Access Financial Information for Tax Interests (Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 year 2017)

Access Financial Information for Tax Interests

The Government issued Government Regulation in Lieu of Law access to information for taxation through Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 Year 2017 signed on May 8, 2017. This is the answer of a very long waiting for the Directorate General of Taxation to gain access to financial information for the benefit of taxation. This regulation is made not only for foreign interests but also for domestic interest.

Viewed from foreign interests, this issuance of this Government Regulation in Lieu of Law in order to support the commitments that have been made by Indonesia together with the G20 countries to support the implementation of the exchange of automatic financial information (Automatic Exchange of Information / AEOI).

Viewed from domestic interests, is expected to increase the extent of tax data owned by the Directorate General of Taxation. Given that Indonesia embraces a tax system based on self assessment, a strong database is key to increasing tax revenues as well as tax ratios.

Taxpayers should not be worry about the enactment of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 1 of 2017 and Regulation of the Minister of Finance No. 73 / PMK.03 / 2017. There are at least seven reasons why a taxpayer should not have to worry about it:

First, access to financial information is only for tax purposes, not for other purposes. The regulation clearly limits the authority of the Directorate General of Taxes which can only access financial information for tax purposes from financial service institutions conducting activities in the banking sector, capital markets, insurance, other financial services institutions and / or other entities classified as financial institutions in accordance with the standards of exchange of financial information under international agreements in the field of taxation.

Secondly, the Government / Directorate General of Taxes will protect the security and confidentiality of customer data in accordance with the provisions of the tax laws and international agreements.

Third, only certain Directorate General of Taxes have an access and there are criminal sanctions for the leaked. The regulation prohibits any officials, both tax officers and parties performing duties in the field of taxation, and experts appointed by the Director General of Taxes to assist in the implementation of the provisions of the taxation legislation, to leak, distribute and / or notify financial information and / or information and / or evidence or information relating to taxpayer financial information to unauthorized parties in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations in the field of taxation. If the reckless violation of the security and confidentiality of customer data sanctions will be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 41 of the Law on General Provisions and Procedures of Taxation (UU KUP).

Fourth, not all customer data must be automatically reported to the Directorate General of Taxation due to threshold. There are limitation of personal financial accounts that must be reported to the Directorate General of Taxes with the least amount being Rp1,000,000,000.00 (one billion). That should be reported is the balance or the value of the financial account as of December 31 in the calendar year of reporting and not the mutation in each account.

Fifth, as long as the customer's fund and the income that is the source of the customer's fund have been reported to the Annual Income Tax Return, there will be no problem in taxation because it means all the Income Tax has been paid.

Sixth, the public has been given the opportunity to follow the Amnesty Tax, so that customer funds should have no longer tax problems.

Seventh, for taxpayers who have not reported the Annual Tax Return can immediately submit an Annual Income Tax Return that includes the balance of the accounts owned. Even so if the taxpayer does not participate in the Amnesty Tax and has not reported the account balance correctly in the Annual Tax Return can still make a correction.

So the taxpayer or the customers do not have to worry about saving money in the bank, because the taxpayer director's access is only to see how big the nominal is, not to leak it to the public. And it has been emphasized that anyone who leaked the customer's account to the public will be subject to strict sanctions with the most severe punishment is the death penalty. With the sanctions, it is expected to improve transparency and not to harm the community, and the public should not be worry if it can be misused. Furthermore, the Directorate General of Taxes is also restricted to the authority to access financial information only for tax purposes, not for other purposes.

Source : http://pajak.go.id/content/article/7-alasan-tidak-perlu-panik-atas-terbitnya-Government Regulation in Lieu of Law-nomor-1-tahun-2017