The Ministry of Finance is expanding its investigation into exporters suspected of manipulating export data to avoid tax obligations ‒ a scheme authorities warn is increasingly widespread and harmful to state revenue.

Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, revealed that hundreds of exporters are now being targeted for potential tax fraud. The number has grown significantly from initial findings.

“Our target previously was 282. After deeper tracking ‒ of course with the presumption of innocence ‒ we now have around 463 taxpayers,” Bimo said during a media gathering at the Bali Regional Tax Office on Tuesday, November 25, 2025.

Many of these cases involve exporters of crude palm oil (CPO) derivative products. Manipulation includes falsifying invoices, underreporting export values, exploiting Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) rules, neglecting domestic tax compliance, and concealing dividend distributions.

New export fraud scheme

The Ministry of Finance, alongside law enforcement, has already taken action against exporters who concealed real export data at Tanjung Priok Port.

In a joint operation, the National Police’s Special Task Force on State Revenue Optimization (Satgasus OPN), the Directorate General of Customs and Excise (DJBC), and the Directorate General of Taxes uncovered violations committed by PT MMS, involving palm oil exports.

Customs Director General Djaka Budi Utama cited that the company submitted false export declarations.

“After in-depth analysis, we found that the export declaration did not match what was actually being shipped,” Djaka told a press conference at Tanjung Priok on Thursday, November 6, 2025.

PT MMS claimed to be exporting Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) ‒ a low-value liquid waste from palm oil processing. But inspections revealed the shipment contained fatty matter, a high-value CPO derivative worth Rp28.7 billion (US$1.7 million).

By mislabeling the goods as waste, the company avoided export duties and bypassed export restriction requirements. The tax authority estimates that discrepancies between declared and actual values could cost the state up to Rp140 billion in lost revenue.