Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the "super education tax cut" regulation was expected to be completed in March.

“The regulation has been in the pipeline since early this year, even late last year. It is hoped to be completed in March,” Sri Mulyani said as quoted by kontan.co.id. She added that the draft Finance Ministerial Regulation was ready, but its legislation would take time.

The Industry Ministry had earlier proposed a fiscal incentive of a 200 percent tax allowance for businesses that implemented vocational education programs and a maximum 300 percent tax allowance for businesses that conducted research and development.

The Finance Ministry has only indicated a possibility that the tax allowance could be above 100 percent.

“The Industry Ministry and the Manpower Ministry have formulated the competencies Indonesia needs. Companies that produce human resources with [these] competencies will receive additional tax deductions,” Finance Ministry fiscal policy head Suahasil Nazara said on Tuesday.

He said the R&D incentive was intended to accelerate improvements in Indonesia’s competitiveness toward Industry 4.0.

Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani said the fiscal incentives were attractive, but expressed doubt that the regulation could be enforced before the general election on April 17.

“We have held intensive talks with the Finance Ministry. The ministry listened to our input, particularly on the R&D incentive,” he added. (bbn)

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