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Jakarta Post

Regulation against bank secrecy to affect only foreign clients initially

A government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) aimed at reducing bank secrecy as part of a global initiative to fight tax evasion will only apply to banks’ foreign customers in the first stage of its implementation.

Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, March 3, 2017

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The Directorate General of Taxation's international taxation director, John Hutagaol (left), speaks at an event. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama ) The Directorate General of Taxation's international taxation director, John Hutagaol (left), speaks at an event. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama ) (JP/File)

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government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) aimed at reducing bank secrecy as part of a global initiative to fight tax evasion will only apply to foreign customers in the first stage of its implementation.

A Perppu is equal to a law and can only be issued in urgent cases. In this case, the Perppu is part of the government’s efforts to comply with the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), a global initiative that defines new standards for fighting international tax evasion.

The AEOI requires the elimination of bank secrecy, which still exists in Indonesia’s banking law.

(Read also: Banking secrecy scrapped in May 2017)

“Then it [the Perppu] is ready, it will be [implemented] for foreign customers in the form of individual and institutional taxpayers,” said John Hutagaol, international taxation director at the Directorate General of Taxation, after a seminar on the AEOI on Friday.

Meanwhile, Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said the OJK, which oversees banking and the financial industry, was currently preparing a circular for banks to support the Perppu implementation, which is expected to take effect in May.

“We will issue the common reporting standard [CRS] through an OJK circular, which is almost complete and probably will be ready by the end of March,” he said.

The common reporting standard covers a mechanism at banks related to foreign customers, including those that should lay open their data for taxation purposes. (bbn)

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