“As long as the required documents are all submitted, it takes officials only about five minutes to process my application. No hassle and no red tape,” said Sofjan, adding that this amnesty was only for his personal wealth, while his business group and children would lodge applications separately.

Sofjan filed for amnesty at the headquarters of the Finance Ministry’s Directorate General of Taxation on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta where a one-stop service facility for Indonesia’s richest wanting to partake in the program is provided.

The priority lane is aimed at potentially serving the country’s more than 120 top corporation owners when they are set to simultaneously apply for the amnesty in September — the last period to capitalize on the lowest penalty rate of 2 percent of declared net assets under the program.

Aside from bank representatives, the conglomerate owners in the priority lane will also be assisted by officials from the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), a powerful business lobby group.

“If privacy is a concern, tax officials can come to the residences or offices of big taxpayers to process their amnesty applications,” said North Jakarta tax office chief Pontas Pane.

“We can also offer the amnesty to their family members as well there,” he said.

The Finance Ministry’s expert staff for tax supervision, Puspita W. Surono, said the ministry would go all out this month to serve the inflow of simultaneous applications from big taxpayers, who obviously had sophisticated asset management portfolios that required special

treatment.

APINDO has estimated that one conglomerate can consist of 50 companies, thus requiring the best officials at the tax office headquarters to swiftly process their applications.

“September is a priority for big taxpayers,” said Puspita. “The ministry has prepared an array of contingency measures to resolve bottlenecks, IT problems and other force majeure in processing the

applications.”

The government has projected some Rp 4 quadrillion (US$304 billion) worth of undeclared assets to be reported in the amnesty program, which will last for another seven months. Of the figure, some Rp 1 quadrillion is stashed overseas.

Launched in late June, around 2 percent of the targeted Rp 4 quadrillion in unreported assets had been declared last week. Of the Rp 1 quadrillion target of repatriated funds, only 0.76 percent had been realized.

The repatriated funds are particularly critical as the funds are desperately needed to jumpstart the sluggish economy.

“I am not only declaring my unreported assets, but also repatriating a big chunk of them to be invested here. I hope my example will encourage others to follow suit,” said Sofjan, whose empire, the Santini Group, deals in automotive parts, infrastructure, natural resources, property development and services.

When asked where he would invest his repatriated assets, Sofjan replied he would use them to buy companies and build a number of hotels in Indonesia.

Although Sofjan believed Indonesia was in dire need of the repatriated assets, he felt only as much as 35 percent of overseas assets would be repatriated and around Rp 1 quadrillion of unreported

assets declared.

“That’s probably the most logical figure. The Rp 4 quadrillion target is not only too high but also lacks rationality,” said Sofjan, Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s chief economic advisor and the prime initiator of the amnesty policy.

Later in the day, property magnate James Riady of the Lippo Group also received a red-carpet welcome at the Kebayoran Baru tax office as he submitted an amnesty application.

Sofjan and James are the first wave of high-profile tycoons to participate publicly in the program. Other business magnates such as Tahir of the Mayapada Group and the Bakrie family are also said to be keen

to partake.

“We’re exploring the possibility of participating, whether as family members or companies,” said Anindya Bakrie, the eldest son of family scion Aburizal Bakrie.

___________________________________

To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.

For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com

Popular

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Analysis: Indonesia denies normalization with Israel to enter OECD

Citroen to produce electric cars in Indonesia