Late rush to join Indonesia tax amnesty after $360 billion declared

Hundreds of Indonesians queued from before dawn on Friday at Indonesia's main tax office in the capital, seeking to join the final day of a government tax amnesty that has already seen nearly $360 billion of assets declared. The government provided makeshift tents for the crowd and Ken Dwijugiasteadi, director general of taxes at Indonesia's finance ministry, pledged staff would keep administering the last-minute rush of people until late.
"We will be open until midnight and banks will offer services until 9 pm today," Dwijugiasteadi told reporters. The amnesty programme was introduced last year as President Joko Widodo sought to cover a budget deficit and get taxpayers to repatriate previously concealed overseas assets.
The government has dubbed programme as among the most successful in the world in terms of revenue it generated. The figure reached 128 trillion rupiah ($9.61 billion) as of early Friday. More than 897,000 taxpayers have participated in the amnesty, declaring assets worth 4,778 trillion rupiah ($358.63 billion), or 38 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP), government statistics showed.
The bulk of the assets were declared during the first amnesty period, in July to September, when penalty rates were the most generous. Liana Hartanty Gunawan, a bank employee in Jakarta, said she regretted not participating earlier when she could have saved more money. "If a tax officer looks at my tax report clearly, I'm sure I have some flaws, which could hit me later. I'd rather join the amnesty now that the tariff is still lower than normal," Gunawan said as she waited in line. Some of Indonesia's wealthiest, including Hutomo Mandala Putra - the son of the late authoritarian president Suharto - and tycoon-politican Aburizal Bakrie, joined the amnesty in its first few months.