Jakarta, March 3, 2017 — The Financial Services Authority (OJK) is preparing
a number of regulations concerning the financial services industry to support
the Automatic Exchange of Tax Information (AEOI) that will be implemented from
September 2018 onwards.
“The OJK, as the authority over
financial services institutions, supports implementation of the AEOI in
accordance with the applicable legislation,” OJK Chairman Muliaman D
Hadad said in his
remarks at a national seminar held by the Indonesian Economist Association
(ISEI) on Friday (Mar. 3).
Muliaman explained that one
instance of the Authority’s support was preparing regulations for financial
services institutions so they could submit data about their customers and later
this information would be exchanged with similar data from partner countries or
jurisdictions for tax purposes.
The AEOI application is expected to bring a lot of
benefits for Indonesia, including providing the Government with financial
information of Indonesian taxpayers who have invested their funds in partner countries or jurisdictions,
based on reciprocal principle.
In addition, such financial information exchange
mechanism will encourage the financial sector in Indonesia to prepare for
global competition and transform itself into a force to be reckoned with in
international financial markets, given that the AEOI policy will be applied soon
in other countries.
In relation to the AEOI policy, earlier the OJK
issued a regulation, namely OJK Regulation No. 25/POJK.03/2015 concerning Disclosure of Foreign
Customers Information in connection with Taxation, to Partner Countries or
Jurisdictions.
On top of that, the OJK is drafting further
provisions on the AEOI implementation, namely an OJK Circular that particularly
regulates about the policy, including how to conduct due diligence on foreign
customers and how to submit financial information of foreign customers to the
tax authority.
Earlier, the OJK developed a
reporting system called foreign customers disclosure system (SiPINA) as a platform for submitting
foreign customers’ financial information.
“We finished developing this
system at the end of 2016 in order to support the implementation of Foreign
Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). So,
not long after the Government signed an Intergovernmental Agreement
(IGA) with the
United States government, financial services institutions can fulfill their
reporting requirements within the deadline set by the IGA.”
Concerning provisions stated in
Laws on Banking and Capital Market, which regulate bank secrecy and confidentiality
of customer accounts in Capital Market, Muliaman revealed that the OJK meant to
deal with those issues.
He added that amendments would be
made to some provisions in both laws. Especially in respect of the banking law’s
amendment, the Parliament has listed it as one of the legislation programs.
Recently, the OJK together with the Ministry of
Finance and Bank Indonesia, had a meeting with the President to discuss the
legal obstacles they were facing today and they agreed that government
regulations in lieu of laws would be issued as a solution to this problem.
***
Slamet Edy
Purnomo, Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Management IB
Tel +62 21 2960 0000
Email e.purnomo@ojk.go.id www.OJK.go.id
