Travel ban imposed on declinquent taxplayers
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Three foreigners and two Indonesian businessmen have been barred from leaving the country for failing to pay the multibillion rupiah tax arrears of their companies.
Gunadi, director of tax inspection at the Directorate General of Taxation, said on Thursday the travel bans had been imposed by the immigration office on the five company executives at the request of the directorate, to force them to pay up.
He said the move was line with the directorate's internal circular dated April 22, 2002, which allows the directorate to take tough measures against delinquent taxpayers, including asking for travel bans and revealing their identities to the media.
However, the directorate refused to disclose the full identities of the five businessmen, providing only their initials.
"We cannot reveal their identities fully because they might sue us," he said.
The five businessmen were identified as Mr. BMS and Mr. G -- president director and manager respectively of PT ESPMI; Mr. MMG, managing director of BUT IPR (Java) Ltd; Mr. ASR, managing director of PT NDME and Mr. HK, president director of PT PAC.
Mr. BMS, Mr. G, and Mr. MMG are Canadian, U.S., and British citizens respectively. PT ESPMI owes tax amounting to Rp. 42.86 billion (around US$4.76 billion), BUT IPR owes Rp. 45.87 billion, PT NDME Rp 391 billion and PT PAC Rp 1.97 billion.
Head of the tax collection division Djangkung Sudjawardi said the three expatriates had been barred from leaving the country since April this year, and the Indonesians from September this year.
They had withheld payment of their company's taxes three to four years ago.
Of the four company taxpayers, only PT ESPMI has started to pay its tax arrears by installments.
"But as it hasn't yet cleared its tax arrears, the travel bans are still in effect," he said, adding that thus far, the company had paid Rp 15 billion of a total Rp 42.86 billion in tax arrears.
As for the rest, he said, the tax office would wait until the end of this month for the three companies to respond to the summons.
"If they fail to show up, we will commence an investigation into tax crime and take them to court," he stressed.
"Moreover, we shall seize their assets, such as properties and vehicles, as well as block their bank accounts," he said.
Djangkung added that in the case of the foreign taxpayers, the taxation office had contacted their respective embassies.
The directorate also announced that as of August this year, tax arrears had reached Rp 19.6 trillion and US$ 15.1 million. The figures, including individual and company taxes, were the cumulative amount over the past ten years.
Of the total, Rp 5.5 trillion and $14.6 million was owed by foreign investors, foreign agencies and individuals and publicly listed companies.
Another Rp 3.7 trillion was payable by companies categorized as large taxpayers, including local and foreign companies.
The remainder was payable by nonlisted local companies and individuals.
Djangkung asserted that the directorate general aimed to recoup at least 25 percent of tax arrears this year.