BERITA TERKINI
JAKARTA, DDTCNews - Tax refunds remained in the public spotlight over the past week. Most recently, Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, responded to taxpayers’ complaints regarding the alleged existence of refund quotas at individual tax offices (kantor pelayanan pajak/KPP in Indonesian).
Responding to the reports, the minister of finance stressed that tax offices do not impose any restrictions or quotas on the disbursement of tax refunds. Tax refunds to taxpayers, he added, have continued uninterrupted to date.
In fact, total tax refunds disbursed by the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) reached approximately IDR160 trillion during January–April 2026.
“There is no quota [for refund disbursements at tax offices]. We are simply reviewing and ensuring whether the refunds are legitimate. If something appears irregular, we hold it first,” he said.
Purbaya revealed that significant tax revenue leakages had arisen from excessively large and poorly targeted refunds. Therefore, he continued, the tax authority is now exercising greater caution and scrutiny in processing refund disbursements.
However, he reiterated that there are no limitations on refund disbursements to taxpayers. He merely wishes to ensure that refunds are genuinely granted to eligible taxpayers, particularly entrepreneurs entitled to such refunds.
“To date, we have disbursed more than IDR160 trillion. By comparison, last year’s full-year figure reached IDR360 trillion. I do not know whether those refunds were entirely legitimate or involved collusion. I have instructed the director general of taxes to re-examine the nature of those refunds, but the process is ongoing,” Purbaya claimed.
To prevent state losses stemming from technical errors or misconduct in refund disbursements, Purbaya stated that tax refund performance for the 2016–2025 period is currently being audited by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (Badan Pengawas Keuangan dan Pembangunan/BPKP in Indonesian).
Purbaya admitted that he is still awaiting the audit findings from the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency and therefore, could not yet provide further details regarding tax refund processes in previous years.
Nevertheless, he assured the public that the refund process would be handled seriously by tightening disbursement procedures as well as taking action against problematic tax officials involved in refund approval.
Beyond developments surrounding tax refunds, several other issues also sparked public attention over the past week. These included Indonesia’s ‘world-leading’ transparency in tax expenditures, the government’s policies on single-gate exports of natural resources and the latest developments surrounding the implementation of the global minimum tax (GMT).
Indonesia has been recognised as the world’s most transparent country in reporting tax expenditures.
Referring to the Global Tax Expenditures Transparency Index (GTETI) released in May 2026, Indonesia’s tax expenditure report is classified as more transparent than those of 115 other countries.
“This position reflects a consistent upward trend since the index was first introduced in 2023. At that time, Indonesia ranked 15th, rose to 2nd place in 2024 and this year Indonesia occupies the top position,” the Ministry of Finance stated in an official release.
The government continues to prepare the regulations required to mandate the export of all natural resource commodities through PT Danantara Sumber Daya Indonesia as the sole exporter beginning 1 June 2026.
The obligation to export natural resource commodities through state-owned enterprises (badan usaha milik negara/BUMN in Indonesian) will be governed under a government regulation concerning the Governance of Exports of Natural Resource Commodities. In addition, implementing regulations of the government regulation are being prepared by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Trade and Bank Indonesia.
“Various regulatory instruments from the Ministry of Trade, Bank Indonesia and the minister of finance will also be prepared and finalised before 1 June,” Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, stated.
The government believes that bureaucratic reforms within the DGT and the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DGCE) as well as improvements to the coretax system have contributed to stronger state revenue performance at the start of the second quarter of 2026.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, stated that improvements in institutional performance and the coretax system have also strengthened taxpayer compliance in paying and filing taxes. In line with this, tax revenue grew by 16.1% through April 2026.
“This is also due to the success of the coretax. Now the system operates automatically. Every time a person pays taxes, the data goes directly into coretax. When filing tax returns, taxpayers no longer need to re-enter data as it is pre-populated, making it impossible for people to manipulate their tax payments,” he explained.
The DGT estimates that 46 multinational enterprise (MNE) groups in Indonesia will fall within the scope of Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules (GloBE) in 2025.
According to the Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, the figure was derived from country-by-country reporting (CbCR) data from 2021 to 2024.
“There are 46 multinational enterprise groups that fulfil the filing obligation requirements under GloBE rules based on CbCR data from 2021 through 2024,” Bimo claimed during a Kompak seminar organized by the Tax Training and Education Center and the Faculty of Economics and Business of Gadjah Mada University. (sap)
