Observers Ask For DGT For Tax E-Commerce Applications In Indonesia

JAKARTA - Digital economy observer Heru Sutadi responded to the Ministry of Finance's plan to collect MSME taxes by an e-commerce platform.

Heru conveyed that the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) should focus on pursuing taxes on e-commerce applications operating in Indonesia instead of taxing MSMEs carried out by marketplaces.

"So if MSMEs are subject to taxes that are not appropriate, everything in this republic has been taxed. What has not been imposed or passed taxes is applications that do not have permanent business entities in Indonesia, because there are many," explained Heru, quoted from Antara, Thursday, December 1.

In addition, he also mentioned that technology companies such as Google, Meta, Twitter operating in Indonesia get a lot of income, one of which is through advertisements or ads that should be tax-supervised.

"This is the same as advertisements that must be pursued for taxes to be paid or not. Not then it seems as if MSMEs are being pursued, because these MSMEs have already paid taxes, even warteg pay taxes," said the Executive Director of Indonesia ICT.

Meanwhile, public policy observer Trubus Rahadiansyah said that if the plan was implemented, it would make MSMEs collapse or go bankrupt.

"If it is deliberately implemented, it will make MSMEs suspended, collapse. Many people don't go bankrupt, because the government has so far despite the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs, there are a lot of MSMEs that lack guidance," he explained.

Second, he said, that the policy can be implemented by applying rules in the form of MSME criteria that are already large and developed, as well as adjusting the goods or services offered.

"So it can't be beaten evenly (all MSMEs are taxed through e-commerce)," he said.

He further projected that the designated e-commerce platform for collecting taxes could be empty of users, because existing goods or services have soared as a result of tax levies.

Another effect is that modern sales methods can be eroded and people return to conventional sales methods by going directly to shopping centers, markets or shops so that the reach of the MSME market is narrow again.

"It must be remembered that the characteristics of the Indonesian people in this expenditure are cheap goods, public interest is like that, so if you are subject to automatic tax, the selling price will increase, the interest and purchasing power will decrease," he said.

Another problem, said Trubus, is that the delegation of MSME tax levies by e-commerce also has the potential for irregularities (corruption), he hopes that DGT will think about the policy plan again.