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Benefits await those who repatriate money from overseas: OJK
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Taxpayers wait to register for the tax amnesty program at the directorate general of taxation in Jakarta on Sept. 30. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Financial Services Authority (OJK) has urged Indonesians to take advantage of the tax amnesty program and repatriate their money back to Indonesia, saying that the government has prepared some attractive financial instruments to encourage this process.
Nurhaida, an OJK commissioner for capital market supervision, said on Thursday one of the government’s stimulus packages catered for investors in real estate investment trusts (REITs).
“One of the products controlled by the OJK is REITs. We have offered tax incentives,” she said on Thursday.
Although the first phase of the program exceeded expectations, the amount of money brought back from foreign countries amounted to just Rp 137 trillion (US$10.5 billion), or 14 percent of the Rp 1 quadrillion target set by the government.
The REIT concept is attractive because it gives benefits to both buyers and sellers, Nurhaida said.
For instance, a shopping mall owner usually has to wait for years to obtain a return on his or her investment. With REITs, investment managers could offer this property to the public. Then, people could invest their money into the REIT to buy the asset collectively.
“The property owner gains benefits because they are able to obtain cash and use it immediately to purchase other assets, while for buyers, they can accrue profits from rent from the shopping mall tenants,” she added.
The government plans to impose just a 0.5 percent final income tax rate on sales of property to REITs from a previous rate of 5 percent. (win/bbn)
