JAKARTA - Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa stated that he would review the application of the principle of ultimum remedium in handling violations in the tax sector.
He said that this evaluation step was carried out to ensure that the policy did not actually cause negative effects in the form of repeated violations.
"The ultimate remedy is a bit strange for me. I am a new minister so I just see that there is such a thing. We will study it, the law or PMK. If PMK, I will evaluate it in the future," he said in the APBN Kita Press Conference, quoted Sunday, January 11.
To note, the ultimum remedium itself is a principle in criminal law that places criminal sanctions as the last step, prioritizing administrative settlement and recovery of state losses before the application of imprisonment.
However, Purbaya reminded that without careful planning, the policy of resolving cases without an investigation process could be misunderstood as a form of forgiveness for criminal offenses.
Even so, he emphasized that the evaluation was not intended to weaken the function of supervision and law enforcement and the Government, but to seek a balance between optimizing state revenue and the sense of legal justice.
"We study in the future what it is like, can we adjust it, can we not have our maximum opinion without encouraging people to do it just in case if they are not grateful, they are caught paying," he said.
Meanwhile, Director General of Customs and Excise Djaka Budi Utama explained that the mechanism for resolving tax cases without investigation had been regulated in the Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 96 of 2025 concerning the investigation of suspected violations in the field of taxes.
He said the policy was designed to increase legal certainty while accelerating the recovery of state revenues.
"Through this regulation, the settlement of cases can certainly be carried out without investigation. Such as the value of taxes owed can be calculated and there is no customs violation," he said.
In the scheme, Djaka said that business actors were given the opportunity to fulfill their obligations through the payment of administrative fines in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Law.
He added that this approach still refers to the principle of ultimum remedium by placing criminal sanctions as the last option.
Djaka emphasized that this policy was designed so that law enforcement remained firm, but the recovery of state revenues could be carried out more quickly, effectively, and proportionately, while still having a deterrent effect on the fiscal side.
He also emphasized that the mechanism for settlement without investigation does not apply to repeated violations and for repeated violations, the perpetrator can be subject to a tax criminal penalty with a threat of imprisonment for a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years.
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