Businesses protest Tax Tribunal policy
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.