Indonesia’s Director General of Taxation has begun “sniffing out” illegal Bali villas owned by foreigners that are failing to pay taxes.
Quoted by the State News Agency Antara, the director general of taxation for Bali, Sunarko, said in Kuta last month: “We will work together with immigration to trace the ownership data on these villas.”
He went on to say that foreign villa owners avoid paying their tax obligations by transacting rental agreement offshore.
“Transactions between renters and villa owners are done outside of Indonesia online. Those renting these villas are mostly foreign tourists who often claim they are family or relatives of the villa owner,” Sunarko explained.
When tax officials visit the subject villas, he continued, security guards or gardeners often meet them.
Sunarko declined to cite the number of illegal villas operating in Badung, but did add: “Usually these villas have no name, but always display a sign saying ‘for rent’ outside.”
He said that the taxes that are avoided are not only related to the rental fees but date from the time of land acquisition, construction and the servicing of the villas when applicable taxes are also side-stepped.
Hotel and other accommodation providers in Bali are required to pay taxes.
“In Bali there are 595 foreign investors in the tourism sector. Yet, not all of them have registered themselves as Bali taxpayers. Many are registered as tax payers in Jakarta,” said Sunarko.
Meanwhile, the head of the counseling, service and public relations division of the Bali Tax office, Tubagus Djodi Rawayan Antawidjaja, said his office is not only looking at villas owned by foreigners, but also examining luxury vehicles based in Bali.
“We are surveying a number of luxury vehicles in Bali via their SPT (tax declarations). Are they listed in as the assets of the owners or not?” asked Tubagus.
He explained that the value-added tax on luxury goods is 35 percent from the purchase price from the time the vehicle was imported into Indonesia.
“But in Bali it appears that the actual ownership of many luxury vehicles needs to be investigated. Hopefully the taxpayers who own these cars are not from outside Bali. Because of this, we will check ownership against taxpayer’s declarations."
This article was first published by http://www.balidiscovery.com.
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