By :
Dr. EKO WIYONO, SH., M. Hum.
(Senior Advisor at Legis Priori Law Office Jakarta)
There are still many people who do not really understand the meaning of the use of stamp duty, so there are still inappropriate uses and imposition of stamp duty on several documents, so it is hoped that this brief presentation of stamp duty will provide input and food for thought for observers of legal issues in particular. and the wider community in general. In connection with this, every citizen has a role in raising funds for national development purposes, one way of community participation is in the form of fulfilling the payment of stamp duty on certain documents used by the community in legal traffic.
The stamp duty that has been charged and collected from the public is based on the 1921 stamp duty regulations, namely Zegelverordening 1921, which has undergone several changes as amended by Law Number 13 of 1985 and most recently by Law Number 10 of 2000, which In essence, it states that stamp duty is in principle a tax on documents as stated in the stamp duty law, while stamp objects are sticky stamps and stamp paper made and issued by the government of the Republic of Indonesia. Therefore there are several terminologies that must be considered in understanding matters related to stamp duty tax, especially some of the meanings included in article 1 number 1 and number 2 of Law Number 10 Year 2000, including the understanding of documents in this law namely a document is something written or written, in handwritten, printed or electronic form, which can be used as evidence or information. Meanwhile, stamp duty is a label or strip in the form of a paste, electronic, or other form that has characteristics and contains a security element issued by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia, which is used to pay tax on documents.
Therefore, guided by the Stamp Duty Law Number 10 of 2000 in the preamble to letter “a”, it is stated that the regulation on the imposition of stamp duty on documents is based on the objective of increasing community participation as an embodiment of the implementation of civic obligations in an equitable manner and to optimize state revenue, it is necessary raising sufficient and independent financing funds to carry out national development, which aims to achieve the welfare of the Indonesian people based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia. So that the legal ratio of regulations regarding stamp duty in the stamp duty law is to increase taxes as a source of revenue for state finances intended to finance national development for the benefit of people’s welfare.
Referring to the background to the birth of the regulation on the imposition of stamp duty on documents, it shows that stamp duty is a tax imposed on documents which, according to the stamp duty law, are objects of stamp duty, so that every document that is the object of stamp duty must have a stamp object attached. or payment of stamp duty before the document is used. The general principle of stamp duty is that stamp duty is imposed on documents provided that only one document is subject to stamp duty as a tax burden on the document and the stamp duty is the same as the original, meaning that the general principle of stamp duty is that one document is subject to one stamp duty.
According to the Stamp Duty Law Number 10 of 2000 which is regulated by its Implementing Regulations in the form of Government Regulation of the Republic of Indonesia Number 24 of 2000 it is determined that the object of stamp duty collection is a document and the documents that are the object of imposition or collection are documents written on paper, printed or electronic and the documents referred to in principle are documents declaring a nominal value up to a certain amount, documents of a civil nature and documents used before a court hearing.
Based on the provisions of Article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000 it is determined that documents subject to stamp duty or objects of stamp duty are:
(1) Stamp duty, imposed on:
a. Documents created as a tool to explain an incident of a civil nature, and
b. Documents used as evidence in court;
(2) Documents of a civil nature as intended in paragraph (1) letter “a”, include:
a. Agreement letter, statement letter, statement letter or other similar letter, along with its copies;
b. Notarial deed including grosse, copy and quotation;
c. Deed of the Land Deed Official including its copy and quotation;
d. Securities in any name and in any form;
e. Securities transaction documents, including futures contract transaction documents, in any name and in any form;
f. Tender documents in the form of excerpts of auction minutes, minutes of auction minutes, copies of auction minutes, and auction minutes grosse;
g. Documents stating the amount of money with a nominal value of more than IDR 5,000,000 (five million rupiah), which:
- mentioning receipt of money, or
- contains an acknowledgment that the debt has been fully or partially paid or calculated; And
h. Other documents stipulated by Government Regulation;
As stated above, not all documents are subject to stamp duty, meaning that not all documents are subject to stamp duty, which according to the provisions of Article 7 of Law Number 10 of 2000 stipulates that documents that are not subject to stamp duty or documents that are not an object of duty seal is:
a. Documents related to the movement of people and goods:
- Letter of storage of goods;
- Bill of lading;
- Passenger and goods transport documents;
- Proof of delivery and receipt of goods;
- Letter of delivery of goods to be sold at the expense of the sender; And
- Other letters that can be equated with the letters referred to in numbers 1 to 5;
b. All forms of diplomas;
c. Receipt of salary payments, waiting payments, pensions, allowances and other payments related to employment relations, as well as letters submitted to obtain the said payments;
d. Proof of receipt of state money from the state treasury, regional government treasury, banks and other institutions appointed by the state based on statutory provisions;
e. Receipts for all types of taxes and other equivalent revenues originating from the state treasury, regional government treasury, banks and other institutions appointed based on statutory provisions;
f. Receipt of money made for internal organizational needs;
g. Documents stating deposits of money or securities, payment of deposits to depositors by banks, cooperatives and other bodies that organize money deposits, or issuance of securities by custodians to customers;
h. pledge letter;
i. Profit sharing sign, interest or yield from securities, in any name and in any form; And
j. Documents issued or produced by Bank Indonesia in the context of implementing monetary policy;
Furthermore, the question arises since when did stamp duty become payable on documents so that it is an obligation for the person concerned to pay the duty as a tax obligation to the state (?) in other words, since when is it mandatory for documents to be subject to stamp duty, then if you refer to the provisions of article 8 determined:
(1) Stamp duty is payable from the time:
a. Documents affixed by signature, for:
- letter of agreement and its copies as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter a;
- notarial deed including grosse, copy and quotation as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter b; And
- the deed of the Land Deed Official along with a copy and quotation as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter c;
b. Documents have been created for:
- securities in any name and in any form as referred to in Article 3 paragraph (2) letter d; And
- securities transaction documents including futures contract transaction documents, in any name and in any form as referred to in Article 3 paragraph (2) letter e;
c. The document is submitted to the party for whom the document was created, to:
- Information letter, statement letter, or other similar letter, along with its copies, as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter a;
- Auction documents, as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter f;
- Document stating the amount of money as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) letter g;
d. Documents submitted to the Court, for documents used as evidence in court as intended in article 3 paragraph (1) letter b;
e. Documents used in Indonesia, for documents as intended in article 3 paragraph (2) which are made abroad;
If we examine it more carefully, in fact, by referring to the provisions of article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000 regarding what documents are the object of stamp duty, or vice versa, by referring to the provisions of article 7 of Law Number 10 of 2000, it shows in detail on what documents must be subject to or must be subject to stamp duty and what documents are not subject to stamp duty so that stamp duty is not required to be imposed if the document in question is used in legal traffic. This is what still causes confusion among stamp duty users as the subject of stamp duty so that it often occurs because they are simply worried about the invalidity of the documents they use in legal traffic making documents that are not stamp duty objects still subject to stamp duty, even though what is done is is in vain because of his confusion and because of his lack of understanding.
In simple terms, it is actually quite easy to be able to ascertain whether the document that we are using in legal traffic must be subject to stamp duty because it is an object of stamp duty or not, so it is mandatory to impose stamp duty or not so that the document in question is a legal document according to law. . If we look at the provisions of Article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000, it is determined in a limiting manner regarding what documents must be subject to stamp duty if used in legal traffic.
Therefore, by referring to the provisions of Article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000 above, it is firmly and clearly determined that those which are required to be subject to stamp duty because they are the object of stamp duty are only documents created as a tool to explain an incident of a civil nature and documents. which are used as evidence in court, meaning that documents outside of this, namely documents which are not made to explain an incident of a civil nature and documents which are not used as evidence in court, are not required to be subject to stamp duty in legal traffic. In further detail, it is stipulated in article 7 of Law Number 10 of 2010 that the documents referred to in article 7 are not required to be subject to stamp duty because these documents are not subject to stamp duty.
In judicial practice, errors often occur in the practice of imposing stamp duty on documents used in court proceedings, where there are Plaintiff’s lawsuit letters, Defendant’s Answer letters, Repliks and Dupliek as well as Application Letters and even Notices of Absence of parties are still subject to stamp duty with the intention that The document is considered valid and should not be considered valid and not valid for use in court. So the aim of imposing stamp duty is solely based on concern that the document will not become invalid, even though the document is not an object of stamp duty as intended in article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000.
If we analyze it using the norms of article 3, then documents in the form of Lawsuit Letters, Answer Letters, Replicas, Duplicates, as well as Request Letters and Notification Letters are not documents created as a tool to explain an incident of a civil nature, because these documents are a one-sided statement from the person concerned which is not necessarily recognized or legally binding on the other party because what is stated in each of these documents is only according to the version of the author and is not a document as a visualization of a civil incident.
Furthermore, using the norms of article 3 for documents in the form of Lawsuit Letters, Response Letters, Reply, Dupliek and Application Letters and Notification Letters, it is true that they are documents that are used in examining cases or disputes in court, but these documents are not documents that can be be qualified as a document that can be used as evidence in court, because the document is not evidence that can be assessed as one of the written or written evidence as referred to by the provisions of article 1866 of the Civil Code and article 164 HIR which determines that evidence in civil cases is in the form of : writings/letters, witnesses, allegations, confessions and oaths.
Indeed, the reality in practice often occurs because there is a concern that documents submitted during examination at court hearings will be considered and judged invalid, therefore documents for Lawsuits, Letters of Answer, Repleik, Dupliek, Letters of Application and Letters of Notification are still subject to stamp duty, even though documents referred to are not legal documents as evidence that can be submitted in court with the qualifications of written evidence as referred to in 1866 of the Civil Code and article 164 HIR.
However, it seems necessary to clarify again that documents in the form of Lawsuit Letters, Answer Letters, Repliek, Dupliek, Application Letters or Notification Letters are not legal documents about an event of a civil nature nor are they documents that can be qualified as evidence that can be submitted in Court in civil cases, so that the document is not required to be subject to stamp duty, because the document in question is not an object of stamp duty as intended by the norms of Article 3 of Law Number 10 of 2000. As well as one thing that should not be forgotten that the philosophical basis and background for the imposition of stamp duty imposed on legal documents that must be charged to subjects using stamp duty, is intended to increase state financial income from the tax sector, namely stamp duty imposition tax on user subjects legal documents in legal traffic, and is not intended to be a parameter of validity or legal benchmarks for whether documents used in legal traffic can be used as legal evidence in court.
This is simply to clarify so that the imposition of stamp duty can be carried out properly in the practice of traffic law, because in the legal context the imposition of stamp duty on documents that are not stamp duty objects is a waste.
Hopefully useful, thank you.
