Appeal as an Effort to Seek Justice

In November 1789, 233 years ago, United States Founding Father Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his colleague, a French scientist named Jean-Baptiste Le Roy. The letter was written in French and only translated in 1817.

The man who is familiarly called Ben once wrote “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes. Ben is right.

The Phenomenon of Footballers Affected by Tax Cases

Everything is not exempt from taxes, as well as world-class footballers. For example, the superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were accused of embezzling taxes during their careers in the Spanish League.

Also well-known names such as Neymar, Javier Mascherano, Felipe Luis, Diego Costa, Falcao, to James Rodriguez followed the list of tax evasion footballers. In the end they pleaded guilty and were willing to pay the fine. Most of the alibis are the players admitting the lack of information on tax regulations in the country.

Likewise, FC Barcelona’s senior defender Gerard Pique did not escape the tax case. Recently Pique reportedly filed an appeal to the Spanish Supreme Court. Pique is considered to have deliberately avoided paying taxes in the period 2008 to 2010. In the aftermath of this problem, Pique was obliged to pay 1.89 million pounds, or around 33.2 billion rupiah.

The husband of the singer of the song Waka-Waka (This Time For Africa) is accused of sending a sum of money from his image rights contract to a company called Kerad Project. The court’s decision at that time said that this was an effort to avoid tax.

Dissatisfied with this matter, the player continued the case for the tax penalty bill to the high court in Spain, but the results of the high court’s decision actually strengthened it.

As a result, the last resort is to file an appeal. The result was sweet because the Spanish Supreme Court rejected the court’s argument that the Kerad Project was just a shell company and acknowledged that the flow of funds to the company was a legal effort.

Appeals Legal Efforts in Indonesia

Not only in Spain, but also in Indonesia, there are frequent appeals by taxpayers. This matter is motivated by the taxpayer’s dissatisfaction or different opinions regarding the results of the tax assessment letter issued whether the tax payable becomes underpaid, overpaid, or nil.

This means that the Directorate General of Taxes as the agency responsible for state revenues through taxation cannot perform its functions in the taxation sector arbitrarily.

In line with that, in the wealth of nation, it contains a principle, namely the principle of certainly (legal basis). This principle explains that tax collection must be regulated in a clear law and has binding legal force.

Tax collection aims to remain in the right corridor and serves to prevent tax fraud from both taxpayers and tax collectors. If there is a violation, the violator will get strict sanctions according to the applicable law.

The definition of an appeal based on article 1 point 6 of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 14 of 2002 concerning the Tax Court is that an appeal is a legal remedy that can be taken by a taxpayer or tax guarantor against a decision that can be appealed, based on the applicable tax laws and regulations. . The taxpayer himself can file an appeal to the Tax Court.

In the tax appeal procedure, there are at least a number of conditions on which a taxpayer can file an appeal against the tax payable, including: For every decision, the taxpayer can file an appeal letter; application for appeal must be submitted in writing using the Indonesian language within the period of application for filing an appeal letter, which is no later than three months after the decision on the objection is received and will be excluded if there are other rules in the applicable tax laws and regulations; the letter of appeal to be submitted must be accompanied by a decision on the objection that has been decided; an appeal can be made if only 50% of the amount of tax owed by the taxpayer in question has been paid; and the taxpayer attaches a Tax Payment Letter.

The parties who can file an appeal are the taxpayer himself, his heirs, an administrator, or his legal representative; if during the appeal process, the applicant dies, the appeal may be continued by his heirs, the legal representative of his heirs, or the guardian in the event that the appeal applicant goes bankrupt; For example, during the appeal process, the appeal applicant carries out a merger, consolidation, business split/expansion, or liquidation, the said application may be continued by the party receiving responsibility for the said merger, consolidation, business split/expansion, or liquidation.

When all the requirements requested in the tax appeal application process have been fulfilled, the appeal applicant will get the rights used to fight for the tax appeal, including: within three months from the receipt of the appeal decision, the appeal applicant has the right to complete the letter of appeal for compliance with the applicable provisions; the applicant for an appeal has the right to be present at the trial to provide verbal information and the necessary evidence; the applicant for filing an appeal has the right to be accompanied or represented by a legal representative who has obtained a lawyer’s license from the head of the tax court; The applicant for filing an appeal has the right to request the court for the presence of witnesses.

I agree with Ben, as long as a body contains life, abstruse taxes do not play a role. Taxes are like our shadows, always follow us wherever we go.

Although taxes have coercive characteristics, coercion is not without limits, its limits are regulated by law. There are legal provisions and taxpayers can take legal action if they don’t like it.