Tax reimbursement to oil and gas producers to be sped up

The Ministry of Finance has agreed to speed up the reimbursement of value added tax (VAT) payment to oil and gas companies from the present three-month period, a government official said Thursday.

Director General of Oil and Gas Iin Takhyan said in a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission VIII on mining and energy that the Directorate General of Taxation had agreed to speed up the process of the reimbursement of VAT to oil and gas companies.

With such agreement, oil and gas companies could now have their VAT reimbursed less than three months as applied at present. The value of the VAT that has to be reimbursed by the government has reached Rp 1 trillion.

The shortening of the reimbursement period was one of three options proposed by Director General of Oil and Gas to the Director General of Taxation.

Iin said that the other two options - the postponement of VAT during exploration period and the postponement of import taxes --- were being studied. (godang)