Claire Southgate wrote
My own legal representation said the official regs do actually ask for last 5 years of land tax receipts but some notaries don't follow the book. After being given the run around for days, my contact in Bali ended up in some office near Tabanan where he had to wait for the last person to leave. He was then encouraged to discuss finances to get what we needed to buyer's notary or face a possible large fine for delaying "due diligence". Unbelievable!!
Unbelievable indeed! Perhaps the lawyer/spouse of [USER=4813]@spicyayam[/USER] can clarify, but I am pretty sure there are no 'official regs' requiring the provision of the last 5 years of land tax statements to complete a basic real estate transaction in Indonesia. It is simply a due diligence request from the buyer, and an unusual one, as it is easy to confirm whether any property tax is owing on a given property. Perhaps they want to see if/how much the tax went up in the past five years, or whether the tax now includes the house on the land, who knows? From the transactional/notary perspective, the only issue is whether or not tax is owing. If it is, then the government will not process the transfer of ownership until the back tax is paid, so the deal won't close and the notary won't get their fee. Otherwise, as far as the government and the notary are concerned, the past is irrelevant. Also, what kinds of tax sums are we talking about? My wife and I pay a whopping Rp. 125K in property tax per year for 50 are of land near Ubud, albeit without a house yet. So, even in Pecatu, the amounts at issue are surely chump change compared to the overall sales price of the property?
In any case, the tax office that handles real property can easily print out a record of the tax billed and paid over the past five years without any issue and at NO cost. Perhaps the issue is that your Balinese 'friend' has no power of attorney to act on your behalf (or the owner's if you own via a nominee), so they are trying to get the records in an unorthodox way? In any case, I strongly advise you to refuse to pay any corruption money to a government official, especially at the level of the tax office.
Finally, a fine for 'delaying' due diligence??? Never heard of that one either in Indonesia or anywhere else in the world. Unless you have signed a purchase and sales agreement that contains a clause obligating you as the seller to help the buyer complete their due diligence and providing for a penalty if you don't do so in a given amount of time, someone is trying to take you for a ride. Personally, unless you are a desperate seller, I'd tell the buyer's notary to complete the transaction asap or get stuffed. He/she who has the gold makes the rules, and presumably you (or your nominee) still hold the title and the purchase deposit from the buyer, so you are in pole position to call the shots. Good luck.
