Singapore Tops List of Countries Where Rich Indonesians Stashed Funds

Sunrise at Merlion Park, Singapore.

Singapore, 02 Rajab 1438/30 March 2017 (MINA) – Singapore topped the list of countries where rich Indonesians stashed money and assets, according to figures on the country’s tax amnesty programme from its finance ministry this week.

According to Antara News, the Taxation Directorate General said Singapore accounted for around 57 per cent or 84.52 trillion rupiah (S$8.86 billion) of funds repatriated from abroad to Indonesia as of Wednesday (March 29) under the tax amnesty programme which ends on Friday.

In comparison, Singapore was followed by Cayman Islands with 16.5 trillion rupiah, Hong Kong with 16.3 trillion rupiah, British Virgin Islands with 6.58 trillion rupiah and China with 3.65 trillion rupiah, the ministry data showed.

Singapore also accounted for the largest part of assets declared under the tax amnesty programme with 73 per cent of the assets worth 751.19 trillion rupiah (S$78.75 billion) parked here, said Antara.

The national news agency said large assets have also been declared in the British Virgin Islands (76.92 trillion rupiah), Hong Kong (56.27 trillion rupiah), Cayman Islands (52.86 trillion rupiah) and Australia (41.15 trillion rupiah).

The Taxation Directorate General said there were around 3,250 trillion rupiah of assets parked abroad by wealthy Indonesians, about 2,600 trillion rupiah of which are in Singapore, Antara reported.

Of the assets in Singapore in Singapore, around 650 trillion rupiah are “non-investable assets” such as property, the report added.

Indonesia’s amnesty programme, a key plank in President Joko Widodo’s bid to boost revenue in order to fund ambitious spending plans, has already netted the government about 125 trillion rupiah in revenue, with more than 800,000 participants declaring 4,690 trillion rupiah of assets both at home and abroad since the amnesty began in July last year.

Repatriation goal of 1,000 trillion rupiah

The government had set a repatriation goal of 1,000 trillion rupiah, but only about 146 trillion rupiah has been brought back as of Wednesday.

Antara says the government hopes to see the figures rising in the remaining two days of the tax amnesty programme.

Hestu Yoga Saksama, director for public relations at the Directorate General of Taxation told reporters in Jakarta on Wednesday that rich or large taxpayers who did not participate in the tax amnesty programme would pay a much heavier price, including penalties of as much as 200 per cent, Bloomberg News reported.

The country’s loose tax regime in the past resulted in only about 10 per cent of Indonesians registered as taxes, of which only about one million reported their taxes to the government. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)