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Indonesia,
Pay Zakat Get Reduced Tax
By
IOL correspondent in Indonesia Sohaib Jassem
JAKARTA,
Nov. 22 (IslamOnline) – Starting next year, Muslims in Indonesia will get a
2.5 % reduction in their total tax payment upon paying the Zakat on their
savings and businesses, Indonesian authorities announced.
The
Indonesian Minister of Islamic Affairs Sayed Aqeil Munawer made the announcement
Wednesday highlighting the official interest in the fifth pillar of Islam (Zakat),
despite displaying disinterest in the collection of Zakat for decades.
Speaking
to reporters after meeting with Indonesian Vice President, Hamza Haz, the
Indonesian minister said that general director for the Tax Department has
started distributing the new law to the various provinces.
Al
Munawer said that the person paying Zakat could, as is the case in many Arab and
Islamic countries, provide evidence that he paid Zakat on his property and get a
reduction on his tax with the same rate.
He
added that his office currently supervises a new department which will handle
the Zakat officially as well as endowment affairs adding that five Indonesian
banks will act as middlemen to gather the Zakat and distribute it.
These
banks include “Bank Muamalat” which is the first Indonesian Islamic Bank,
two Islamic branches for the Mundeeri Sharia bank and the National Indonesia
Sharia bank in addition to two other banks that were not announced.
The
Indonesian government established the National Zakat Department Agency which has
22 branches in various provinces and others in small districts, but the large
majority of the population is still not familiar with it.
This
agency will be officially opened by President Megawati Sukurno on December 3rd.
Most
Indonesians are highly keen on paying their Zakat, they pay it to Islamic
organizations which are mostly non governmental but that does not exempt them
from paying their full taxes to the government. This equates them with those who
do not pay their Zakat.
The
Organizations which collect the Zakat include mosques and other charity
organizations that spend it mostly inside Indonesia. 
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