Tax policy for new coal miners follows prevailing tax regulations
Wednesday, January 17 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
Coal mining companies operating under coal mining licenses (PKP2B) of the fourth and next generation would need to follow the prevailing tax regulations in their tax payment to the government, and not those stipulated in the licenses, according to an official at the Directorate General of General Mining at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Coal Director Suyartono said that coal miners operating under PKP2B of the first, second and third generation and also under contracts of works (COW) would be exempted from this policy, meaning that they would continue to pay taxes to the government according to articles stipulated in their PKP2B or in COW until those contracts got expired.
"With this policy, the taxes applied to contractors of the fourth generation and up would follow the prevailing tax regulations set by the government. So, the taxes that they have to pay will not be nailed down anymore, like that of the previous generation," Suyartono said.
Nevertheless, the amount of royalties the mining companies have to pay to the government remains the same, namely 13.5 percent.
Suyartono explained that this new tax policy for mining companies would make it easier for the government in calculating the taxes the mining companies have to pay, but this policy would certainly make long-term business planning by mining companies more difficult.
He noted that as long as tax regulations did not change too much, it would not discourage mining investors from investing in Indonesia.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the Indonesian Mining Association, Paul L. Coutrier, said that mining companies would have no problem in adjusting to the new policy. Coutrier noted that tax policy was not something burdening for mining companies.
What concerns mining companies, according to Coutrier, is when local people and local administrations arbitrarily charge mining companies of failing to fulfill its obligations both to the government and to local people. (*)