REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government has received Rp23.7 billion as redemption money as a result of its tax amnesty program that has been running for one week now, Finance Ministry Spokesman Luky Alfirman said.

"The redemption money received has reached Rp23.7 billion. It came as a result of declaration of assets amounting to Rp988 billion," Alfirman stated on Tuesday.

He added that the redemption money came from overseas assets worth Rp253 billion and assets at home valued at Rp735 billion.

"Ths revenue came from 83 Letters of Assets Declaration (SPH)," Alfirman, who is also the head of the Harmonization Policy and Analysis Center, noted.

Alfirman remained optimistic, claiming that the number of taxpayers who issued letters of asset declarations and carried out asset repatriation overseas, will increase, particularly in the run up to the end of the first period of the tax amnesty program in September 2016.

"By nature, it will peak by the end of the first period because this period offered the lowest rate," he stressed.

He explained that the tax amnesty program attracted taxpayers who had attended events where the program was popularized in Surabaya (East Java) and Medan (North Sumatra). Thousands of callers had inquired about procedures at the tax amnesty call center.

"The call center received 3,200 questions from callers although it has been operating for eight days only. The popularization efforts launched in Surabaya and Medan always drew a full house. The number of participants was far higher than in 2008 when the sunset policy was introduced," he underlined.

He expected that the tax amnesty program would run smoothly and asset declaration and repatriation by taxpayers would give a stimulus to the development of national economy.

The tax amnesty program will run for nine months, beginning July 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017. It is divided into three periods of three months each.

The redemption tariff will also be imposed gradually for asset declaration and repatriation.

The repatriation tariff has been set at 2 percent for the July-September period, 3 percent for the October-December and 5 percent for the January-March 2017 period.

In the meantime, the redemption tariff has been set at 4 percent for the July-September period, 6 percent for October-December and 10 percent for the January-March 2017 period.

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