Jakarta. The country's tax chief on Tuesday defended a recently publicized internal directive allowing the involvement of military and police personnel in taxpayer compliance monitoring, saying the arrangement has existed since 2020 and does not grant security forces any tax enforcement authority.

Director General of Taxes Bimo Wijayanto said the circular, which has drawn public scrutiny, merely updates existing operational guidelines for the Directorate General of Taxes under the Ministry of Finance.

"There is no need to exaggerate this in the media because the regulation has been in place since 2020," Bimo told a press conference in Jakarta.

He stressed that the directive does not authorize members of the Indonesian Armed Forces or the National Police to conduct tax audits or collect taxes. Instead, it serves solely as an internal guideline for tax officials.

"Once again, this is an internal circular intended for the Directorate General of Taxes. There is no need to debate it," he said.

According to Bimo, the tax authority routinely cooperates with various stakeholders to gather information on conditions in the field, with local military and police units forming part of that information network.

He added that regional security personnel do not carry out tax audits or collection activities, which remain the exclusive responsibility of officials from the Directorate General of Taxes under existing laws.

"Village officials and others coordinate with us, but they should not be portrayed as carrying out tax audits or tax collection. That is absolutely not the case," Bimo said.

The circular outlines several methods for monitoring taxpayer compliance, including field visits, area surveys, direct observation, information network development, and technology-based data collection.

The Directorate General of Taxes also uses digital tools such as remote sensing, web scraping, media analysis, and data analytics to assess taxpayer compliance without necessarily conducting on-site visits.

Parliament Seeks Clarification
Separately, House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani said the involvement of military personnel in taxpayer compliance monitoring could undermine public trust if not properly explained.

She argued that voluntary tax compliance among Indonesians has generally improved and warned that the policy should not create the impression that taxpayers are being intimidated.

"The government recently encouraged the public to voluntarily report and pay their taxes. This should not create distrust among the public," Puan told reporters.

She said the House of Representatives would seek an explanation from the Directorate General of Taxes regarding the rationale behind the directive.

"The relevant parliamentary commission will request clarification so that public confidence is not diminished," she said.

"If people perceive there is coercion or other forms of pressure, it could discourage the voluntary tax compliance that the government has worked to build," Puan added.