate comes to pass in 2017, that would be the sharpest growth since 2012.

    Total car sales will rise to 1.05 million units in 2016 from 1.01 million last year, Yohannes Nangoi, chairman of Indonesia’s automotive industry association, known as Gaikindo, told reporters on Aug. 11.

    PT Astra International, which manufactures and distributes Toyota cars in Indonesia, recorded a 4.1 percent expansion in sales in the first half, Gaikindo figures show. Toyota controls 33 percent of the market, with Honda at 21 percent.

    “The comeback of the Indonesian market is extremely good for Japanese automakers” struggling with a shrinking home market, said Koji Endo, a Tokyo-based analyst at SBI Securities Co. “Honda may benefit the most as it has a big share in the motorcycle market there and people tend to step up to vehicles of the same brand.”

    Southeast Asia’s largest economy beat estimates to expand 5.18 percent in the second quarter from 4.92 percent in the previous three months. Bank Indonesia is forecasting full-year growth of 5.4 percent, including an estimated 0.3 percentage point increase from the amnesty.

    While the tax reprieve could boost automotive sales, it’s too early to tell how successful it will be and if Honda’s projection is achievable, said Isnaputra Iskandar, an analyst at PT Maybank Kim Eng Securities in Jakarta. Iskandar raised Astra International to a buy this month, citing the improving economy and a recent rule reducing the minimum level for hire-purchase deposits for vehicle purchases. Honda’s Indonesian unit isn’t listed.

    Honda sold 109,662 cars in Indonesia in the first half and is targeting 180,000 for the full year, said Fandy, who oversaw an almost quadrupling of sales in the 10 years through 2015. The company has the capacity to produce 200,000 cars a year at its manufacturing plant in Karawang, east of Jakarta, and has the flexibility to increase that to 240,000, he said.

    “Indonesia is among the few countries in the world with a bright future for the automotive industry,” Fandy said.

  • Indonesia Intensifies Awareness Campaign on Tax Amnesty Program

    Indonesia Intensifies Awareness Campaign on Tax Amnesty Program

    The Administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is racing against time to make its tax amnesty program a success, in order to increase the much needed state revenues.

    Officially launched on July 1, the tax amnesty program is effective from July 18, 2016 until March 31, 2017.

    The first period of its implementation is from July 18 until September 30, 2016; the second is from October 1 until December 31, 2016; and the third period is from January 1 until March 31, 2017.

    The tax amnesty program has a specific period, therefore there should be no delay in its implementation, President Jokowi was quoted as saying by new Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati recently.

    He particularly asked Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to complete all regulations on implementation of the tax amnesty.

    Regulations on the tax amnesty must be completed soon, so the program could be carried out successfully, Minister Mulyani said at the presidential palace, here on July 28, after receiving a directive by the President on the tax amnesty for officials of the tax directorate general of the finance ministry.

    The tax amnesty program is designed to be a significant incentive for taxpayers, since the compensation interest to be charged is only two percent, according to the minster.

    “We are trying, during the period from now until September, to create trust building, convenience and, finally, success in developing a tax system,” she said.

    The president asked every tax officer to not only be ready and proactive in the implementation of the tax amnesty program, but also to secure the state revenue, in general.

    For that purpose, tax officers should be honest, professional and have no conflicts of interest.

    In his directives, President Jokowi said he believed that the momentum to carry out the tax amnesty is right at present, as the public has been enthusiastic in attending the tax amnesty education sessions that have been held.

    The tax amnesty socialization activities have been well received, as the number of people attending the events were larger than those invited for the events, he explained.

    “From three socialization activities that we have carried out, I have seen huge enthusiasm from the public and businessmen. In Surabaya, 2,000 people were invited, and 2,700 people came. In Medan, it was even more. 3,000 people were invited, and 3,500 people came to the event,” the President said.

    Jokowi is scheduled to carry out the tax amnesty sessions in Makassar, Jakarta, and even Singapore in the near future.

    The Indonesian government has implemented a new tax amnesty program to boost tax revenues by encouraging the repatriation of funds stashed abroad.

    The government will impose a two to five percent tax on assets repatriated to the country by March 2017.

    These assets must be invested in Indonesia for a period of three years in funds managed by appointed banks and can be invested in several ways, including government bonds.

    The government said many rich Indonesians have parked thousands of trillions rupiah abroad to evade tax.

    At least Rp4,000 trillion of the fund are expected to be declared and Rp1,000 trillion of which would be repatriated and invested in the country.

    When launching the tax amnesty program on July 1, Jokowi urged the countrys business community, whose members had so far been stashing assets overseas, to avail the government`s program.

    “This is an opportunity that will not come again. Anyone who wishes to make use of it can go ahead and the rest should be prepared for the consequences,” the President stated.

    “So, we hope these funds are repatriated immediately. We will need Rp4,900 trillion in the next five years to develop infrastructure. The national budget can only provide Rp1,500 trillion and the rest must come from investment and businesses. There is no other alternative,” he explained.

    In the meantime, the Indonesian Police (Polri) will guarantee legal certainty and safety of tax amnesty applicants.

    Polri is supporting the governments tax amnesty program and has helped maintain the investment climate by not disturbing activities of investors already in Indonesia, the Head of Polris Crime Investigation Department (Bareskrim), Commissioner General Ari Dono Sukmanto said on July 28.

    The National Police is implementing the instructions of the President Joko Widodo and Law No. 11 Year 2016 on Tax Amnesty, to guarantee safety and legal certainty of the applicants, he added.

    Detectives should focus not only on merely finding wrongdoings of tax payers, particularly tax amnesty applicants, he remarked.

    Polri, in cooperation with several financial institutions, such as Indonesias Financial Services Authority (OJK), Bank Indonesias regional offices, and the Tax Directorate General, will issue appeals to businessmen and individuals, who have stashed their money overseas, to return their money to Indonesia and keep them in domestic banks.

    “Polri will also guarantee the secrecy of data of tax payers applying for amnesty. Those who leak the data will be punished,” he said.

    Furthermore, State-owned bank PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) has set a target to collect funds at least worth Rp60 trillion from the tax amnesty program, through both bank and non-bank products.

    “The target would not be achieved without the dissemination of information that the BRI is ready to offer tax amnesty services to the clients and public, both in the country and overseas,” PT BRI Director Sis Apik Wijayanto noted at an event to raise awareness on the tax amnesty program in Lampung, on July 28.

    The BRI has disseminated information on its tax amnesty-related products and services across all its branches in the country.

    In Lampung Province alone, 14 branches and 97 units of BRI are ready to offer tax amnesty services, he remarked.

    The event was attended by 100 people, mostly businessmen from Lampung.

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