Constitutional Court Rejects Material Test Request for DGT's Separation from the Ministry of Finance

JAKARTA. The Constitutional Court rejected a judicial review request related to the separation of the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) from the Ministry of Finance. 

The panel of Constitutional Court judges hearing case number 155/PUU-XXI/2023, led by Suhartoyo, considered the petition unreasonable according to the law.

Previously, the petitioner assessed that the placement of DGT as subordinate under the Ministry of Finance, as stated in the norms of Article 5 paragraph (2), Article 6, Article 15 of Law Number 39 Year 2008, and the norms of Article 6 paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) of Law Number 17 Year 2003 were contrary to the 1945 Constitution.

However, according to the panel of judges, the placement of DGT under the Ministry of Finance is an open legal policy of the legislator as stated in Article 17 paragraph (4) and Article 32A of the 1945 Constitution.

Thus, the provision can be changed at any time according to the demands of the existing development needs, following the development of the scope of government affairs or through legislative review efforts.

"Thus, the applicant's petition is unreasonable according to the law in its entirety," read out the verdict on Wednesday (31/1).

For information, the application for a lawsuit or material test was filed by a tax consultant named Sangap Tua Ritonga, through his attorney.

The reason for this judicial review request is that mixing the nomenclature of finance and tax means uniting the treasury function and the state revenue function in one nomenclature. 

Thus, it is feared that it will cause problems in policymaking. For example, in the preparation of tax revenue targets that are not based on calculations such as the potential tax gap that has not been reported by taxpayers.

In addition, the separation of DGT from the Ministry of Finance is also expected to improve the governance of the tax authority. (ASP)