In understanding the legal phenomena that occur, it can be explained using the principles of das sollen and das sein. Das sollen is a rule that requires a person to think in accordance with norms or rules that are enforced or have a concrete legal basis that has been written and ratified by legislators and the executive agency. Das sollen, in this legal issue, there are regulations related to the prohibition of committing criminal acts of money laundering in Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering Crimes (UU TPPU) and also criminal acts in the field of taxation in the Law Number 6 of 1983 concerning General Provisions and Tax Procedures (UU KUP) as most recently amended by Law Number 7 of 2021 concerning Harmonization of Tax Regulations (UU HPP).

A snippet of my ppt slide narrative at the open session for the promotion of a doctor of law at Borobudur University which I presented in the morning at 08:30 WIB in order to defend my dissertation which I entitled: “Handling Tax Manipulation by Corporations in Tax Crimes with Money Laundering” .

The phenomenon that has occurred recently is like a kepo-an, today’s slang, because many retail trade communities have emerged, retail canvassing cigarette sales. The phenomenon referred to here is the emergence of a “virtual entity” as the author gives the name, namely a virtual entity, not a legal entity in the cigarette retail trade community at the retail level from roadside cart stalls and “pracangan” stalls.

We are very aware and know that there is a community with the name GGSP written on the banners of shops or small roadside stalls which comes from the abbreviation Gudang Garam Strategic Partnership. There is another who calls themselves DRP, which is short for Djarum Retail Partnership, there is another SRC or short for Sampoerna Retail Community. Yes, that’s right, it is a community from the lowest level retail traders to reach the end users, nicotine connoisseurs.

As in my ppt slide clip above, to understand this phenomenon we have to know what das sein and das sollen are. Das sein here is the phenomenon of establishing a virtual entity as a cigarette retailer, das sollen is that in an actus reus (deed) there must be a mens rea (perpetrator) in this case the virtual entity.

We all understand that every time we buy retail cigarettes, one pack, two packs or even retail per stick, we don’t need proof of purchase, receipt, invoice or tax invoice. Because there is no proof of purchase, thus the seller does not provide proof per buyer at the end user level of nicotine connoisseurs, a virtual entity is formed as a bridging between the main distributor which is divided into DC-DC, distribution center, and retail sellers at the shop level-roadside stall. The question is, can this virtual entity be held legally responsible for its actus reus, for its actions, namely selling cigarettes? The answer is of course no, because virtual entities are not legal entities that have legal standing in carrying out legal actions.

Main distributors are retail companies that sell cigarettes to roadside stalls as an extension of cigarette manufacturers. In the article above, cigarette buyers do not need proof, so distributor companies will also be tempted not to report actual sales to retail buyers who use cash, are cash intensive. I can imagine that every day there is so much “dirty money” in the true sense that is sitting on the distributor company’s table. So, how does this money disappear immediately? It’s very easy, just bury it in a deep hole, this is sanepan, sanepoan, satire. Just create a debt transaction scheme that is paid, repaid with the “dirty money”, because the money is really dirty as an intermediary for carrying germs, from retail cigarette sales.

If this transaction is tested using the Business Purpose Test, you can be sure that it will not pass, the taste of the cigarettes being sold means turnover, the turnover from money into goods, into cigarettes, into money back through a very fast cycle, meaning Business Purpose. The test was not passed because the cigarette company (PR) did not have the urgency to create this debt transaction scheme, so this debt transaction had to be adjusted, which means the interest costs incurred on this debt had to be corrected.

Because the Business Purpose Test was not passed, we should also question the status of the debt transaction scheme. After examining it in accordance with the Mathematical Accounting Formula, Tax Accounting Equation (TAE): Revenues = Expenses + Assets – Liabilities, it is clear that Revenues have an inverse relationship, the opposite relationship, with Liabilities, which means that the transaction scheme was created to reclassify, reverse the journal the accounting flaw, the receipt of money from sales as a tax object takes on a new form, a new character, becoming money resulting from disbursement of debts which are not tax objects.

Therefore, this transaction scheme can be canceled by the tax authorities, and this transaction scheme has a bad aim, namely avoiding taxes or could it even be said to be evading taxes? Only the tax authority has the authority to prove the “back to back loan, day to day operation” scheme which has been massively practiced by cigarette manufacturers as a form of tax avoidance and/or tax evasion transaction scheme. What is the proof? The empirical evidence is that there is a phenomenon of many small PRs in the cigarette manufacturing centers of Central Java and East Java, which actually if we look closely there is no significant activity, then we suspect that these companies were founded so that they could be registered with customs to have the right to redeem excise stamps, so where do they go? the tax stamp? Well, this is the issue where there is buying and selling of excise stamps, so there is a possibility that cigarettes that are known to the public, market leaders, use excise stamps that are not theirs, just look at the excise stamps for large cigarette companies, there are no names or excise stamp codes issued for which PR, but for Small homework for the MSME class is marked whose excise stamp this is.

Back to back loans at the day to day operation level are repeated at the non-day to day operation level, namely at the investment activity level, money resulting from tax avoidance and/or tax evasion that has been deposited in a bank that has been soaped, layered is used again as collateral. opening investment credit with a personal guarantee or corporate guarantee in the form of a promissory note or in the form of other securities, for example a time deposit. This cycle keeps repeating like this of placement, layering and integrating. The question is when will it stop? The answer is that the authorities are able to detect the existence of a back to back loan scheme that could harm state revenues in the tax and/or excise sectors.

Authority cannot regulate mens rea what actus reus must do? However, the authority has a regulatory instrument, das sollen, to deal with das sein that occurs. Life is a choice, determine your own future. Congratulations on determining the future of your beloved country, Indonesia, the choice is in your hands, happy voting, happy voting!

Jakarta, February 14 2024

Joko Ismuhadi Soewarsono*)

*) The author is a doctor in the field of tax law and a doctor candidate in tax accounting.