0 Most employees don’t pay tax

The Bali office of the Taxation Directorate disclosed that most of workers residing on the island had yet to pay income tax. Only 12.3 percent of workers had registered themselves as taxpayers, while the remaining 87.7 percent had not. “Given that the number of registered taxpayers on the island is very small, we are quite eager to engage all stakeholders, including the regional administrations, to spread information on the importance of registering and paying taxes,” office head Pontas Pane said on Tuesday, after accompanying governor Made Mangku Pastika and top provincial officials to submit their annual tax reports (SPT). 

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed that 2.9 million of the island’s 3.9 million residents are employed. However, the number of registered taxpayers was only 365,000 individuals. “Out of the registered taxpayers, only about 229,000 have annually submitted their tax reports,” Pontas said. Pontas said all stakeholders in Bali should be involved in improving public awareness on tax issues. To make it easier for registered taxpayers to submit their SPT, the tax office has provided drop off boxes at strategic locations throughout the island. 

“We will place the drop off boxes at malls and in office buildings,” Pontas promised. The tax authorities also allow taxpayers to submit their SPT by mail and email. Individual taxpayers are obliged to submit their SPT before March 31, while corporate taxpayers have until April 30 at the latest. Despite the fact that the number of registered individual taxpayers was still very small, total collected income tax exceeded the target. In 2012, the regional tax office collected Rp 5.054 trillion (US$520 million), three percent above the set target. 

“This achievement was the result of our attempt to encourage more workers to register as taxpayers,” he said. Pontas said that the tax revenue was very important for the country’s development. Tax is used for routine government expenditure and many other things. Governor Pastika said that he supported the attempt to increase people’s awareness about paying taxes. “We hope that Bali could be a model for high awareness in taxpayers,” he said. 

He hoped that the amount of tax paid by taxpayers on the island could increase in the future. “The more taxes paid by taxpayers in Bali, the greater the budget allocated for Bali from the national annual budget. It could automatically drive development in Bali,” he emphasized.

source : bali daily