BERITA TERKINI
JAKARTA, DDTCNews - The news surrounding the planned revision of Government Regulation (Gov. Reg.) 55/2022 has garnered significant public attention over the past week. Progress on the revision of Gov. Reg. 55/2022 was conveyed by the Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, during a hearing with the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR in Indonesian) earlier this week.
One of the proposed amendments concerns the removal of the time limit on the use of the 0.5% micro, small and medium (MSME) final income tax for individual taxpayers and sole proprietorships incorporated by one person.
According to the director general of taxes, the change aims to render opportunities for eligible individual taxpayers. He claimed that numerous eligible taxpayers have been unable to utilise the MSME final income tax simply because the applicable period has elapsed.
“We are proposing an amendment to Article 59 Chapter X of Gov. Reg. 55/2022, nullifying a specific time limit for individual taxpayers and sole proprietorships incorporated by a single individual or privately held limited liability companies,” he remarked.
Bimo further emphasized that the utilisation period for the final income tax would not be extended for corporate taxpayers other than sole proprietorships.
For corporate taxpayers, the utilisation period will remain 3 years or 4 years, in line with the current regulation, i.e., Gov. Reg. 55/2022.
“Corporate taxpayers that are no longer eligible to use the 0.5% final income tax are required to begin maintaining bookkeeping to calculate the income tax payable using the statutory rates under Article 17 of the Income Tax Law,” added Bimo.
Please note that Article 59 of Gov. Reg. 55/2022 prescribes 3 different utilisation periods of the 0.5% final income tax. First, the use of MSME final income tax for a maximum of 7 years for individual taxpayers.
Second, a maximum of 4 years for corporate taxpayers in the form of cooperatives, limited partnerships, firms, village-owned enterprises/joint village-owned enterprises or sole proprietorships incorporated by one person. Third, a maximum of 3 tax years for corporate taxpayers in the form of limited liability companies (perseroan terbatas/PT in Indonesian).
The time limits for the utilisation of the MSME final income tax only apply to taxpayers registered after the entry into force of Gov. Reg. 55/2022, implying that the period of the imposition of final income tax begins from the tax year the taxpayer concerned is registered.
In addition to the update on the amendments to Gov. Reg. 55/2022, several other highly discussed tax issues that surfaced over the past week also merit attention.
These include the shift in the DGT's approach to taxpayers, the issuance of the SP2DK that is widely discussed in the House of Representatives, alleged corruption in the tax amnesty programme, provisions on former DGT employees wishing to change profession to become tax consultants and the dismissal of dozens of DGT employees.
The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) plans to adopt a cooperative compliance approach to enhance taxpayer compliance in response to the growing economic complexity and increasing cross-jurisdictional transactions.
Bimo Wijayanto explained that the current compliance model relies heavily on punitive mechanisms, which impose penalties on violations. Such an enforcement model has been effective only for basic compliance.
“However, as the economy grows increasingly complex, cross-border transactions expand and digital business models evolve, the simple conceptual approach of an enforcement-driven model has become ineffective,” he said in a keynote address at a seminar titled Reinventing Tax Compliance: From Enforcement to Cooperative Compliance, hosted by FEB UI and DDTC.
Member of Commission XI of the House of Representatives, Wahyu Sanjaya, highlighted the surge in letters of inquiry (surat permintaan penjelasan atas data dan/atau keterangan/SP2DK in Indonesian) recently issued by the DGT.
Wahyu claimed that he received complaints from taxpayers receiving the SP2DK merely for utilising the government-borne (ditanggung pemerintah/DTP in Indonesian) value added tax (VAT) facility when purchasing houses, despite the Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa having promoted the tax facility to the public.
“Tax officers issue thousands of SP2DK, implying non-compliance. I simply do not see the correlation between the minister’s statements and what is happening in the field,” he said.
Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa addressed allegations of corruption in the tax amnesty program involving a former director general of taxes.
Purbaya said that he had yet to receive detailed information from the Attorney General's Office regarding the alleged corruption case. However, the Ministry of Finance respects the ongoing legal proceedings at the Attorney General's Office.
He stated that the legal process is entirely under the authority of the Attorney General’s Office. Several Ministry of Finance officials have already been summoned as witnesses during the examination stage. According to him, this round of reforms was initiated by the Attorney General's Office rather than the Ministry of Finance.
Bimo Wijayanto revealed plans for stricter requirements for former DGT employees seeking to become tax consultants.
Provisions on tax consultant requirements are currently regulated under the Minister of Finance Regulation (MoF Reg.) 111/2014 as amended by MoF Reg. 175/2022. Bimo intends to require former employees to wait 5 years before working as tax attorneys, consultants or in corporate tax functions, up from the current two-year requirement.
“If some staff consider resigning, I will impose a 5-year grace period, thereby, they cannot immediately work as tax attorneys, consultants or in corporate tax divisions,” he said.
Bimo expressed hope that no more DJP employees will commit misconduct requiring dismissal.
Since assuming office on 23 May 2025, Bimo has terminated 39 employees, which he believes should serve as a deterrent and warning for others.
“I hope 39 is enough. Losing 39 people means replacing them with 39 capable individuals. That alone should create a strong deterrent effect,” he stated. (sap)
