JAKARTA. The government will release a government regulation in lieu of law to disclose the data of banking customers. This is part of the requirement of the participation in Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI) on taxation.
The Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasona Laoly said, the issuance of the government regulation in lieu of law aims at preventing some issues related to the law aspects for implementing the data exchange.
The issuance of the government regulation in lieu of law is essential, on the grounds that some laws, which are supposed to be the references for accessing the banking data, have been under the revision process. Those laws include the Law on the General Provisions on Taxation (KUP), the Law on the Income Tax, the Law on Value Added Tax, as well as the Law on Indonesia’s banking.
The Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati said, the government is still pursuing the discussion on the revision of the Law on KUP. However, “This will be complicated, as the Law on Banking, Sharia Banking, or the Law on Capital Market still accommodate some articles related to the customers’ data secrecy,” Sri said.
The issuance of the government regulation in lieu of law may provide an opportunity to reform the financial and taxation information systems. “This is the moment to develop the database of taxation administration, which migh be useful to increase our taxation ratio,” said President Joko Widodo.
Chief of Center for State Revenues Policy at Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry of Finance Goro Ekanto said, the issuance of the government regulation in lieu of law will remove the obligation of banks to keep the data secrecy for the taxation purposes. The obligation itself is stipulated under the Law on Banking, the Law on Sharia Banking, and other laws, which stipulate the customers’ data secrecy.
"With the issuance of the government regulation in lieu of law, Indonesia has fulfilled the requirement of primary law (to implement the AEoI),” he said.
Some bankers do not object to the plan to issue the government regulation in lieu of law.
"That is normal. After all, starting from this year, the taxpayers in almost across the world can no longer hide their assets or deposits in the banks,” said the Director of Financial and Treasury of Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) Iman Nugroho Soeko.
Meanwhile, Corporate Secretary of BNI Ryan Kiryanto expects that the Directorate General and Taxation, OJK (Financial Service Authority), BI (the Central Bank), as well the law enforcers need to build coordination to support this policy. Therefore, the policy will be solid and effective. “The proper socialization will calm down the customers,” he said. (Muhammad Farid/Translator)
