The Coretax rollout has changed how corporate taxpayers manage access to their tax administration accounts. Whereas companies could previously share account credentials among employees, Coretax introduces user-based access with defined roles and permissions.
This change requires companies to distinguish between two concepts, including access to perform administrative functions and the authority to exercise tax rights and fulfill tax obligations. The distinction becomes crucial when companies grant employees access to tax functions, particularly the signing of tax returns.
Access and Authority
Under Coretax, a corporate taxpayer has a person in charge (PIC). The PIC is an individual taxpayer appointed to manage the corporate taxpayer’s tax administration through their personal account.
Once logged into Coretax, the PIC can use the impersonate function to access the corporate taxpayer’s account and exercise its tax rights and fulfill its tax obligations within the scope of their authority. The PIC does not have to handle all tax administration tasks personally. Companies can assign role access to employees based on their respective functions and responsibilities.
For instance, the drafter role allows employees to enter data and prepare draft tax documents, including tax returns and e-Bupots. This role does not authorize them to sign or submit documents to the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT).
Meanwhile, the signer role allows users to apply electronic signatures and submit tax documents. Users with this role can also access the company’s historical tax return data for up to five years prior, alongside the PIC.
However, assigning the signer role does not, by itself, establish an employee’s legal status as a taxpayer’s representative or legal proxy. This is where companies must distinguish between system access and the basis for exercising authority under tax regulations.
Tax Return Signer
Companies may practically appoint tax staff or managers as signers, since they handle tax administration daily. From a system perspective, this can be done through role access. From a tax law perspective, however, signing a tax return is subject to specific requirements.
A tax return must be signed by the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s representative, or a legal proxy in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 6 of 1983 concerning General Provisions and Procedures of Taxation (Ketentuan Umum dan Tata Cara Perpajakan/KUP). Therefore, an employee with only the signer role may not have the legal authority to sign a tax return.
If an employee has actual authority to determine company policies and/or make decisions in running the company, they may qualify as the taxpayer’s representative. If the employee does not hold such a position but is appointed to sign a tax return, the company must ensure the employee acts as a legal proxy and meets the applicable requirements.
Accordingly, companies should not only assign the signer role in Coretax. They must also verify the basis for the signatory’s authority.
Employee Status
Granting an employee access does not automatically make that employee the taxpayer's legal proxy. Employees may perform specific administrative functions without a special power of attorney. For example, employees may prepare tax returns, billing codes, tax invoices, or tax withholding slips based on the role access assigned to them.
It becomes a different case when an employee exercises tax rights or fulfills tax obligations as a taxpayer’s representative or legal proxy. Article 32 of the KUP Law sets out the parties who may act as a taxpayer’s representative. For corporate taxpayers, this status is associated with company management or parties who have actual authority to determine policies and/or make decisions in running the company.
A legal proxy, on the other hand, derives their authority from a special power of attorney granted by the taxpayer to exercise specific tax rights and/or fulfill tax obligations. Granting such authority does not transfer the taxpayer’s responsibility for its tax obligations.
This distinction is important, as a taxpayer’s representative may bear personal and/or joint liability for the payment of outstanding taxes under applicable tax regulations.
Tax Invoices and Returns
Companies should also avoid assuming that an employee authorized to sign tax documents can sign a tax return. For instance, an employee may be assigned to sign tax invoices. If the same employee is later appointed to sign a tax return, the company needs to reassess the legal basis for that authority.
Signing a tax invoice does not automatically make an employee a taxpayer’s representative or legal proxy. By contrast, signing a tax return requires the individual to act in the capacity of the taxpayer, the taxpayer’s representative, or a legal proxy.
In other words, a single employee may have access to perform multiple tax-related activities, but the legal basis for their authority may differ from one to another.
Power of Attorney
A company should consider the rules governing legal proxy when they appoint an employee who is not a taxpayer’s representative to sign a tax return. Minister of Finance Regulation Number 44 of 2026 concerning the Requirements for Authorized Taxpayer’s Representatives and Procedures for Exercising Tax Rights and Fulfilling Tax Obligations sets out the conditions for parties who may act as authorized representatives.
Parties that may be appointed as a legal proxy include tax consultants, other eligible parties, and family members, such as spouses and relatives by blood or marriage up to the second degree. For other eligible parties, including employees who meet the criteria, an administrative requirement is a tax registration certificate (surat keterangan terdaftar/SKT), under the applicable provisions.
Thus, companies should ensure that the process goes beyond simply assigning a role in Coretax when appointing an employee as a legal proxy. They must also satisfy the required power of attorney and other requirements.
Actionable Steps
The Coretax rollout requires companies to reassess how they manage tax-related access and authority. Companies should take at least four steps.
First, map users and role access. Identify everyone with access to the corporate taxpayer’s account and the activities each user is authorized to perform.
Second, verify the basis of authority. Ensure each user performing tax-related functions has the appropriate legal authority for those activities.
Third, review signer functions. Ensure that anyone signing a tax return is the taxpayer, taxpayer’s representative, or legal proxy under the prevailing regulations.
Fourth, document the authority. Ensure that powers of attorney, corporate documents, and other supporting documentation are available and consistent with the access and functions assigned in Coretax.
These steps are essential for companies granting multiple employees access to tax administration.
Tax Compliance
Coretax makes access management an integral part of tax compliance and corporate governance. Companies need to do more than calculate, sign, and file tax returns on time. They must also ensure that the individuals performing each action have both the appropriate system access and the necessary authority.
For tax teams, this means compliance reviews should cover three interconnected aspects, including who the user is, what role access they have, and what legal authority they have. For tax return signing in particular, ensuring consistency across these three elements helps mitigate both administrative and legal risks.
Accordingly, role access in Coretax should be treated as part of a company’s tax governance, rather than merely as a technical system-access arrangement.
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