Foreigners tax

Foreigners tax

This letter is in response to your article of Sept. 6, 1996
Council ratifies bill on annual foreigners tax.

I am an Indonesian with a foreign wife and after I read
paragraph six of the above article, which states...the average
increase of 500 percent taxes takes into account the higher
salaries received by expatriates and the need to adjust the value
of the rupiah...

I became a little confused. Of course, in past years I have
always paid the annual foreigners tax for my wife, since without
a receipt for this payment my wife's stay permit cannot be
extended. As the sponsor for my wife's stay permit in Indonesia
it is my obligation to pay all fees required by law. However, a
500 percent increase in annual foreigners tax is a heavy burden
for me as a locally paid head of the family. I would like to ask
the following questions:

* Why, with the annual foreigners tax, is my wife being tax as
head of the family and not as a spouse? So far no clear answer
has been given to this question by the staff of the Dinas
Pendapatan Daerah office. She has always been taxed as head of a
foreign family. My wife is not permitted to work and earn money
-- how can she be a head of a family?

* Does foreigners tax constitute a tax which can be deducted
from my yearly tax return or is it just a fee?

* Are foreign wives of Indonesian men actually liable for
foreigners tax, and under what basis?

I hope the authorities consider men like myself when passing
the new law on the taxation of foreigners.

T.D. KOSASIH

Jakarta