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fter a few months of tough talks, Indonesia has finally reached a tax settlement with Google, a unit of United States-based internet giant Alphabet Inc.

However, the secrecy about the ensuing deal made between the tax office and Google may undermine the country’s ability to collect revenue from other technology giants, such as Yahoo, Facebook and Twitter.

In her explanation of the resolution, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government had agreed with Google on the tax payment based on last year’s annual tax return, but she declined to provide figures.

“Because the nature of this issue is confidential, we cannot disclose how much a company or a taxpayer pays,” the minister said at her office on Tuesday.

According to the calculation of the tax office, Google owed trillions of Rupiah in back taxes and penalties from the past five years, including Rp 5 trillion (US$376 million) for 2015 operations alone.

With such high tax liabilities, it should have paid a 150 percent penalty.

Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indonesia’s pressure on Google and other tech companies, technically known as over-the-top (OTT) companies, over tax arrears comes at a time when the government is intensively seeking higher tax revenue to overcome state budget constraints. Added momentum comes from Indonesia’s participation in global efforts to fight tax evasion under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Google has faced similar tax problems across the globe, including in Europe, where it generates much of its revenue.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the firm claimed it did not have any tax liabilities on UK sales, because they were handled by its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. That is despite the fact that most of its salespeople are located in London.

After a six-year inquiry by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, which Indonesia consulted recently over the issue, Google finally agreed to pay £130 million (US$169 million) in back taxes.

The complicated corporate structure is also applied to its operations in Indonesia.

According to PT Google Indonesia’s tax filing audited by Ernst & Young Indonesia and seen by The Jakarta Post, it was subject to only Rp 5.2 billion in income tax in 2015, in line with the 25 percent income tax for corporations.

The tax authority earlier revealed that Google Indonesia had carried out work, such as giving assistance on Google services to clients and potential clients, under the command of Singapore-based Google Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. The former only received 3 percent of the latter’s revenue as a reimbursement and fees for such tasks requested by its Singaporean affiliate.

In the financial reports prepared by Google Asia Pacific and seen previously by the Post, the company, which manages contracts for advertising, services and product purchases, reported that it gained $109.2 million in revenues from Indonesian clients throughout 2015.

The government, through the Communications and Information Ministry, has also tried to force Google and other OTT companies to set up permanent establishments (BUT).

With a BUT, they would be required to report all domestic earnings from operations in the country and pay taxes accordingly.

Tax director general Ken Dwijugiasteadi insisted that by agreeing on a settlement based on the 2016 tax return, Google was actually subject to paying back taxes and penalties for the past five years as well, and to set up a BUT.

Experts believe the unexpected settlement would undermine Indonesia’s ability to also tax other big technology firms.

Digital business models create difficulties for the government to generate tax revenues, since income is often generated in other jurisdictions to where it is declared.

“The international taxation system currently doesn’t have a global consensus solution [on the issue], but it is true that every country has high hopes for generating tax revenue from such a business model,” said Darussalam, managing partner at the Danny Darussalam Tax Center (DDTC).

Meanwhile, House of Representatives’ Commission XI member Johnny G. Plate expressed hope that from now on, Google would start to pay its taxes properly, as the implementation of the AEOI next year would leave no place to hide.