The government of Indonesia is enforcing a range of taxation policies for different aspects of business and business entities, including coffee trading. This makes it important for businesses especially in the rural and remote areas, such as Fairtrade coffee business players in Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah to have a clear understanding of the regulations.
While many lack a good financial system in place, others are not very sure of which taxation policies they have to comply with and their calculations. On the other hand, they face a complex government taxation policy and end up paying an enormous amount of tax annually, including for Fairtrade Premium. To help them understand the taxation policies and their application for coffee businesses at different levels, a workshop was organised by Fairtrade NAPP in Sumatra. The workshop was facilitated under one of the main goals of NAPP to help its producer members strengthen their governance in the areas of financial management.
The session was led by Yurnalis Ak., MAk, a tax expert from TAX AND EAM, a tax adviser consultancy firm based in Jakarta who presented all the relevant articles of taxation policy of the Indonesian government and its imposition on cooperatives and coffee businesses.
18 producer organisations comprising their Board Members and finance staff from Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah who were part of the training have now gained a better understanding of the tax policies, and their application within their organizations. The participants have also created a WhatsApp group with the tax advisor as a platform for discussion and peer consultation in the future.
