Indonesia: New VAT refund rule expected to take effect during Asian Games

• Aug 15, 2018

The Finance Ministry is accelerating the ongoing revision of the value-added tax (VA) refund for tourists to gain benefit from the visit of foreign athletes, officials and spectators of the Asian Games 2018, which will take place from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 in Jakarta and Palembang.

“We want to complete the revision as soon as possible,” said Taxation Directorate General spokesman Hestu Yoga Saksama in Jakarta on Monday as reported by kontan.co.id.

With the revision of the VAT regulation, the government expected to boost sales in airports during the Games.

The VAT refund will be implemented for tourists that shop in the five main Indonesian airports: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten; Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali; Adi Sutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta; Juanda International Airport in Surabaya and Kuala Manu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra.

The incentive had actually been implemented in 2010 with a 10 percent tax deduction. Currently, the minimum transaction is Rp 5 million (US$343) to get the VAT refund. Under the revised regulation, the government will cut the minimum transaction to only Rp 1 million.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said there were 326 merchandise outlets in the airports that had prepared VAT refund service.

“We will also prepare tax counters so that athletes and Asian Games spectators from other countries can get the tax refund more easily,” she said while visiting Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday.  (bbn)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/08/14/new-vat-refund-rule-expected-to-take-effect-during-asian-games.html