DGT Calls MSME Tax Levy By E-Commerce Still In Studies

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Directorate General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance has confirmed that the plan to collect MSME taxes by the e-commerce platform is still under further study.

"We are still considering how we will collect later," said the Head of Sub-Directorate of Trade, Services and Other Indirect Tax Regulations of the Directorate General of Taxes Bonarsius Sipayung in a statement quoted from Antara, Monday, November 29.

According to him, there are still several considerations in implementing the policy, namely economic conditions that are still recovering, infrastructure readiness, tariffs and administrative convenience.

In addition, DGT will also continue to communicate and socialize related to this plan, including facilitating and improving administration, so that MSMEs continue to grow and realize the importance of paying taxes.

Previously, research conducted by the DDTC FRA tax research institute revealed that 49.35 percent of MSME actors did not agree if the marketplace became cutting and collecting taxes.

Most of the online MSME actors are more comfortable if the taxes owed can be calculated and paid themselves to the tax authorities.

In addition, the appointment of a platform as a tax collector can reduce the participation of MSMEs selling online through e-commerce by up to 26 percent and migrate to social media and physical stores.

According to research, this condition can make MSMEs return to the informal economic ecosystem (shadow economy) which can long-term reduce the tax base of MSME actors.

Therefore, DDTC FRA assesses that tax authorities need to publicly conduct socialization regarding the plan to recapitulate MSME transaction data by the marketplace on the policy.

DGT also needs to evaluate the implementation of data recapitulation results, including formulating technical rules, synchronizing data and others, including formulating technical regulations and mapping the needs of technology infrastructure.

DDTC FRA calculates several stages of preparation, including socialization and recapitulation, a minimum of up to three years, which is accompanied by a periodic evaluation of the participation and compliance of MSME actors.