Government Ready to Release Rp500 Trillion in Taxes for State-Owned Enterprises Restructuring

Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa (Photo: dok. Antara)

JAKARTA - Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa revealed that the potential tax revenue from the consolidation process of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is estimated to reach around Rp. 500 trillion.

The consolidation in question includes corporate actions such as mergers, liquidations, and transfers of business between state-owned enterprises.

However, the government decided to provide incentives in the form of tax exemption for three years to support the acceleration of restructuring of SOEs under the management of Danantara.

The statement was made by Purbaya after meeting with the Head of the State-Owned Enterprise Management Agency (BP) who also served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Danantara, Dony Oskaria, at the Ministry of Finance Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, August 5.

According to Purbaya, the potential tax is derived from various transactions that occur during the consolidation process, ranging from mergers, liquidations, to business transfers between SOEs.

"So if he (Dony) says it's really big, maybe Rp500 trillion, he's scaring me," said Purbaya jokingly.

Although the potential tax revenue is quite large, Purbaya said the government chose not to impose a tax on the consolidation transaction.

Purbaya assessed that the policy would not significantly reduce state revenues because transactions are carried out between business entities that are equally owned by the government.

"This is a process for consolidation, if you give tax relief to government companies themselves, I think it's okay, left pocket, right pocket," he said.

He hopes that the fiscal incentive will be able to accelerate the simplification of the BUMN structure under Danantara, so that the government sets the tax exemption period for three years so that the entire consolidation process can take place more effectively and optimally.

"So for the next three years, we allow consolidation in Danantara to be tax-free for those who are consolidated. So it can be all that consolidation that is running," he said.

On the other hand, Dony emphasized that the tax exemption facility only applies to transactions directly related to the BUMN consolidation process, and this policy does not include other transactions outside the restructuring agenda.

"It's not a tax on other transactions outside of consolidation, yes, only for consolidation," he said.