Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The government should exclude mining permit (IUP) holders as potential beneficiaries of a planned tax amnesty, NGOs have demanded, arguing that hundreds of them had evaded liabilities to the government, causing trillions of rupiah in state losses.

As the government was in the process of clearing up data on thousands of companies operating under IUP licenses, the tax amnesty would give the companies an exit door to not fully pay their obligations, said Wiko Saputra, a researcher from the Anti-Mining Mafia Coalition, which represents several NGOs.

The deadline for the IUP data reconciliation and annulment is May 12, with a three-month grace period until August. By December 2016, provinces may only record trouble-free IUP documents.

"We all need to monitor the process. [Holders of] around 1,087 licenses are clearly evading taxes. The government should enforce the law instead of giving them a tax amnesty," Wiko told thejakartapost.com in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Previously, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it had recorded Rp 25 trillion (US$1.88 billion) in unpaid receivables in the mining sector from May to October 2015. Around Rp 7 trillion of this stemmed from IUP holders and the rest from mining contract holders.

Based on the findings, the government has revoked 874 IUPs, most of which belonged to small and medium enterprises. That figure is believed to represent only 22 percent of the troubled licenses, held by companies producing around 20 percent of the total mining business value.

"The other 80 percent are not exposed yet. We may face big names. The problem is that there are 3,982 IUPs with non-clean and clear status as of April 2016, which is more than the KPK's finding from March to October 2015," Wiko said. (ags)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/05/11/no-tax-amnesty-for-mining-firms-NGOs-demand.html