Income tax returns may be filed on Saturday, Sunday

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Tax offices will stay open on Saturday and Sunday to serve those wishing to file their income tax returns by the March 31 deadline, a spokesman said but added that tax offices would be closed on Friday's national holiday.

Directorate General of Taxation spokesman Nono Hanafie said that tax offices would serve taxpayers filing their income tax returns throughout the weekend.

He said that on Saturday taxpayers could file their returns up until 5 p.m., and until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Tax offices, he said, were anticipating a surge in the number of taxpayers trying to beat Sunday deadline.

"A delay or a failure to file an income tax return will be subject to a flat fine of Rp 100,000 (about US$10)," Nono said.

He also said that the tax service had set up a number of stands in several shopping malls to serve those wishing to file their returns.

Nono, however, failed to state in which malls the tax service would set up the stands, saying only that this would be advertised on national TV.

He said taxpayers regularly filed their income tax returns late, forcing tax offices to stay open longer than on normal working days.

Unlike previously, the tax forms used require taxpayers to state their wealth, which Nono said was to better ascertain the income of taxpayers.

He said that by tracking an individual's wealth, the tax service could identify a decline in assets, which in the case of a sale would have generated a gain.

Capital gains are taxable and should be reflected in a person's income tax return, he explained.