BERITA TERKINI
JAKARTA, DDTCNews – Over the past week, public discussions have largely centred on MSME taxation and cigarette excise. In terms of MSME taxation, the government has resolved to prolong the final income tax scheme for individuals constituting MSME entrepreneurs.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, announced that the MSME final income tax scheme, with a rate of 0.5%, will remain in effect for individual taxpayers until 2029.
“Concerning the MSME final income tax, which yields IDR4.8 billion in annual revenues, the 0.5% final tax will remain in place until 2029. This implies that it's not extended annually, but is rather guaranteed until 2029,” he remarked.
According to Airlangga, currently, 542,000 MSMEs are registered as taxpayers and benefit from the MSME final income tax scheme to fulfil their tax obligations. This year, the government has allocated IDR2 trillion to sustain the implementation of the MSME final income tax.
The government will subsequently revise the government regulation (Gov. Reg.) to extend the validity period of the MSME final income tax for individual taxpayers. The MSME final income tax utilisation period is stipulated under Gov. Reg. 55/2022.
The extension of the MSME final income tax scheme aims to reduce the tax burden on MSMEs and simplify taxpayers’ administrative obligations.
Further, on the matter of cigarette excise, multiple stakeholders have urged a reduction in tobacco excise tariffs. Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa stated that the tobacco excise tariff policy for the forthcoming year is being reviewed.
Purbaya stated that any policy pertaining to tobacco excise tariffs must be grounded in thorough analysis, including field studies on the implementation of the current tobacco excise policy.
“[The policy] depends on the findings we obtain in the field,” he added.
Purbaya further highlighted that a revised excise tariff policy will only be introduced once the Ministry of Finance completes a comprehensive assessment.
This is on account of the tobacco excise’s close connection to state revenue.
At the same time, he is closely monitoring the proliferation of illegal cigarettes, which continue to undermine the legal cigarette industry, specifically through the use of counterfeit excise stamps.
“They claim there is misconduct. Where is the misconduct? If I fix this, I can eradicate counterfeit excise stamps. How much additional revenue would that generate? From there, I will proceed,” he stated.
The proposal to lower the tobacco excise tariffs surfaced amidst layoffs (pemutusan hubungan kerja/PHK in Indonesian) at a major cigarette factory in East Java, with the high excise tariffs cited as a contributing factor.
In addition to the two headline issues, other interesting information merits attention throughout this week, including stronger indications of the establishment of the State Revenue Agency (Badan Penerimaan Negara/BPN in Indonesian), updates on the tax amnesty and progress in the coretax system improvements.
The 2025 Government Work Plan (Rencana Kerja Pemerintah/RKP in Indonesian) has undergone amendments, which are modest in scale, yet significant in substance. President Prabowo Subianto has officially included the establishment of a ‘State Revenue Agency’ (Badan Penerimaan Negara/BPN in Indonesian) as one of the points in the Quickest Best Results Programme in the 2025 Government Work Plan. This underscores mounting signal for the establishment of the State Revenue Agency.
The provisions outlined in Presidential Regulation (Presidential Reg.) 79/2025 amend Presidential Reg. 109/2024, which contained President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) version of the 2025 Government Work Plan.
In the eighth point of the revised 2025 Government Work Plan, the government is set to establish a State Revenue Agency and increase the ratio of state revenue to gross domestic product (GDP) to 23%. This marks a shift from the previous version of the 2025 Government Work Plan, wherein the government only included the phrase ‘Optimisation of state revenues’ without explicitly naming the State Revenue Agency.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, has asserted that the tax amnesty policy should not be repeated.
Other than undermining the programme’s credibility, Purbaya is concerned that recurring tax amnesties risk conveying the impression that taxpayers are allowed to evade taxes with the expectation of eventual forgiveness from the government through the amnesty programme.
“In the case of repeated tax amnesties, what becomes of their credibility? It signals to taxpayers that they are allowed to breach the law, anticipating another amnesty in the future,” he told the media at the Ministry of Finance office.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, plans to personally review the development and readiness of the coretax system to support tax administration.
Purbaya acknowledged that he has frequently received positive reports that the coretax is functioning reliably and stably to date. To verify these reports, however, he intends to closely monitor the progress of the coretax in person.
“What is the actual internal readiness? If they [DGT employees] say the system is running well, they are misleading me. I will review it myself as I have yet to conduct any spot checks on the coretax,” he claimed.
Commission XI of the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR in Indonesian) has included the State Finance Draft Law, rather than the Tax Amnesty Draft Law, in the 2026 Priority National Legislation Programme (Program Legislasi Nasional/Prolegnas in Indonesian).
The State Finance Draft Law stems from the 2025 Priority National Legislation Programme. The Tax Amnesty Draft Law, initially part of the 2025 Priority National Legislation Programme, has now been shifted to the long list.
“According to the letter submitted by Commission XI of the DPR, they will deliberate on the State Finance Draft Law. As such, the tax amnesty draft law has been moved to the long list,” said Deputy Chairperson of the Legislative Body (Baleg) of the House of Representatives, Martin Manurung.
The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has relaunched the Tax Volunteers for the Nation (Relawan Pajak untuk Negeri/Renjani in Indonesian) programme for the 2026 period.
The registration for Renjani programme runs from 1 September to 5 October 2025. Following registration, volunteer training and levelling tests are scheduled for 8 September to 28 November 2025, the results of which will be announced from 1 December to 12 December 2025.
The DGT will subsequently announce the final results from 8 December to 31 December 2025. The Renjani programme will be implemented from 1 January to 31 December 2026. (sap)
