Govt Still Deadlocked In Film Tax Dispute1 min read
Reading Time: < 1 minuteA week after a new tax scheme was announced to end the foreign film boycott, there was still no word on when Hollywood blockbusters would again hit the country’s big screens.
Ukus Kuswara, head of culture, arts and film at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said the next big issue that needed to be resolved was the matter of unpaid royalties to the government.
The Ministry of Finance announced the new tax scheme last week, with importers now only needing to pay a specific tax on films, providing a simple solution to the long-running dispute over royalties for imported movies.
But the issue of unpaid royalties over the past two years – totaling about Rp 31 billion ($3.6 million) from three major importers, according to the government – has yet to be resolved. Only one of the three importers has settled its bill and is now allowed to import films, although it deals mostly with small, independent movies.
