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SMEs should participate in tax amnesty's second phase: Businesspeople
The phenomenon of big taxpayers publicly submitting their tax amnesty applications has become an indirect campaign to lure other people to follow, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in the second phase.
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Tycoon Murdaya Poo (right) files a tax amnesty request at South Jakarta tax office in Jakarta on Monday. (Antara/Yudhi Mahatma)
T
he phenomenon of big taxpayers publicly submitting their tax amnesty applications has become an indirect campaign to lure other people to follow, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in the second phase.
Many tycoons such as Sofjan Wanandi, Murdaya Poo, James Riady, Sandiaga Uno, Aburizal Bakrie and Arifin Panigoro have applied for the program. They let themselves be covered by the media, giving an example of how smooth the tax pardon process is.
"The news on big taxpayers motivates other big taxpayers to participate [ in the program], and we hope it will motivate SMEs to submit their applications in the second period," Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) advisory board chairman Sofjan Wanandi told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Thursday.
In the first phase of the program, the tax office prioritized big taxpayers, as SMEs with a revenue up to Rp 4.8 billion (US$370,000) per annum are given special privilege with flat rates until the end of the program: a 0.5 percent declaration rate for SMEs with revenue up to Rp 10 billion and two percent for those with more than Rp10 billion revenue per year.
Businessman-turned-politician Sandiaga Uno said tax amnesty will be beneficial for SMEs because it will ease their tax expenses. Sandiaga was vice president for SMEs at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) before changing his direction to politics.
"They need money to develop their business, and this program can ease their expense for tax liabilities," the Jakarta gubernatorial election candidate said. (ags)
