Businesses protest Tax Tribunal policy

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Companies were surprised by the plans of the new Tax Tribunal to open its hearings to the public, saying the policy would be detrimental to their operations as confidential information could be obtained by competitors.

They also claimed that they were unaware until recently of the policy, and strongly criticized the government for not inviting business associations to submit their views when the law on the tax tribunal was being debated in the House of Representatives.

"It (the policy of opening hearings to the public) could produce difficulties as it could jeopardize our businesses. Just imagine, our competitors can take full advantage of the hearings to find out information about our operations and financial position," said Djimanto, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Footwear Association, on Tuesday.

He made the comments following reports in this newspaper quoting the secretary of the Tax Tribunal, Achmad Suhari, as saying that the tribunal would hold hearings on tax disputes in public as required by the law.

The House passed the new tax tribunal law on April 12, and it requires that the hearings held by the tribunal be open to the public.

The tribunal replaces the special government institution known as the Tax Disputes Settlement Board (BPSP), which dealt with tax disputes in camera.

"It is only now that we have become aware of the policy. If we were informed during the deliberation process (on the tax tribunal law), we could have objected to it and tried to propose a more acceptable solution," added Djimanto.

Indra Ibrahim, the secretary general of the Indonesian Textile Association (API) also voiced similar protests, saying that the tribunal could trigger problems in the future.

He appealed to the tribunal to hold those hearings that involved confidential corporate information in camera.

Meanwhile, Benny Pasaribu of the House budget committee, denied that the legislators had not invited representatives of corporate taxpayers.

"We invited numerous associations and experts during the deliberation of the tax tribunal bill. At that time, the division on the committee on the question of public hearings was tight, as many committee members objected to the idea. But in the end, we all agreed to accept it," said Benny.

"It's just natural that many taxpayers object to the idea of public hearings. If they are afraid of disclosing company information, they shouldn't get involved in tax disputes. Don't cheat on your taxes," he added.

Benny explained that the aim of opening the hearings to the public was to help eliminate irregularities and closed-door deals between the taxpayers and the judges.