Indonesia

Consolidated returns are not allowed in Indonesia.

Transfer pricing

Transactions between related parties must be consistent with the arm’s-length principle. If the arm’s-length principle is not followed, the DGT is authorised to recalculate the taxable income or deductible costs arising from such transactions applying the arm’s-length principle.

Under the General Tax Provisions and Procedures (Ketentuan Umum dan Tata Cara Perpajakan or KUP) Law, the government requires specific transfer pricing documentation to prove the arm’s-length nature of related-party transactions.

Taxpayers under certain criteria are required to prepare transfer pricing documentation, namely the Master File, Local File, and Country-by-Country (CbC) Report.

Detailed transfer pricing disclosures are required in the CIT return, which include the following:

• The nature and value of transactions with related parties.
• The transfer pricing methods applied to those transactions and the rationale for selecting the methods.
• Whether the company has prepared transfer pricing documentation.

Transfer pricing disputes may be resolved through the domestic objection and appeal process or, where the dispute involves a transaction with a related party in a country that is one of Indonesia’s tax treaty partners, the parties may request double tax relief under the Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAP) article of the relevant tax treaty. The MAP may be applied concurrently with a domestic dispute resolution process. If the MAP process has not reached agreement until the announcement of the Tax Court or Judicial Review Decision on the MAP-related content, the DGT may use the Decision result as a position in the MAP negotiation or propose a cessation of negotiation.

The tax law authorises the DGT to enter into Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with taxpayers and/or another country’s tax authority on the future application of the arm’s-length principle to transactions between related parties. An APA’s conclusions may potentially be rolled back to open years, albeit on a limited basis. In all cases, the APA period can be up to maximum of five years.

Increase in transfer pricing focused investigations

The number of tax audits with transfer pricing as the key focus area has continued to increase following the issuance of regulations relating to transfer pricing. The DGT has issued detailed guidelines that, broadly stated, typically follow OECD principles. Transactions under particularly close scrutiny include payments of royalties and technical or management services fees, inter-company services, royalty and financing transactions, and exports to related parties.

Where a taxpayer has no documentation available to substantiate these transactions, there is a high risk that deductions for the payments will be denied in full. In this regard, the 30-day time limit within which a taxpayer must produce any documentation requested by the Indonesian Tax Office (ITO) during an audit is being strictly enforced. Any documentation provided after the 30-day time limit is being disregarded by the ITO in its decision-making process.

Controlled foreign companies (CFCs)

See Foreign income in the Income determination section for a description of the CFC regime.