Property tax errors admitted but no corrections planned
Property tax errors admitted but no corrections planned
Rendi A.Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tax officials have admitted they made some major miscalculations
that caused property taxes here to skyrocket, but the
acknowledgment does not necessarily mean that all the mistakes
will be corrected.
"We can't make a correction unless the taxpayers file an
objection," a tax official at the Directorate General of Tax
said.
Before filing the objection, the complainants should pay the
tax first, according to the official, who spoke to The Jakarta
Post under condition of anonymity.
He claimed that the miscalculation was caused by the lack of
professional staff at the tax offices, as they have to input data
for more than a million taxpayers into the computer.
However, when the Post visited two mayoralty tax offices
located on Jl. KS. Tubun, Central Jakarta, and on Jl. Raya Pasar
Minggu, South Jakarta, last week, most of the employees -- who
are paid with taxpayer money -- were seen hanging around doing
nothing.
A number of people had earlier complained about the increased
property tax, which in some cases reached more than 300 percent.
A resident who lives in Puri Kembangan, West Jakarta, for
example, complained that he had to pay Rp 2.2 million this year,
while last year, it was only Rp 700,000.
The director of property tax at the Ministry of Finance said
the Directorate General of Tax had only imposed an increase of 5
percent of property tax as of Jan. 1. He claimed that the sharp
increase of the tax was caused by a miscalculation and resulting
errors in data input at the mayoralty tax offices.
Even though taxpayers have the right to file the complaints at
the mayoralty tax office, there is no guarantee that they will
get a quick, positive response.
The tax official interviewed by the Post said that the tax
office has one year to make a decision about the complaints.
Within that period, a letter would be sent to the complainants'
address, and the answer could be simply "yes" or "no".
If the taxpayers are not satisfied, they can "appeal" to the
tax dispute settlement agency (BPSP) and go to court. A
complainant should send a letter to the agency and enclose
necessary documents.
The agency will check the documents and ask for a
clarification from the Directorate General of Tax. This process
could take up to four months.
If the taxpayers need a lawyer, they are encouraged to hire
the ones who have a specific tax license issued by the tax
agency.
Taxpayers are not allowed an appeal if they lose the case,
said secretary of the agency, Achmad Suhari.
"This is not a usual court where people could ask for an
appeal to the high court or Supreme Court. Our decision is
final," he said.
Currently, BPSP has 20 judges, selected under BPSP procedures.
From 1999 to 2001, 32 property taxpayers filed complaints to
the BPSP. However, only five were granted tax reductions.
The complicated process to seek justice in tax value
objections has precluded individuals from pursuing their
objection to BPSP. According to Achmad, all of the taxpayers who
brought the case to the agency were private companies.
"Private companies usually pursue their case here, as their
property tax values are very high, usually over Rp 20 million.
While individuals' taxes are usually far lower and they prefer to
just settle their objection at the mayoralty tax office", said
Achmad.
The 1999-2001 statistics issued by the Directorate General of
Tax, showed that each year, about 10 percent of taxpayers in the
capital -- now more than 1.48 million -- filed a tax objection at
their respective mayoralty office.
The overall amount of the objections filed by taxpayers was Rp
28.796 billion (around US$ 280,000), in which only Rp 7.87
billion was returned to taxpayers.