Indonesia: E-commerce players to be required to obtain tax numbers

• Oct 26, 2018

The government has long planned to collect taxes from e-commerce companies, but officials have hinted that the Finance Ministry will not issue a specific regulation on the digital business anytime soon.

The head of the Finance Ministry’s state revenue policy center, Rofyanto Kurniawan, said in Jakarta on Thursday that his office was focusing on helping e-commerce players create reports on their businesses for submission to the government.

“The initial step is to help e-commerce players make reports,” Rofyanto said as reported by kontan.co.id.

Taxation Director General Robert Pakpahan said the tax office was studying how to enforce tax compliance among digital businesses and that in the near future, his office would issue a regulation requiring e-commerce players to have tax numbers (NPWPs).

“By having an NPWP, they will be required to submit their business data to the taxation Directorate General so that self-assessment can be applied in tax returns,” Robert said.

Taxation Directorate General spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama said that with the regulation, the target would be individuals and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that sell goods and services through e-commerce platforms.

Hestu said the platforms were expected to help the tax office encourage e-commerce players to obtain NPWPs. “The point is that e-commerce players can conveniently conduct business while also abiding by tax regulations,” he added.

The official added that the prevailing regulation on final income taxation that required MSMEs to pay 0.5 percent corporate income tax could be use to collect taxes from e-commerce players. (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/10/26/e-commerce-players-to-be-required-to-obtain-tax-numbers.html