Pasar Jaya owes Rp 26.06b in value added tax
Pasar Jaya owes Rp 26.06b in value added tax
JAKARTA (JP): The city-owned market company PD Pasar Jaya owes Rp 26.06 billion (US$11.58 million) in value added tax, which it has failed to pay to the government since 1989.
The city council's commission for financial affairs revealed yesterday that in 1989 PD Pasar Jaya failed to pay Rp 710.76 million in value added tax, Rp 1.5 billion in 1990, Rp 2 billion in 1991, Rp 3.8 billion in 1992, Rp 4.33 billion in 1993, Rp 4.31 billion in 1994 and Rp 1.24 billion from January to March this year.
The amount has since swollen to Rp 26.06 billion, including late-payment fines.
The chairman of the commission, Helmy AR Syhab, said the case was disclosed in a meeting last month.
Helmy said that despite the company's for tax exemption, the directorate general of tax is threatening to confiscate the company's assets.
PD Pasar Jaya imposes 16 type of fees on traders. It does not, however, impose any taxes on traders. According to the governmental regulation No. 28/1988, the money collected by PD Pasar jaya shall be exempted from value added taxes.
The Directorate General of Tax charges a 10-percent value added tax on the fees collected by the market company.
The imposition of fees on traders is based on a provincial regulation, No. 6/1992, which allows the company to collect fees for market development, business centers, parking lot service, building maintenance and 12 other areas.
Because the fees are considered city revenue, the company claims they must be exempted from the value added tax, which took effect in 1989.
The commission supports the PD Pasar Jaya argument, saying that the city revenues are the main financial source of the city budget. "Charging the value added tax on city revenue is completely against the implementation of autonomy policy," Helmy said, adding that PD Pasar Jaya does not have enough money to pay the tax.
Transfer
He said that the company collected Rp 1 billion in 1994/95 from the traders. The money was transferred to the city revenue office. In the 1995/96 fiscal year PD Pasar Jaya expects to collect Rp 1.1 billion from the traders.
Helmy said that the main task of PD Pasar Jaya is providing business places for small traders, not seeking financial profit from them.
"Charging the value added tax will only burden small traders, he said.
"They have already complained about the current fees and I am sure that any additional financial burden will upset them," Helmy said.
PD Pasar Jaya was established by provincial decree No. 7/1982. It has 163 market places, 122 of which are small markets, scattered throughout the city with total assets of Rp 163 billion. (yns)