DGT, An Unstoppable Reformation

By Andi Zulfikar, Employee of the Directorate General of Taxes

"Progress is impossible without change." 

(George Bernard Shaw)

William Arthur Ward, a writer, gives us a lesson about how to face a situation that we don’t really want to face. He said, “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails”. I really like that quote. For me, we should not expect the problem to change or we are changed by the problem, but we must take an action to make a best change. 

In fact, the change always comes in our life. A change, when it is not faced with a good attitude, will becomes a biggest problem. Why? It is because some people are not ready with the change. They complain because they do not prepare for the change. A wise man teaches us that to solve a problem which comes from the external side of us, we have to change the internal side of us.

When we are talking about an organization, like or not it’s better to prepare a change than to face a change without preparation. A good coach knows when to make a new formation to win the competition. A good organization leader must know when and how they will change the direction. A ship will not stop the journey because of the storm, but that ship can change the direction to reach the goal.

A good organization knows that the formation is not eternal, so if it is the best choice, they must not stand still. An organization must reform itself. Change is a must. It happens not only every day but also everywhere. To be a better organization, standing still is not an option. Yes, it’s truly not an option. The world always changes every day. The change of technology, regulation of government, pressure from the internal and external of organization, culture, demand of market, the way of people life, the quality and quantity of human resources, and there are so many things those change every day. As a result, because a change is a must, a reformation is a must too.

Reformation in Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) 

One of the big organizations in Indonesia right now is Directorate General of Taxes (DGT). More than 32,000 civil servants work on that organization. In 2017, the target of tax collection is IDR 1,307 trillion. As a big organization with a big tax collection target, DGT must always make a new movement. DGT believes reformation is a step to make not only a better organization, but also a best organization.

In 2002, DGT made a big step to prepare a good governance system. DGT became a pioneer. Modern tax offices with the administration reform had come. For the beginning, only a few modern tax offices follow this reform. People knew it as DGT’s reformation first phase. The reform aims was to build public trust and more productive tax officers. DGT focused on a new organization system with not only a best business process but also the trusted human resources that work on DGT. The tax procedures must more transparent, the incentive of tax officers must be equal with their position on the organization, the corruption must be cleaned, and there must be a system that can detect corruption in the organization.

In 2008, tax reform was continued on whole of the organization of DGT. There were four pillars of that tax reform. Those were the transformation of organization and institution, the transformation of business process, the transformation of human resources, and the transformation of technology information. In this new tax office system, since the beginning until now, the taxpayer’s compliance is monitored by Account Representative (AR).

This position shows a really big difference between a new tax office system and the previous system. AR becomes a connector between taxpayer and the office. AR becomes not only the counselor but also a controller for the taxpayers. DGT always gives the best service for the taxpayers. Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was made. As the result of human resources transformation, DGT puts the right man on the right position.

On the transformation of technology information, new information system was made. The name is DGT information system. The goal is to ensure the jobs are done not only accurately but also on time. One of the goals of tax reform is the increase of tax collection. In 2001, the tax collection was IDR 185.40 trillion. In the 2008, the tax collection result was IDR 583.675 trillion.

Tax reform continues

Sri Mulyani, Indonesian Tax Minister, had launched the tax reform team on 2016. This tax reform team was formed based on the Ministry of Finance Decree (KMK) No. 885/KMK.03/2016 on the Establishment of Tax Reform Team. One of the big plans of tax reform is the reform of tax laws and regulations. It means that there will be five pillars of tax reform. Those are organization reform, human resources reform, information technology and data base reform, business process reform, and the last is the laws and regulations reform.

In my humble opinion, we need the laws and regulations reform of tax to build not only a better institution but also a better nation. To realize it, Ministry of Finance need more support from the people. To build a strong, credible, and accountable tax institution the reform must be continued. On the top of this article, I put a quote from George Bernard Shaw. He said “Progress is impossible without change.” Actually, this is not a full quote of him. He said to us “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” A best change will happen when we start it with changing our mind. The right time is now! (*)

*) The information and views set out in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the institution in which the author works.