Fostering Character-Driven Tax Consultants: Be a Trendsetter

JAKARTA, DDTCNews — Darussalam, Chairperson of the Association of All Indonesian Tax Centers and Tax Academicians (Perkumpulan Tax Center dan Akademisi Pajak Seluruh Indonesia/PERTAPSI in Indonesian), firmly believes that efforts to build a character-driven tax consultancy firm must begin with concrete actions.

At a sharing session held by the Indonesian Public Tax Consultants Association (Asosiasi Konsultan Pajak Publik Indonesia/AKP2I) themed Building Character-Driven Tax Consultants: Integrity, Communication, Leadership and Nationalism, Darussalam said that dreams will never materialise without action to bring them to fruition.

"Dream whatever you like. You are welcome to dream, but you will certainly wake up and face reality again. What does that mean? Action is needed. You need to leave your comfort zone," said Darussalam on Thursday (27/8/2026).

The concrete action Darussalam referred to is not merely imitating the conduct of previous consultants. To become a character-driven tax consultant, one must be a trendsetter rather than merely a follower.

Beyond playing an active role as a trendsetter, tax consultants also need to continually develop themselves to keep pace with the latest business and tax regulatory developments.

Without such efforts, a tax consultant will fall behind. "The primary stated capital of this profession is reading. Our regulations change at a remarkable pace. Today we may be experts; tomorrow that is not guaranteed," said Darussalam.

The latest development that will affect the types of services offered by tax consultants going forward is the emergence of cooperative compliance, which is transforming the nature of the relationship between the tax authority and taxpayers.

With cooperative compliance in place, the relationship between the tax authority, taxpayers and tax consultants acting as intermediaries is founded on mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual transparency.

Should cooperative compliance be fully implemented, tax consultants will inevitably need to prepare themselves and adapt the services they offer.

"The type of service demanded of the consulting profession in the future, once the cooperative compliance paradigm has been adopted, is how tax consultants can assure that the taxpayers they handle are already transparent," said Darussalam.

Under the cooperative compliance paradigm, the services offered by tax consultants will no longer focus on income tax return filing, audit and litigation.

"What is different from the previous paradigm? Previously, the relationship centred on an audit following income tax return filing. The work of consultants going forward will be about how to prepare income tax returns, thereby, they can be declared to satisfy the required criteria," stated Darussalam.

Accordingly, tax consultants will in future serve as the party bridging taxpayers and the government amid the shift from an enforcement-based relationship towards a cooperative one.

"So going forward, never expect to obtain a large volume of work from activities such as audits, objections, appeals or civil review. In future, services will shift towards how to prepare for collaboration at the outset, ensuring that before an income tax return is filed, the taxpayer has already complied with all tax regulations," said Darussalam.

For information, this sharing session was organised by AKP2I with the aim of building tax consultants who are character-driven, principled, have leadership qualities and uphold nationalism.

Chairperson Suherman Saleh, in his opening speech, said that knowledge and experience alone are insufficient for a tax consultant. In his view, tax consultants must also possess character and leadership qualities.

"Knowledge grounded in statutory laws and regulations is essential, but it must be combined with leadership and, most importantly, character," said Suherman.

Meanwhile, Gita Arasy Harwida, a lecturer in the Accounting Department at Trunojoyo Madura University (UTM) who served as moderator, said the sharing session could serve as stated capital for young consultants. (dik)