The Ministry Of Finance Encourages Collective Tax Cooperation Efforts In ASEAN

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

The Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) again held a working group meeting under the chairmanship of ASEAN Indonesia. The meeting which was part of a series of meeting activities on this financial line was divided into two working group meetings, namely the ASEAN Forum on Taxation (AFT) to 17 and the ASEAN Sub-Forum on Excise Taxation (SF-ET) to 14 to discuss a number of important issues on taxation. Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency (BKF) of the Ministry of Finance, Febrio Kacaribu, in his remarks stated that running and completing the mandate of ASEAN Chairship this year is an important milestone in realizing collective efforts to encourage and improve tax cooperation in the region.

According to him, as Chair of ASEAN 2023 Indonesia is committed to continuing important work and achieving priority AFT and SF-ET 2023.

"We are committed to working with all ASEAN state members and the ASEAN Secretariat to increase the investment climate, optimize domestic resource mobilization, optimize tax bases, encourage tax justice, and improve economic stability in the region," he said as reported by the official website, Tuesday, August 8.

Febrio explained that ASEAN has a blueprint for the ASEAN Economic Society (ASEAN Economic Community / AEC). In the AEC 2025 blueprint, member countries are committed to increasing collective cooperation to achieve more integrated economic communities, including in the tax field.

ASEAN assesses that taxation plays an important role in economic development and stability in the region. This is reflected in ASEAN's resilience and adaptability in facing various challenges," he said.

Meanwhile, at the 17th AFT meeting, the delegates continued to discuss issues regarding the challenges of taxation policies in the future in the region, including efforts to build and strengthen the network of dual tax avoidance (P3B).

Then, the discussion of various relevant P3B cases, improving the implementation of tax information exchange in accordance with international standards, and increasing the ease of tax administration services for investors by encouraging the implementation of the online system in submitting tax relief and tax restitution.

In addition, discussions were also held on the development of the implementation of global initiatives for two-pillar solutions in overcoming tax challenges arising from economic digitization, as well as the development of taxation on crypto assets and carbon taxes in various countries in the world.

All of these efforts are expected to be able to provide benefits for ASEAN member countries to encourage the mobilization of domestic resources and optimize their tax bases, "he stressed. Meanwhile, during the SF-ET meeting, efforts were discussed to complement the exchange of information/data to collaborate on the implementation of excise policies, including excise on cigarettes and alcohol, as well as discussions on excise on sweetened drinks and new tobacco products or e-cigarettes.