Directorate General of Taxes Optimistic Tax Revenue to Reach Target
The Director General of Taxes (DGT) of the Ministry of Finance, Bimo Wijayanto, is optimistic that improving tax receipts at the start of 2026 will form the basis for reaching the 2026 state revenue target. The statement came after government revenue weakness drew scrutiny from the global rating agency Fitch Ratings.
Bimo noted that tax revenue in January 2026 rose by around 30 percent compared with receipts for the same period last year. For February, tax revenue grew by 30.2 percent. “In other words, we are very optimistic; we will maintain this performance from the start of the year,” he said at the DGT office in Jakarta on Thursday, 5 March 2026.
He said this outturn provides a solid basis for receipts in the first quarter of 2026 and also serves as a stepping stone to achieving the 2026 tax revenue target. This year the government is targeting tax revenue of Rp2,357.7 trillion.
The strategy is to be implemented through intensification and extensification. Intensification means maintaining income from the tax base that has already been taxed, while extensification aims to pursue taxpayers who have not yet filed. “But we are not hunting in a zoo,” Bimo quipped.
Earlier, the international debt rating agency Fitch Ratings downgraded Indonesia’s debt outlook from stable to negative on Wednesday, 4 March 2026. In its official release, the agency predicted a widening fiscal deficit to 2.9 percent of GDP in 2025 would continue into 2026.
“This reflects our more conservative revenue assumptions based on slower growth projections and the limited short‑term impact of steps to improve tax compliance,” Fitch said in a press statement.
Fitch forecasts the average government revenue to GDP ratio at 13.3 percent for 2026 and 2027. With no significant revenue mobilization measures in sight, the agency also highlighted weaker government revenue in 2025 due to low tax collection.
Weak revenue in 2025 was attributed to the cancellation of a 1 percent VAT increase and the permanent transfer of state-owned enterprise dividends to the newly established sovereign wealth fund, Danantara. “Sustained efforts to strengthen tax compliance are expected to improve revenue, but are unlikely to yield material gains in the short term, thereby limiting fiscal space.”