Government states donation rules

Government states donation rules

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad has issued a ruling on the mechanism for raising funds from individuals and companies willing to donate to the state-sponsored poverty eradication program.

The minister's Decree No. 17/1996, dated Jan. 15, was issued to implement Presidential Decree No. 90/1995 which calls on companies and individuals with after-tax earnings of more than Rp 100 million (US$43,470) a year to set aside up to 2 percent of their earnings for the poverty eradication program.

The ruling, a copy of which was made available here yesterday, requires the donors to transfer their donations to the accounts of the Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation at the state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia 1946 (BNI).

The private foundation was established on Monday by President Soeharto in a personal capacity, together with State Minister of Population Haryono Suyono, businessmen Sudono Salim and Sudwikatmono, with paid-up capital of Rp 250 million.

The finance minister's ruling, however, does not go into details about the tax aspects of the donation. The decree only says that technical details on its implementation will be issued by the director general of taxation.

The Presidential decree stipulates that donations to the poverty alleviation program, which are derived from taxable dividends and similar incomes can be deducted from the taxable income of the donor. (rid)