Lessons Behind the Spike in Import Duty Bills for Imported Shoes, Robots and Braille Keyboards

Kompas noted that there were several cases that sparked public reactions, one of which was when a Tiktok social media user named Radhika Althaf bought shoes for IDR 10.3 million, and was subject to a tax bill along with administrative sanctions of IDR 31.8 million. million.

Also Read: Customs: Passengers Bringing Goods from Abroad Are Not Required to Report

In another case, a toy content creator, Medy Renaldy, also complained about customs duties and the handling process by a courier company (PJT) related to the Megatron robot character toy from the Transformers series that he was going to review.

The case that may have garnered the most attention from the public is the issue of a grant for learning equipment for visually impaired students in special needs schools that was held up in the warehouse of a package delivery service (PJT) company for over a year due to the recipient's inability to pay for the customs duties, which amounted to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

All three of these cases involve the services of the Indonesian courier company DHL. This has brought attention to the global courier service provider headquartered in Germany.

The provision of fines is intended to appreciate those who comply. We should not let the community become non-compliant. In order to appreciate those who comply, those who do not comply are fined for the sake of fairness.

During his visit to the DHL Express Jakarta Distribution Center warehouse in Tangerang, Banten on Monday (4/29/2024), the special staff of the Minister of Finance for Communication, Yustinus Prastowo, explained the reason behind the viral social media bill of IDR 31.8 million. The figure appeared due to importers' non-compliance in reporting the value of goods they imported to Indonesia.

According to him, the value or price of the shoes included by the delivery service was 35.37 US dollars or around Rp. 562,736. However, after checking, the customs value should be 553.61 US dollars (around Rp. 8.8 million). "In fact, after being confirmed by shippers from the country of origin, the price of the shoes reached IDR 11 million," he said.

Based on the actual value, the breakdown of import duties and taxes on the shoes product is a 30 percent customs duty of Rp 2,643,000, a 11 percent VAT of Rp 1,259,544, a 20 percent Import Income Tax of Rp 2,290,000, and an administrative sanction of Rp 24,736,000.

"The imposition of this fine is to appreciate those who comply. We don't want the community to follow suit and become non-compliant. For the sake of appreciating those who comply, those who don't comply are fined to ensure fairness," he said.

Senior Technical Advisor of DHL Express Indonesia, Ahmad Mohamad, stated that the shoes in question have been received by individual importers in the Bandung area of West Java. He ensured that the taxes have been paid accordingly based on the new valuation.

"However, regarding penalties, this is still being discussed. DHL always pays all customs duties first, and then we bill it to the customer. We are committed to following the SOP of Customs and will not deviate from it," said Ahmad.

Verification process

In the case of the Megatron robot toy, the Director General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance, Askolani, explained that the toy was temporarily detained by Customs due to the toy's price being considered not in accordance with regulations. Customs initially stated that the value of the Megatron toy that was shipped reached 1,699 US dollars, almost twice the importer's declaration of 899 US dollars.

Askolani stated that the toy is still new and does not have a price reference, so time is needed to verify the price. In the end, Customs agreed that the reference value for the toy was set according to the importer's declaration at around 800 US dollars.

Regarding complaints from importers about how PJT (Indonesian Customs and Excise Office) treats goods, Ahmad Mohamad acknowledged that there was a slight damage to the packaging of the toy shipment. However, he ensured that the damage was not caused by the handling procedures carried out by DHL.

"We have communicated with the recipient of the goods and showed them the CCTV recording of the procedure for checking the contents of the package. The slight damage to some of the toys was not caused by mishandling of the goods," said Ahmad.

Regarding the delay in SLB learning tools in the form of 20 units of braille computer keyboards for the blind which were a grant from South Korea, Askolani admitted that this could have happened because communication was not going well between Customs, PJT, SLB as recipients. goods.

According to him, when the keyboard first arrived in Indonesia via the DHL Express Indonesia facility, it had the status of a consignment item in general. Askolani admitted that his party had never been informed that the braille keyboard from South Korea was a grant item for educational needs at the special school in the Lebak Bulus area, South Jakarta.

Also Read: Jastip Polemic and Luggage Restrictions

"As a result, for almost two years, the granted braille computer keyboard was stuck in the DHL warehouse without further processing by the importer because they objected to the import duty tax imposed by Customs," he said.

So lesson learned

Generally, grants or prizes for personal purposes are still subject to import duties. However, the 2006 Customs Law guarantees that import duties are exempted for the purposes of education, public worship, charity, social, cultural, up to disaster relief interests.

In addition, a guarantee of exemption from customs duties is also stipulated in the Ministry of Finance Regulation (PMK) Number 200/PMK.04/2019 concerning the Exemption of Customs Duties and Taxes on Imported Goods for Research and Development Purposes.

After attempting to release the grant items with the fiscal exemption facilities as regulated, a total of 20 Braille computer keyboards have been officially handed over to SLB-A Pembina National Level today.

The Acting Head of the National Level-A Special Education School, Dedeh Kurniasih, acknowledges that the polemic that occurred was due to the lack of insight and understanding as an importer related to the procedure for importing gifted items, which resulted in import duties amounting to hundreds of millions of rupiah.

"Hopefully, this can be a lesson for all parties because it is not impossible in the future that we will receive further grants from people who care about special needs learners in Indonesia," he said.

The outreach must be quite massive, in the sense of reaching people who are potentially affected by customs regulations.

Contacted separately, a public policy observer from the University of Indonesia, Roy Valiant Salomo, stated that the controversy in the customs sector indicates the government's weak socialization of regulations regarding import duties.

In fact, currently in line with developments in the e-commerce sector, everyone can now buy or obtain goods from abroad. "The outreach must be quite massive, in the sense of reaching people who are potentially affected by these regulations," he said.

In the future, the Directorate General of Customs and Excise of the Ministry of Finance needs to work extra not only to increase state revenue, but also to educate and improve information services for the community regarding the customs system in Indonesia.