City falls short of foreigner tax target

JAKARTA (JP): The operation to collect overdue foreigners' tax launched by the city administration has so far collected only Rp 65.5 million (US$29,772), far below the target of Rp 2 billion.

The city revenue office reported yesterday that from Sept. 25 until Oct. 6 the office had visited 123 companies and about 570 foreigners had paid their taxes.

"The amount of taxes collected is relatively small, but we can update the official record on the number of expatriates in the city," Saleh Ibrahim, spokesman for the office, said.

He said that the operation has recorded 995 expatriates working in 123 companies.

Saleh refused to explain the reason operation only yielded a small amount of money. He said that the office had not as yet made a final record of the operation.

According to last year's record there were 49,000 expatriates in Jakarta who had to pay foreigners' tax.

Office buildings housing companies employing foreigners are the target of the current tax drive, which will end on Oct. 10.

The total value of overdue taxes for the 1992 to 1994 period is approximately Rp 2 billion (US$909,090).

The city administration said that the large amount of overdue taxes is caused mainly by expatriates who move to other areas within or outside the city without informing the authorities.

Saleh said that Regional Regulation No. 6/1989, regarding tax payments, stipulates that the head of a foreign family should pay Rp 90,000 per year, Rp 60,000 for a spouse and Rp 30,000 for each child the family has.

The operation is being conducted by a team consisting of officers from the revenue office, the City Immigration Office, the City Manpower Office, the Jakarta office of the Investment Coordinating Board, the city police and the Jakarta military. (yns)