Singapore Ready to Exchange Financial Data with Indonesia, Says Finance Minister

Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Indranee Rajah.

Jakarta, 20 Shawwal 1438/14 July 2017 (MINA) – Indonesias finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati ‘said here on Thursday that Singapore was ready to provide information about the financial data of Indonesian citizens as part of the implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) program for tax purposes.

“Singapore has stated that Indonesia has been considered as being eligible and included in their Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), meaning the AEOI agreement can automatically be carried out according to its timeline,” Antara News quoted Sri Mulyani as saying.

Mulyani confirmed that Singapore would not only exchange information with Indonesia but also with other countries that have signed MCAA in connection with AEOI in the Netherlands in June 2017.

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In order to prepare for the information exchange, Indonesia will conduct improvement with regard to primary legislation issuance, information technology, data security, and business process renewal to match with the Common Reporting Standard.

“We will continue to meet it and later in September, the OECD will review its aspects. If Indonesia is considered to have met the requirements set in the OECD global forum, it means we have met the requirements to implement AEOI with Singapore,” she asserted.

Meeting with Indranee Rajah

On the sidelines of the Indonesia-IMF joint conference on Wednesday, Sri Mulyani met Singapore’s minister of law and finance, Indranee Rajah, tIo discuss a number of issues.

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Besides the implementation of AEOI, they also discussed revision of double taxation agreement for Singapore investors and Singapore’s offer as an international banking hub for Indonesia’s infrastructure projects.

According to the Indonesian ministry of finances website, Singapore has confirmed its readiness to carry out AEOI with Indonesia to maintain equality in role and function and share responsibility along with other financial centers.

Singapore has included Indonesia in the list of its partners that have participated in MCAA.

The commitment is a form of agreement to provide standardization and efficiency scheme to facilitate for AEOI. Hence, bilateral agreement need not always be done.

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The reciprocal exchange of information will be started after the two jurisdictions introduce the regulations needed to implement CRS and to keep confidentiality and protect exchanged data.

Confidentiality and protection of financial data being exchanged are international prerequisites set by Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for tax purposes. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)