MULTINATIONAL PROFIT
Indonesia puts tax sights on tech giants
Indonesia needs to squeeze more revenue out of an economy that has been hit by weak commodity prices and subdued demand from China
Jakarta — Indonesia is widening its tax net to target global technology giants such as Google and Facebook, a strategy that is raising red flags for fear it may deter foreign investment. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati is seeking to squeeze more revenue out of an economy that has been hit by weak commodity prices and subdued demand from China, Indonesia’s biggest trading partner. Halfway through a tax amnesty plan, the government has raised almost 100-trillion rupiah ($7.4bn) in income from penalties and is now turning its focus to companies such as Apple, Twitter and Yahoo! "We’re just looking for fair treatment," said Lin Neumann, MD of the American Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia. If companies "end up in a … red-tape situation, that is not conducive to making plans for growth", he said. "Ultimately, that situation hurts Indonesia." Indonesia had initially put Google’s tax and penalty bill at 5-trillion rupiah, but could lower that to 1-trillion rupiah in a settlement that...
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