System Not Ready, Government-DPR Agree Coretax Will Not Be Fully Effective in 2025

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The government and the House of Representatives have agreed to maintain the old tax system until Coretax is ready to be fully implemented. This means that there are two tax systems that will be used throughout 2025. The hope is that the tax collection process will not be disrupted by the new system which is still problematic.

After more than a month of Coretax implementation being complained about by the public, Commission XI of the House of Representatives (DPR) finally summoned the ranks of the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance to evaluate the system. The meeting was held at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday (10/2/2025).

Initially, the meeting was scheduled to be held openly, and could even be watched by the public online on the DPR's Youtube channel. However, at the beginning of the meeting, the Director General of Taxes at the Ministry of Finance, Suryo Utomo, requested that the meeting be closed to the public. The reason was to avoid any unrest that was not conducive.

After a closed meeting that lasted for four hours, the DPR and the government finally agreed that Coretax would not be fully implemented in 2025. Some tax matters will continue to use the old system in the DJP Information System (SIDJP). However, other matters can already use the Coretax system as it is currently running.

"We agreed that the Directorate General of Taxes can reuse the old taxation system as anticipation and mitigation of the implementation of Coretax which still needs to be continuously refined, so as not to disrupt tax revenues," said Chairman of Commission XI of the DPR from the Golkar Party Faction, Mukhamad Misbakhun, in a press conference after the meeting.

Initially, all factions in the DPR had asked the government to postpone the implementation of Coretax completely this year until the system was truly ready. In fact, there was a long debate between the DPR and the DJP to postpone the implementation of Coretax or not this year.

In the end, the DPR's proposal could not be fulfilled by the government. "We cannot force it, because after all, the ones who can know whether the implementation of Coretax is running or not are the policy implementers themselves, namely the Directorate General of Taxes," said Misbakhun.

He said, in essence, the unprepared Coretax system should not disrupt services for taxpayers and hamper the tax collection process. The DPR also reminded the government not to impose sanctions on taxpayers who make mistakes or are late in taking care of taxes due to disruptions in the implementation of Coretax during 2025.

"Don't let state revenues be disrupted. That's the most important thing. Whatever IT (information technology) system is finally implemented, please use it," he said.

On the same occasion, Suryo Utomo said, the government will implement two tax systems simultaneously in parallel in 2025, namely SIDJP and Coretax. Some matters will continue to use the old system.

For example, reporting the Annual Tax Return (SPT) for Personal Income Tax (PPh) which has a deadline of March 31, 2025 and the Corporate Income Tax Return (SPT) which has a deadline of April 30, 2025.

Both still use the e-Filing application through the pajak.go.id page. "So, for the 2024 tax year PPh 21 SPT which must be reported this year, it still uses the existing system. However, for the 2025 tax year PPh 21 SPT which will be submitted in 2026, it will use Coretax," he said.

Several other matters, such as the Value Added Tax (PPN) Periodic Tax Returns that must be reported every month, will use Coretax starting this year. "So we use two systems that continue to run. Coretax continues to run, but if something is found that requires a return to the old system, we will run it," said Suryo.

He gave an example, because the Coretax system was hampered at the beginning of the year, the government allowed taxpayers to use the e-invoice system when issuing tax invoices. "So what is important is that we maintain state revenue. We must be consistent in implementing Coretax so that it does not interfere with efforts to collect state revenue," he said.

Misbakhun said the DPR will ask the government to periodically report on the implementation and improvement of the Coretax system. The government is also expected to create a detailed roadmap for Coretax implementation according to the current level of system readiness.

"There are weaknesses, indeed, because this is a new system. However, it must be quickly addressed and fixed so that it truly becomes a service that facilitates taxpayers. Because, the state's task is to facilitate services for the community. We also do not want the use of the system to affect tax revenues," said Misbakhun.

The Coretax system or Tax Administration Core System (SIAP) has been implemented since January 1, 2025. The system integrates various business processes related to tax payments and reporting by taxpayers. However, after being implemented for the past month, the Coretax system is still having problems here and there.

Business actors also face various obstacles to access the system. Starting from the difficulty of registering and accessing the site, limited bandwidth capacity so that the site fails to load, to the inconsistency of tax data in the system.

Business people have also asked the government to extend the transition period for Coretax implementation. Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) Sanny Iskandar said that based on the problems that are still widely found in the field, business people have asked the government to extend the transition period from the initial three months to six months.

The transition period is important because entrepreneurs with PKP (taxable entrepreneurs) status can be subject to fines if they are late in paying VAT and issuing tax invoices.

"Even if possible, one year. Because, this is a massive system change. In addition to the readiness of the government's digital infrastructure that needs to be fixed, companies also need time to prepare the system and human resources to manage this new system," said Sanny.