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Taxpayers wait until last minute to file tax amnesty applications
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Better late than never: Taxpayers wait for their turn to file tax amnesty applications at the tax office headquarters in South Jakarta on Sept. 27. (JP/Donny Fernando)
H
undreds of people swarmed to the tax office headquarters in South Jakarta on Friday morning to submit tax amnesty applications – either their own or their clients’ – as the deadline for the second phase of the program will end on New Year’s Eve.
Tax consultant Fungsiawan of Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, said he came on behalf of his two small and medium enterprise (SME) clients.
“Most of my clients prefer to submit tax amnesty applications as close as possible to the deadline, because they often are still using their money to run their businesses. So, they will wait until they can collect enough money [to pay the penalty fees],” the 28-year-old man told The Jakarta Post.
(Read also: Tax office sees surge of tax amnesty applicants as deadline nears)
Fungsiawan said he had represented 20 SMEs in managing their tax amnesty application during the program’s second phase, which runs from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Most of his clients are vendors in Glodok, the capital’s largest Chinatown, and Tanah Abang textile market in Central Jakarta.
“In the first period of the tax amnesty, I represented 80 SMEs,” he added.
Agustin Irianti, who works for an SME in East Jakarta, meanwhile, said she had filed a tax amnesty application on behalf of the SME owner.
“My boss kept saying that it could be done ‘later’. He finally asked me to file the application as the deadline got closer,” she said.
The final phase of the tax amnesty program will run from Jan. 1 until Mar. 31, 2017. (hwa)
