Vol. 9 No. 5 - 19 August 2009

* President Patricia:

- warmly welcomed the Members and Visitors.

- noted apologies from Rtns. Dr. Claus, Cathryn, Ray, Mari, PAG Kamal, PP Sarita, Agnes, Marcantonio, Helen, Alex, and Pak Yudana.

- THANKED the following members for inviting some Guests to our 12 August meeting:

Pres. Patricia for inviting Trish Clark, Lizzie McLean & Mariella Scerri.
Rtn. Rosmarie for inviting Thomas Lips.
Rtn. Robert E. for inviting Shelley Epstone, Indrayagus Slamet, F. Cahya Khansmara, Heru Lelan, & D. K. Srestiari Sukardiana..
Rtn. Detlev for inviting Pete Ruwart.
Rtn. Barbara for inviting Chris Lauder..
Rtn. Virginie for inviting Mary Northmore.

- thanked all the members for COMING EARLY (12:30) and said that hopefully this longer time, will give the Members more time to enjoy their Lunch without any interruptions and secondly for the Guest Speaker to have some time for a Q & A session at the end of his/her talk.

- announced that The Rotary 4 Way Test will be read by a Club member each week at the beginning of the meetings. The first member to have the honor was Rtn. Andrew.

- told the members they would be having a "Keyhole to Rotary" moment each week. Hopefully, this will INCREASE Club members' ROTARY knowledge bit-by-bit. First up, CP Patrick was asked to talk about the myriad of Rotary ACRONYMS.

CP Patrick got the ATTENTION of the members by displaying a lovely bottle of MOET & CHANDON French Champagne. Once all of the members were listening intently - he read the following two sentences and then asked if ONE of the NEW members could correctly identify the Rotary Acronyms included in the passage.

The DG and the DT went to PETS to listen to the IPDG present new information about TRF and the GSE program to the PE's.  Prior to this meeting the DGE spoke to the new AG's about the upcoming DA.

Rtn. Chris made a BRAVE attempt ....... but unfortunately FAILED to take home the very bubbly French souvenir .......
For the answers and MUCH MUCH MORE, please see the ATTACHED list of Acronyms provided by District 9790 (Australia).

- gave a very big thank you to Rtn. Ivan for holding the Club's  Inaugural Cocktail Hour at the Anantara Resort on Thursday, 6 August.  It was very well attended by many of the members as well as visiting Rotarians and friends.  This is now a weekly event and President Patricia hopes EVERYONE will make an effort to participate from time-to-time.  She also CLARIFIED - to Rtn. Chris - that ONLY ONE Makeup will be given "per month" for attending this Social Activity .......

  - reminded the members that she and IPP Urs would be presenting an interesting summary about the Rotary International Convention that the TWO of them attended in Birmingham, UK last June. PLEASE don't FORGET to WEAR your ALL Rotary PINS .......

- again told the members that the 1st meeting of every month, the Club would have a Club Assembly (Committee Chair Reports) and that the 4th meeting every mont h would be devoted exclusively to FELLOWSHIP .........

- informed the Club that the Board would be INVITING a different Committee Chair to a Board Meeting each month to explain in more DETAILS what they are accomplishing and to request FUNDING as needed.

- acknowledged and thanked  Rtn. Detlev for again raising  Rp. 2.2 million from his wonderful Sunday lunches (start at 14:00).  To raise money every week, he cleverly passes the hat round and explains that the funds will be used for Cleft Lip / Palate Operations . To the man with the BIGGEST HEART in Bali, THANK YOU Rtn. Detlev for this very generous gesture on your part.

Do WE hear any OTHER UNIQUE Fundraising IDEAS out there ???????

- said more information from Membership Chair Rtn. Detlev and her would be forthcoming regarding the next fellowship event which will be a Film Night in September at the Canggu Club.   There will be seating for approx. 50 people with the option of dinner available after the film.  In addition, President Patricia extended an invitation to all the members to join her at her home, which is very close to the Club, for pre-film drinks.  Details to follow.

- announced that the RC of Bali Taman would be having a Concert/Dinner on Friday, 14 August to raise funds for the RI END POLIO NOW program. Because the members have already purchased 10 tickets ...... the Club will receive one FREE TICKET ....... Again, a big Thank YOU to PP Komang and PE Helena for coming to the Club's meeting two weeks ago with the invitations ......

- very HAPPILY announced that the Members' Handbook should be available for distribution to all members at the 19 August meeting. Hopefully, the RCB Seminyak Handbook will prove a valuable tool for all, in particular to new members as a way to become familiar with ALL the club members.

- introduced former member Lizzie McLean who told the members about the upcoming Bali International Women's Association ( BIWA) Garage Sale .

Lizzie explained that BIWA would be holding a Garage Sale (GS) outside the BIWA office (Jl. Danau Tandakan #5, Sanur) on the first Saturday of every month to raise money for their many welfare projects (Scholarships, Breast Cancer Awareness, Mobile Dental Clinic, etc.   The first GS will be held on Saturday, 5 September from 10:00 - 14:00. Please help by donating any new or good used clothing, bags, jewelry, ceramics, painting, books, magazines, linen etc.  In particular, men's clothing are desperately needed. 

Donations can be dropped off at the BIWA office weekdays between 10:00 and 17:00 or call Lizzie on 081-8054-10371 about picking up items. For further information, please visit their website site at: http://www.biwa-bali.org/

* CP Patrick:

- told the members that the NEW Rotary Polo Shirts were READY and to see him about payment and collection.

- informed the members that the LATEST  "Rotarian"  Magazine had a special section in the August edition (pp. 57 - 64) entitled - Rotary Basics . He said if there were MORE POP Quizzes in the making ..... the answers were all in this section .........

- said that last week he had visited his OLD Club the RC of Bali Nusa Dua with President Mary K and Secretary Danielle from the RC of Bali Ubud and found that they were very much ALIVE and KICKING, BUT had yet another NEW Banner - No. 3 !!! At this point, he asked President Patricia HOW many Clubs there were in Bali. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually came up with the correct number - 16 !!! Now to find the Quiz Night Prize and return it to the REAL WINNER !!!

- lastly, gave the lady members of the Club some good NEWS ....... NO MORE ugly PINS on the Name Badges . He said he was adding MAGNETIC clips  to their Name Badges, so they wouldn't be ruining their EXPENSIVE blouses any longer. CP Patrick "stole" this idea from his very good friends - Rtns. Peter and Ruth Little of the RC of Rosanna, Melbourne, Australia. Sorry CHAPS ...... you'll still have to use the CLIPS till more funds are approved .........

* Rtn. Virginie presented Mary Northmore , the Founder / Director of the Smile Foundation (Yayasan Senyum), with Rp. 2 million she had collected from guests staying at her hotel - The Harris Resort - Kuta.  Mary thanked Rtn. Virginie, the Harris Hotel Guests and the RCBS for this very generous DONATION. She then took a minute to give the Club an update regarding what her Foundation (Yayasan) has been accomplishing during the past six months. In concluding, her talk, she asked the Club to PLEASE consider funding not ONLY Cleft Lip / Palate Operations, but Craniofacial Surgeries as well. Mary said there was a great DEMAND for these types of Surgeries and any and all HELP would be greatly appreciated in the future. For further information about the Smile Foundation (Yayasan Senyum) , please visit their website at: http://www.senyumbali.org/

Rtn. Robert E. introduced Pak Indrayagus Slamet, the Director of Northern Badung, Bali Government Tax Department and his three assistances, F. Cahya Khansmara, Heru Lelan, and D. K. Srestiari Sukardina.

Pak Indra started his talk by thanking Rtn. Robert and the RCBS for inviting him to the Club and the opportunity to give the OTHER side of the story. He added that one of the reasons that Jakarta had sent him to Bali was to change the IMAGE of the local Tax Office. The reputation here in Bali has been less than stellar .........

Secondly, he thanked Rtn. Robert for forwarding him the 10 + questions from the members and the chance to reply to some of them. Because of  the limited time, Pak Indra indicated that he only had enough time to discuss / answer TWO questions, however the other questions were answered and return to Rtn. Robert. Hopefully, he will distribute these to all the Club members soon.

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QUESTION 1: In 1998, I bought some freehold land in the name of an Indonesian partner and in 1999, we built a house on the land. We had all the necessary permits and have regularly paid the annual tax but, about 2 years ago, we received a bill for Rp.126 million as unpaid tax (PPN) on the property. We are not able or willing to pay this and although we have been threatened with having the house 'sealed', no-one has been able to explain why this tax might be payable or how it is calculated. A friend who recently retired from a senior position in the Departemen Pajak in Jakarta, said it should be 4% of the cost of the building materials and we calculate this as no more than Rp.24 million. My question is why should we have to pay this enormous amount of money and how has it been calculated?

Article 33 of KUP (General Provision on Taxation) stipulates that VAT must be paid by Purchaser  of goods or services, so long as  tax payer (buyer) can not give evidence that VAT was paid off. Buyer and Seller are responsible individually or collectively for the VAT payment on goods or services bought.

1. 4% VAT on Property is tax that deals with the construction having 200 m2 or more, conducted by the owner  of the property, without any assistance from contractors (No Contract). The works of owner comprise of designing, erecting, and supervising the construction. Just labor  is  needed from other parties in that project, and any materials are provided by the very owner of property. All evidences of disbursement reside in the owner.
2. 10% VAT on the property is tax that deals with construction services, plus 2% Income tax on the said services. All burden of tax combined is 12% of the total contract, which  is called The Underpaid VAT. That amount must be added with sanction of 48% interest for the underpaid tax.  All evidences of disbursement reside in the contractor. The only proofs owner have are the letter of contract and the transfer of payment via Bank, or cash.
3. The Value of Property.
   

The Value is from the assessment.

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QUESTION 2: Could we please have a little information on "Luxury Tax" obligations when selling a property.  What constitutes "Luxury" and how is the amount calculated? 

In force up to June 09, 2009 (20% rate).

Finance Minister Decree No-620/KMK.03/2004 on VAT on Luxurious goods defines VATLG are as follows:

1. House, including story building, non-strata title, which has  the square of 400 m2 or more, or the sales price of the building is Rp 3.000.000,- and more, not including the land price.
2. Apartment, Condominium, town house, and the like which has the square of 150 m2 or more, or  the sales price of the building is Rp 4.000.000,- and more, not including the land price.

From June 10, 2009 up to now (20% rate)

Finance Minister Decree No-103/KMK.03/2009 on VAT on Luxurious goods defines VATLG are as follows:

1. House, including story building, non-strata title, which has  the width of 350 m2 or more (without enumerating selling price of building).
2. Apartment, Condominium, town house, and the like which has the width of 150 m2 or more, (without enumerating selling price of building).
   
   Calculation of VATLG on Villa/Apartment/etc.
   
   Land                    Rp    500,000,000,
   Building                        Rp 1,000,000,000,-
   Selling price           Rp 1,500,000,000,-
   VAT (10%)               Rp    150,000,000,-
   VATLG (20%)             Rp    300,000,000,-
   Selling Price (incl. Tax)       Rp 1,950,000,000,-

In concluding his very topical talk, Pak Indra invited Club members to visit his office and discuss individual questions and concerns with his staff.  Don't be afraid he said, his office only wants to improve relations between the General Public and the Government Tax Dept.

If members do want to visit Pak Indra, his office details are:

KPP Pratama Badung Utara
Jl. Ahmad Yani 100 Denpasar
Tel. 0361-226749
HP 081-5892-9840
http://www.pajak.go.id/

TOTAL: Rp. 980,000 (Raffle: 830,000   Fines: Rp. 150,000  Misc. Rp. 0)
The Raffle Prize,  a SPA Treatment Voucher from Murano SPA , was won by Rtn. Andrew and donated by CP Patrick.