Pertamina delays payment of fuel sale tax worth Rp 500 billion

State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina has delayed the payment of local taxes on the sales of vehicle fuels for the period of May and early June amounting to about Rp 500 billion because the company considered the tax payment as unfair, Investor Daily reported on Monday.

Djaelani said that Pertamina had to pay fuel tax of about Rp 370 billion in May and other Rp 130 billion for the sale of vehicle fuels for early June. "We estimated the fuel sale tax had reached about Rp 500 billion for the period of May and early June," he added.

"We want the government to provide an equal treatment to Pertamina on the payment of the vehicle fuel taxes. If we are required to pay the tax, other companies should be asked to do the same thing," Djaelani Sutomo, the head of Pertamina's division for fuel sales, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

According to him, Pertamina is required by local governments to pay five percent tax on the sale of vehicle fuels including the sales of subsidized and non-subsidized fuel.

He said that Pertamina had formally sent a letter to oil and gas downstream regulatory BPH Migas asking it to also impose the same tax on other fuel distributors such as Shell and Petronas. "We want an equal treatment to ensure fair competition on in the country's fuel market," he said.(*)