JAKARTA.The Government of Indonesia and DPR (the House of Representatives) agreed to isse a Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perpu), which will allow the access to banking data.
Let alone, this Perpu will become a requirement for Indonesia to implement the Automatic Exchange Information (AEoI). The Perpu is scheduled to be issued in April 2017, after the completion of tax amnesty program.
The Perpu will allow the Directorate General of Taxation to directly access the account of banks’ customers. In accordance with the international standard, “The access of tax authority to financial information has to be opened without any restriction,” said the Director of International Taxation at the Directorate General of Taxation John Hutagaol, Thursday (23/2).
Indonesia needs to create the Perpu to meet the requirement related to the domestic legislation framework to be the member of AEoI. Aside of the domestic legislation framework, the requirements for joining AEoI also include some provisions related to international legislation framework, IT infrastructure, as well as safeguard and confidentiality data.
Deputy Commissioner of OJK (the Financial Service Authority or FSA) Mulya Siregat said, this Perpu will replace some provisions related to the bank secrecy that include all domestic legislation frameworks, which are essential for the implementation of the AEoI. “Hopefully, it (the Perpu) may be released in March or April,” said Mulya Siregar, Thursday (23/2).
The issuance of the Perpu will remove some articles related to the bank secrecy, which have been included under the Law on Banking, the Law on Sharia Banking, the Law on Stock Exchange, and the Law on the General Provisions on Taxation. “There is no other option,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Commission XI of DPR Melchias Marcus Mekeng said the AEoI is the right option to minimize the assets hiding. The government actually can propose for creating a law related to this matter, on the grounds that the AEoI will have just taken into effect in the next year.
The member of Commission IX of DPR from PDIP Faction Andreas Eddy Susetyo and the member of Commission XI of DPR from Golkar Party Misbakhun estimate that the Perpu is a big decision. It has to be politically supported, as the Perpu will bring significant impacts to the economy and tax revenues, Misbakhun said.
To date, 101 countries have made commitment to implement the AEoI. Out of that number, 47 countries, including Indonesia and Singapore will implement the AEoI in 2018. (Muhammad Farid/Translator)
