Andre Rosiade Asks Sri Mulyani And Erick Thohir To Solve PGN's Tax Issues

Member of Commission VI DPR RI, Andre Rosiade. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Members of Commission VI DPR RI asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of BUMN to immediately resolve the tax issue between PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) Tbk and the Ministry of Finance's Directorate General of Taxes.

"As a member of Commission VI, I ask the BUMN Minister and the Minister of Finance to be pro-active, to sit together to resolve this issue," said Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Andre Rosiade, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, January 6.

According to the Gerindra faction member of the DPR, this tax dispute could tarnish the business climate in Indonesia, where state-owned companies clash with government agencies.

DPR Commission VI wants to sit together between the two ministries to resolve the 2012 tax issue. He also hopes that PGN, which is a state-owned company, will not suffer losses due to misinterpretation of tax regulations.

"What's more, don't let the state be harmed. In fact, this case, referring to the tax director's letter per January 2020, has stated that the object in dispute is not an object of VAT," he said.

He saw that the steps for the Reconsideration (PK) taken by PGN for the second time in the Supreme Court were right because they adhered to the Taxation Director's Letter on January 15, 2020 (S-2 / PJ.02 / 2020) which confirmed that the object in dispute was not VAT object.

"The second PK step in MA is a step that PGN needs to take. We at Commission VI encourage the government to resolve this appropriately with the best solution," he explained.

Previously, the Special Staff of the Minister of BUMN Arya Sinulingga said that his party had scheduled a meeting with the Ministry of Finance to discuss the PGN tax issue. Even so, currently both BUMN Minister Erick Thohir and Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani have not implemented this agenda.

"It is still in process, but there has been communication that we will meet them," said Arya, Tuesday (5/1).

The dispute between the state-owned gas company and the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance initially occurred over transactions in the 2012 and 2013 tax years, and made PGAS potentially pay IDR 3.06 trillion.

PGN Corporate Secretary Rachmat Hutama in the disclosure of information on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), Monday 4 January, explained that the dispute that occurred in 2012 was related to different interpretations in understanding the tax provisions, namely PMK-252 / PMK.011 / 2012 on the implementation of the obligation to collect VAT on delivery of natural gas. This dispute has been reported in the notes to the Company's Financial Statements as of 31 December 2017.

Then, the dispute in 2013 was related to differences in understanding of the Company's billing mechanism. Rachmat continued, in June 1998 PGAS set the gas price in US dollars / MMBTU and Rp / M3. This was due to the weakening of the rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar.

"However, DGT is of the opinion that the Rp / M3 portion of the price is a replacement for distribution services subject to VAT, while the Company is of the opinion that the price in US dollars / MMBTU and Rp / M3 is a unit of gas price that is not subject to VAT," said Rachmat.