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Indonesia: Tax office to issue e-commerce taxation guideline

  • Jan 17, 2019

Responding to recent confusion over a finance ministerial regulation on taxation for online transactions, the Director General of Taxation will issue a regulation as a guideline for traders who conduct business using e-commerce platforms.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Wednesday that the director general would ensure that online merchants would not have to provide their tax numbers (NPWPs) or citizenship identity numbers (NIKs).

“We would like to convey [to the public] that there is no requirement [for merchants] to submit their NPWP or NIK [on e-commerce platforms]. Further details will be outlined in a regulation,” Sri Mulyani said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Previously, the Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA) protested the requirement, arguing that such a policy might deter merchants from joining e-commerce platforms.

Sri Mulyani said such a move would be justified as most of the merchants, whether students or housewives, were members of the public and first-time merchants whose income was below the taxable income of Rp 54 million (US$3,821) per year.

She emphasized that the government would continue to cooperate with the businesses in the digital economy to understand their business models and strategies in innovation and creativity.

“We want an economy that is more innovative and creative. That is what we want to nurture and that is why we want to […] adjust the government’s policies accordingly,” Sri Mulyani said.

IdEA chairman Ignatius Untung conveyed on the same occasion his gratitude to the Finance Ministry for working toward accommodating the association’s interests.

To further ease the administrative burden for e-commerce players, the ministry would coordinate with other stakeholders, such as Bank Indonesia, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) and the Communications and Information Ministry – all of which obtain various forms of data from e-commerce platforms — so as to avoid instances of duplication in data acquisition. (bbn)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/01/17/tax-office-to-issue-e-commerce-taxation-guideline.html