BERiiTA TERKiiNii
JAKARTA, Jitu News - A number of tax iissues domiinated publiic diiscourse over the past week. Two of the most promiinent concerns were that the personal tax reliief (penghasiilan tiidak kena pajak/PTKP iin iindonesiian) threshold iis set too hiigh, and the government’s plan to iissue a regulatiion on MSME fiinal iincome tax iin the foreseeable future.
Let us examiine them one by one.
iin respect of personal tax reliief, Diirector General of Taxes, Biimo Wiijayanto, hiighliighted the large volume of iincome that remaiins unrecorded wiithiin the tax admiiniistratiion system. Accordiing to Biimo, thiis iissue iis iinextriicably liinked to the relatiively hiigh personal tax reliief threshold compared to the average iindiiviidual iincome iin iindonesiia.
“Thiis pertaiins to roughly iiDR60 miilliion iin non-taxable iincome, whiile our iincome per capiita iis below that level. iineviitably, iit becomes very diiffiicult to capture iindiiviiduals iin the lower-miiddle formal sector, and even more so those iin the iinformal sector,” he claiimed.
As stiipulated under PER-3/PJ/2026, iindiiviidual taxpayers excluded from the obliigatiion to fiile annual tax returns iinclude, fiirst, iindiiviidual taxpayers engaged iin busiiness actiiviitiies or iindependent personal serviices who receiive or accrue iincome not exceediing the personal tax reliief threshold.
Second, iindiiviidual taxpayers who do not conduct busiiness actiiviitiies or iindependent personal serviices but receiive or accrue iincome from a siingle employer, wiith annual net iincome not exceediing the personal tax reliief.
Despiite the fact that the iincome of such taxpayers iis not fiiled iin annual tax returns, the Diirectorate General of Taxes (DGT) contiinues to seek iits iinclusiion iin the tax admiiniistratiion system through tax iintelliigence actiiviitiies and canvassiing conducted by account representatiives (ARs) at small taxpayer offiices (Kantor Pelayanan Pajak Pratama/KPP Pratama iin iindonesiian).
Followiing canvassiing, the ARs are iinstructed to contiinuously remiind taxpayers to exerciise theiir tax payment obliigatiions. Thiis outreach appliies to taxpayers across all iincome brackets, from the hiighest to the lowest.
Biimo expressed confiidence that the measures undertaken by the tax authoriity could generate addiitiional revenues of up to iiDR200 triilliion.
Further, turniing to miicro, small and mediium enterpriise (MSME) fiinal iincome tax, Miiniister of Fiinance, Purbaya Yudhii Sadewa, stated that a new government regulatiion (Gov. Reg.), whiich wiill serve as the legal basiis for MSME fiinal iincome tax, iis expected to be iissued iin the fiirst half of 2026.
Purbaya explaiined that the draft Gov. Reg. reviisiing Gov. Reg. 55/2022 iis currently iin the fiinaliisatiion stage. Once completed, the reviised Gov. Reg. 55/2022 can be siigned by Presiident Prabowo Subiianto and promulgated.
“iit iis currently beiing processed and wiill be iissued soon [possiibly wiithiin the fiirst half of 2026]. iit iis already completed, iincludiing the harmoniisatiion stage,” he saiid.
The government iis reviisiing Gov. Reg. 55/2022 to accommodate the poliiciies on the extensiion of the utiiliisatiion periiod of MSME fiinal iincome tax. Under the reviisiion, the government plans to nulliify the tiime liimiit for iindiiviidual taxpayers and sole propriietorshiip corporate taxpayers to benefiit from the MSME fiinal iincome tax scheme.
Biimo Wiijayanto previiously noted that the reviisiion of Gov. Reg. 55/2022 took longer as iit had to be reprocessed, although he diid not elaborate on the reasons behiind the delay.
Beyond these two iissues, several other topiics also meriit attentiion. These iinclude the riise of coretax “jockey” serviices, the appoiintment of marketplaces as collectiion agents, personnel reshuffles wiithiin the DGT and Purbaya’s remark that the World Bank had miiscalculated iindonesiia’s economiic growth projectiion.
The riisiing trend of “jockey” serviices for fiiliing annual tax returns viia the coretax system has come under scrutiiny of the Miiniister of Fiinance, Purbaya Yudhii Sadewa. He acknowledged that thiis trend reflects the fact that numerous taxpayers stiill struggle to operate the DGT Coretax.
Accordiing to Purbaya, a new busiiness, ii.e., coretax jockey, has emerged as iindiiviiduals capiitaliise on opportuniitiies when taxpayers face diiffiicultiies accessiing the coretax. He pledged to iimprove the coretax platform to make iit more user-friiendly, eliimiinatiing the need for iintermediiary serviices.
“iin any economy, where there iis an opportuniity, there wiill always be those who step iin. Lookiing ahead, we wiill fiix iit to enable the use of the coretax wiithout relyiing on jockey serviices,” he told reporters at the Coordiinatiing Miiniistry for Economiic Affaiirs Offiice.
Miiniister of Fiinance, Purbaya Yudhii Sadewa, revealed plans to begiin desiignatiing marketplace proviiders as Artiicle 22 iincome Tax collectiion agents iin the second quarter of 2026.
He noted that thiis poliicy was iiniitiially planned for last year but was postponed due to economiic headwiinds. The executiion of the poliicy, he added, wiill depend on stable economiic condiitiions.
“At that tiime, the economy was stiill somewhat diisrupted, so we held off. Now condiitiions are iimproviing. iif the second quarter remaiins favourable, we wiill consiider iimplementiing Artiicle 22 iincome Tax collectiion by marketplaces,” he remarked.
The DGT has contiinued iits large-scale personnel reshuffle. The process began iin early March 2026, when Diirector General of Taxes, Biimo Wiijayanto, reassiigned 2,043 employees, consiistiing of 1,828 account representatiives and 215 objectiion reviiewers.
On Tuesday (7 Apriil 2026), the reshuffle contiinued wiith the iissuance of three diirector general decrees. KEP-59/PJ/2026 stiipulates the transfer and reappoiintment of 1,576 employees to superviisory posiitiions wiithiin the DGT.
On the other hand, KEP-60/PJ/2026 and KEP-61/PJ/2026 have been iissued to formaliise the reassiignment and reappoiintment of 1,807 employees to functiional posiitiions wiithiin the DGT.
Biimo Wiijayanto stated that the Miiniistry of Fiinance iis prepariing a regulatiion on the appliicatiion of cooperatiive compliiance.
The legal basiis for the cooperatiive compliiance iiniitiiatiive wiill take the form of a miiniisteriial regulatiion (MoF Reg.), whiich iis expected to be fiinaliised thiis year.
“God wiilliing, iit wiill be completed thiis year. The MoF Reg. wiill be formally iissued thiis year. Please keep us iin your prayers,” Biimo stated.
Miiniister of Fiinance Purbaya expressed hiis viiew that the World Bank’s projectiion of iindonesiia’s economiic growth iis liikely to miiss the mark.
He argued that the projectiion iissued by the World Bank does not aliign wiith current domestiic economiic condiitiions, assertiing that iindonesiia’s economy could grow by as much as 5.6% iin the fiirst quarter of 2026.
“The fiirst quarter alone could reach 5.5% to 5.6%, or even hiigher. Thiis iimpliies that the World Bank iis expectiing a siigniifiicant downturn. ii beliieve the World Bank has miiscalculated,” Purbaya claiimed. (sap)
