BERITA TERKINI
JAKARTA, DDTCNews – The Coretax has once again taken centre stage in public discussions this week. Nearly a year since its launch, Indonesia’s core tax administration system still faces unresolved issues and incomplete repairs.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, expressed his frustration over the coretax’s persistent flaws, including its design errors. To address these issues, Purbaya is prepared to enlist a team of external experts from outside the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to analyse the coretax.
“There are design flaws. Coretax has multiple layers before reaching end users, creating unnecessary complexity. Its interface is far from sophisticated, and when the system handles substantial input volumes, it becomes overloaded or crashes,” Purbaya stated in an interview with Garuda TV.
Purbaya also raised concerns about the coretax’s security. The system remains vulnerable to cyber attacks.
“When we tested its security, it only scored 30 out of 100. This implies that it’s highly exposed and easy to breach. I’m not sure whether the issue comes from excessive internal access or external interference, but what’s clear is that we must strengthen cybersecurity,” he said.,” he stated.
Moreover, Purbaya blamed the coretax for contributing to sluggish tax revenues. According to him, technical bottlenecks in the coretax system have delayed tax payments and disrupted the flow of state revenue, in particular, at the beginning of the year.
“The coretax also disrupted our revenue inflow in the first few months of this year. To date, some still report delays, but I believe the system will perform much faster within the next 2-3 weeks,” Purbaya claimed.
Purbaya assured that his ministry would continue to improve the coretax to enable taxpayers to pay taxes without delay. He confirmed that his team had conducted a system analysis and would complete the repairs by the end of October 2025.
Beyond the coretax issue, other tax developments also captured attention this week, including a lawsuit over income tax on severance pay and pensions, renewed discussions on the establishment of the State Revenue Agency (Badan Penerimaan Negara/BPN in Indonesian), the dismissal of dozens of Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) employees and the introduction of a new complaint channel by the Minister of Finance, Purbaya.
The DGT is set to ensure the readiness of the coretax system as a means for taxpayers to file their 2025 annual tax returns next year.
Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, stated that the DGT would conduct a stress test to assess the readiness of the coretax in handling a significant surge in user access.
“We will perform a stress test this month. Approximately 20,000 internal employees will simultaneously perform the stress test,” he added.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, expressed confidence that the government will prevail in the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi/MK in Indonesian) judicial review case challenging the imposition of income tax on severance pay and pensions under the Income Tax Law (ITL). Purbaya has instructed his legal team, representing the government, to secure a favourable ruling in the judicial review proceedings.
On another note, the case was filed by Rosul Siregar and Maksum Harahap, who filed a judicial review against Article 4 paragraph (1) and Article 17 of the ITL. Law.
The petitioners argue that these provisions, which serve as the legal basis for applying progressive tax rates on severance and pension income, are unconstitutional because they equate such payments with regular income derived from economic activities.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya, confirmed that the government has no immediate plans to establish a State Revenue Agency (Badan Penerimaan Negara/BPN in Indonesia).
According to Purbaya, the task of collecting state revenues will remain with the Ministry of Finance. Even without the establishment of the State Revenue Agency, he is confident that the tax ratio will continue to improve gradually.
“For the time being, it seems that such an agency will not be established. Taxes and customs will remain under the Ministry of Finance. I will personally manage and oversee these sectors. That's my responsibility,” he stated.
Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, has dismissed 39 DGT employees for engaging in misconduct, including fraud and bribery.
Bimo also revealed that last week, the Inspectorate General of the Ministry of Finance carried out a sting operation (operasi tangkap tangan/OTT in Indonesian) against 2 DGT employees.
“I deeply regret that within only 4 months [in office], I have had to dismiss 39 people. During the last national leadership meeting, when we gathered everyone in Jakarta, we were forced to conduct an OTT on 2 individuals," he remarked.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya, reported that he had received 15,933 reports related to taxes, customs and excise through ‘Lapor Pak Purbaya’ Whatsapp channel.
Purbaya elaborated that a dedicated team is currently verifying the public complaints.
“The complaints are sorted and selected carefully based on significance. I have 6 people assigned, 2 special staff, each supported by 2 additional personnel. We’ve allocated dedicated resources for this task,” said Purbaya. (sap)
