Coretax Criticised, Purbaya: Poor Design, I Suspect It Was Deliberately Made Complicated

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa has admitted that the Coretax system has been problematic since its initial development. He stated that the main weakness lies in its poor design, making the system difficult to use and seemingly deliberately complicated. Additionally, Purbaya revealed that the complexity of Coretax does not only stem from the initial design but also from the involvement of third-party application services that bridge the system with large customers. Their existence, he said, raises suspicions of certain business spaces behind the system’s intricacy. “First, it’s a design flaw. Then I suspect Coretax here was made convoluted. And perhaps it was indeed created to make room for business. We’ll fix it later,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (25/3). He explained that several large companies actually use these intermediary applications because they are deemed smoother than accessing Coretax directly. Meanwhile, general users often face obstacles such as the system looping around, being hard to understand, and a confusing interface language. This condition is seen as complicating access to tax services for the general public. Purbaya also highlighted the weakness in testing the system before its launch. He admitted to still encountering technical issues when trying to access Coretax, such as repeated login processes and the system not providing clear information during disruptions. According to him, this should have been anticipated through more thorough trials. The Ministry of Finance, Purbaya continued, will continue to make improvements to the system, including simplifying the public interface and closing loopholes that allow dependence on third-party services. He emphasised that improvements will be carried out gradually by the prepared team. “For the convoluted parts, we’ll ensure it doesn’t use services from those companies. And for the Coretax software itself, we’ll keep fixing it. Here, there’s a team for continuous repairs,” said the state treasurer. Amid ongoing issues with Coretax usage, the government has also decided to extend the deadline for reporting the Annual Tax Notification (SPT) for Personal Income Tax (PPh) until the end of April 2026. This policy was taken after evaluating the system’s condition ahead of the reporting deadline at the end of March. “Well then, we’ll extend it to 31 April,” said Purbaya. Separately, Director of Education, Services, and Public Relations of the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) Inge Diana Rismawanti stated that the tax authority is also preparing relaxations in the form of waiving administrative sanctions for individual taxpayers who submit SPT after the 31 March 2026 deadline. This policy still refers to the provisions in the General Provisions and Tax Procedures Law (UU KUP), which sets the annual SPT reporting deadline at no later than three months after the end of the tax year. “Actually, we’re preparing relaxation for the imposition of administrative sanctions for Annual SPT PPh for individual taxpayers submitted after the 31 March deadline,” she concluded.