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Tax Policy in Action: 2016 Tax Amnesty Experience of the Republic of Indonesia

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  • Emmiryzan Wasrinil Said

    (School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex, Freeman Building, Brighton BN19QE, UK)

Abstract

Tax amnesty programs are often used by governments to improve tax compliance and to increase tax revenue. However, the policy choice to provide a tax amnesty often results in adverse consequences, including the violation of other legal rules. For this reason, the policy choice to offer a tax amnesty (‘tax amnesty policy’) is often controversial. The tax amnesty policy and resulting program offered by the Government of Indonesia has been criticized both because it is considered to be unfair and because it favors the perpetrators of tax evasion. In particular, the tax amnesty law offered special treatment to taxpayers who participated in the program, such as no checking of the source of funds, no checking of the financial statements reported by law enforcers, protection from punishment on the financial reports provided to the Director General of Taxation, and the requirement to pay only a small penalty. Tax amnesty programs also provide the potential for money laundering. This is certainly the case in Indonesia. In addition, tax amnesty programs weaken law enforcement in Indonesia; in particular, in the areas of corruption and money laundering. This is because law enforcement officers cannot investigate the perpetrators of white-collar crime that benefit from the tax amnesty program. Under the terms of the tax amnesty program, the financial data is not accessible by them.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmiryzan Wasrinil Said, 2017. "Tax Policy in Action: 2016 Tax Amnesty Experience of the Republic of Indonesia," Laws, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-9, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlawss:v:6:y:2017:i:4:p:16-:d:113523
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benno Torgler & Christoph A. Schaltegger & Markus Schaffner, 2003. "Is Forgiveness Divine? A Cross-Culture Comparison of Tax Amnesties," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 139(III), pages 375-396, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Masiya, 2019. "Lessons from Voluntary Compliance Window (VCW): Malawi's tax amnesty programme," CESifo Working Paper Series 7584, CESifo.
    2. Muhammad Alishahdani Ibrahim & Rita Myrna & Ira Irawati & J.B. Kristiadi, 2018. "Tax Policy in Indonesian Energy Sectors: An Overview of Tax Amnesty Implementation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 8(4), pages 234-236.
    3. Hajawiyah, Ain & Suryarini, Trisni & Kiswanto, & Tarmudji, Tarsis, 2021. "Analysis of a tax amnesty’s effectiveness in Indonesia," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    4. Shahryar Bahawal, 2021. "Tax Amnesties in Tax Reform Policy: A Case Study from Pakistan and Lessons for Developing Economies," Asian Journal of Law and Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 37-71, April.

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