Indonesia

Taxable period

The tax year is the same as the calendar year, or 1 January through 31 December.

Payments of tax and tax returns filing

Tax liabilities for a particular period or year must typically be paid to the State Treasury through a designated tax-payment bank (bank persepsi) and then accounted for to the DGT office through the filing of an annual tax return.

A substantial part of individual income tax is collected through withholding by third parties. Employers are required to withhold Article 21/26 Income Tax on a monthly basis from the salaries and other compensation payable to their employees. Typically, the amount of tax withheld from this income (Article 21 Income Tax) is based on normal tax rates (see the Taxes on personal income section). Fees for non-employee individuals and certain professionals, such as lawyers, notaries, accountants, architects, doctors, actuaries, and appraisers, are subject to a tax calculation norm, hence the tax withheld is based on 50% of the gross income at the prevailing rates.

A summary of individual tax obligations is as follows:

Penalties

Late payment of tax incurs interest penalties with a rate resulting from the application of the MoF Interest Rate (MIR) plus a surcharge. Part of a month (e.g. a single day) is considered a full month. Late filing of annual tax return incurs an administrative penalty of IDR 100,000.

E-filing

An individual taxpayer can submit an annual tax return through the e-filing system provided by the Indonesian Tax Office (ITO).

Tax assessment and audit process

Indonesia uses a self-assessment system under which taxpayers are trusted to calculate, pay, and report their own taxes in accordance with prevailing tax laws and regulations. However, the DGT may issue tax assessment letters to a particular taxpayer if it finds that, based on a tax audit or on other information, the taxpayer has not fully paid all tax liabilities. A tax assessment letter may also be issued by the DGT to a taxpayer who ignores a warning letter to file a tax return within a specified period. Most tax refund requests will trigger a tax audit, except for taxpayers eligible for early tax refunds. Due to the requirement for the DGT to decide on a refund request within 12 months, a tax audit will typically begin within a few weeks to several months from the refund request date.

Statute of limitations

Under the current Tax Administration Law, the DGT can issue an underpaid tax assessment letter within five years after the incurrence of a tax liability, the end of a tax period (month), or the end of (part of) a tax year.