BIJAK Webinar: With Shorter Timeframes, Taxpayers Need to Prepare Strategies to Face Audits

JAKARTA. With the enactment of PMK Number 15 of 2025 and the implementation of the Core Tax Administration System (Coretax) starting from January 1, 2025, the procedures for tax audits have undergone significant changes. As a result, VAT-registered persons (WP) need to pay close attention to several crucial aspects, ranging from the types of audits to introducing a new type of tax, namely sales tax. These changes are not merely administrative but also directly impact the strategies taxpayers must prepare to face audits.

This topic was the main discussion in the MUC Bicara Pajak (BIJAK) webinar, themed “Facing Tax Audits in the Coretax Era”, held on Tuesday, May 20). In the webinar, speakers presented several important adjustments that VAT-registered persons must understand and anticipate to respond appropriately to the evolving dynamics of tax audits.

In her opening remarks, Shinta Marvianti, Tax Dispute Partner at MUC Consulting, highlighted the significant change in the time limit for submitting responses to the Audit Findings Notification Letter (SPHP). Previously, the response period for SPHP was 7 days, extendable by 3 days. Now, it is reduced to just 5 days with no extension.

“This is a challenge that WP must anticipate. Don’t miss the deadline, or it could be considered as not responding,” she explained.

Shinta continued by addressing another equally important regulatory change—the introduction of provisions for discussing interim audit findings. This interim findings discussion is a meeting between the WP and the tax auditor concerning preliminary audit findings, the outcome of which is documented in an official meeting report.

This process aims to ensure that findings are based on strong evidence and comply with prevailing laws and regulations.

“The discussion on interim findings is expected to be a fair and open dialogue between the auditor and the WP, before those findings are officially stated in the SPHP. The hope is that this process will ensure that the corrections stated in the SPHP are truly objective and proportionate final corrections, reducing the need for lengthy discussions at the final stage,” she elaborated.

Beyond technical adjustments, these regulatory changes also relate to the quality of communication between VAT-registered persons and tax auditors. On the same occasion, Galuh Insan Sejati, Tax Dispute Supervisor, stated that with the tightened timeframe for responding to SPHP, WP must be more proactive in preparing all supporting documents from the start, while also maintaining good communication with tax auditors.

“Because the quality of communication can affect the smoothness of the process, even the final outcome of the audit. If communication is poor, the auditor could act like a cowboy—issuing massive corrections without sufficient consideration,” Galuh explained.

Taxpayer Strategy

In line with several of these changes, Galuh stated that taxpayers (WP) must have a number of strategies in place to face tax audits. Among them, taxpayers with an Overpayment (LB) status are almost certain to become the object of an audit, making thorough preparation well in advance extremely crucial. If the data request is extensive while the taxpayer is unprepared, the audit process can become burdensome and may result in findings.

"Therefore, it is advisable to prepare supporting documents from the beginning, especially the Tax Return (SPT) and reconciliation working papers, which usually take a considerable amount of time to compile, certainly not just one or two days. So, advance planning is necessary. These preparations will greatly support a smooth audit process," she added.

With the various changes introduced by PMK 15/2025 and the Coretax system, taxpayers are expected not only to understand the new regulations but also to be thoroughly prepared for tax audits. (KEN)