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)