IIFC Has Its Own Court, Including Tax Dispute Jurisdiction
JAKARTA, DDTCNews - Law 6/2026 on the Indonesian International Financial Centre (IIFC) also contains provisions on a specialised court known as the IIFC Court.
The IIFC Court holds special and exclusive authority to examine, adjudicate and rule on various cases, including those relating to the granting of tax facilities in the IIFC.
"The IIFC Court shall have special and exclusive jurisdiction to examine, adjudicate and decide, including ... cases arising from the granting of tax facilities at the IIFC," reads Article 39 paragraph (1) subparagraph c of the IIFC Law, as cited on Monday (2/11/2026).
In addition to tax cases, the IIFC Court also handles cases related to business activities in the IIFC, cases arising from contracts that are implemented or will be implemented, in whole or in part, at the IIFC, cases arising from transactions at the IIFC, bankruptcy and restructuring cases of entrepreneurs established or registered in the IIFC as well as cases agreed by the parties to be resolved in the IIFC Court.
The IIFC Court will examine and rule on cases by adopting, incorporating, applying or adapting international standards, including those used in other financial centres.
When handling cases at both first instance and appellate level, at least one judge on the panel must be a Supreme Court justice appointed as a judge of the IIFC Court.
Supreme Court justices serving in the IIFC must possess expertise in international commercial law, finance, capital markets, banking, bankruptcy, taxation, technology, private international law, arbitration and/or other fields related to the purposes of the IIFC.
Ad hoc judges at the IIFC must satisfy five requirements, namely:
- physically and mentally fit;
- having expertise in the fields of international commercial law, financial law, banking law, capital market law, solvency law, tax law, law in the field of technology, international civil litigation, arbitration and/or other fields related to the purposes of the IIFC;
- a minimum of 40 years old at the time of the selection process;
- having never been sentenced to imprisonment based on a court decision that has obtained permanent legal force for committing a crime punishable by imprisonment of 5 (five) years or more; and
- honest, fair, competent, possessing high moral integrity as well as a good international reputation and fluent in English.
In respect of ad hoc judges, the IIFC permits the recruitment of ad hoc judges who are foreign nationals. Ad hoc judges are appointed to handle specific cases exclusively.
To attract foreign-national ad hoc judge candidates to the IIFC, the IIFC Law provides a tax facility in the form of a 0% final income tax on income received by ad hoc judges.
This 0% final income tax is granted from the date on which the ad hoc judge presides over a trial at the IIFC Court. (dik)