Indonesia

Indonesian income tax is collected mainly through a system of WHTs. Where a particular income item is subject to WHT, the payer is generally held responsible for withholding or collecting the tax. These WHTs are commonly referred to using the relevant article of the Income Tax (Pajak Penghasilan or PPh) Law, as follows.

Article 23/26 Income Tax (PPh 23/26)

Domestic Article 23 WHT is payable at the rate of 2% for most types of services where the recipient of the payment is an Indonesian resident and 15% for a variety of payments to resident corporations and individuals.

For non-residents, Art. 26 WHT of 20% is applicable. The WHT rate for bond interest income, including the capital gain (i.e. premium and discount) enjoyed upon disposal, that is received or obtained by non-residents other than PEs can be given a lower WHT rate of 10%. Under the operation of a tax treaty, lower rates may be applicable at the following rates:

Notes

1. Service fees, including for technical, management, and consulting services, rendered in Indonesia are subject to WHT at rates of 5% for Switzerland and United Arab Emirates; 7.5% for Germany; 10% for Cambodia, India, Luxembourg, Papua New Guinea, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe; and 15% for Pakistan.
2. VAT is reciprocally exempted from the income earned on the operation of ships or aircraft in international lanes.
3. The treaty is silent concerning BPT rate. The ITO interprets this to mean that the tax rate under Indonesian Tax Law (20%) should apply.
4. Labuan offshore companies (under the Labuan Offshore Business Activity Tax Act 1990) are not entitled to the tax treaty benefits. Amended protocol was signed on 20 October 2011 and ratified on 4 August 2017 but is pending the exchange of ratification documents.
5. Ratified but not yet effective, pending the exchange of ratification documents.
6. Interest:
   1. Exempt if paid to the government.
   2. Exempt if paid to a bank but linked to a government loan agreement or paid to specific financial institutions/banks.
7. Royalties:
   1. The use of, or the right to use, any copyright, patent, design or model, plan, secret formula or process, trademark, or other like property or right.
   2. The use of, or the right to use, any industrial, commercial, or scientific equipment.
   3. The supply of scientific, technical, industrial, or commercial knowledge or information.
   4. The use of, or the right to use, any copyright of literary, artistic, or scientific work, including cinematography films and films or tapes for television or radio broadcasting.
8. PEs that reinvest their after-tax profits in Indonesia within the same year or no later than the following year are exempt from BPT on these profits (see the Tax credits and incentives section).

The issue of beneficial ownership has come under tax office scrutiny. For treaty WHT rates to apply to passive income such as interests, dividends, and royalties, the recipient of such income must be the beneficial owner. The recipient must also provide a Certificate of Domicile (CoD) in the form required by the ITO and certified by their home country tax authority that the recipient is a tax resident of that country. The CoD in the form prepared by the other country’s tax authority may only be used in limited circumstances. Further, the CoD form also requires a number of declarations to be made by the recipient that acknowledges that the use of the treaty jurisdiction was not merely for obtaining the benefit of the treaty. These declarations place onerous obligations on both the Indonesian payer and the recipient entity. Without a certified CoD, a WHT at a rate of 20% will apply. These aspects need to be considered when paying income of this nature.

Final Article 4(2) Income Tax

Certain types of income are subject to a final income tax at a specified percentage of the gross amount of income, without regard to any attributable expenses.

Notes

1. This includes land owner's income from build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreements.
2. Proceeds from the transfer of real estate assets to a Real Estate Investment Fund (Kontrak Investasi Kolektif - Dana Investasi Real Estate or KIK-DIRE) is subject to a 0.5% tax rate.
3. Different rates apply on interest received from time deposits sourced from export proceeds (Devisa Hasil Ekspor).
4. This regime is optional for eligible taxpayers and only applicable for a certain period of time depending on the type of taxpayer.

Resident companies, PEs, representatives of foreign companies, organisations, and appointed individuals are required to withhold the above final tax from the gross payments to resident taxpayers and PEs.

Article 22 Income Tax (PPh 22)

PPh 22 is typically applicable to the following:

Notes

1. In events (3), (4), (16), and (18), the PPh 22 collectors must withhold PPh 22 from the amount payable to a particular vendor, except payments for the purchase/use of:
   • oil fuel, gas fuel, lubricants, postal products
   • water and electricity
   • oil or gas (including upstream by products) from a contractor of a PSC, the contractor’s head office, or the contractor’s trading arms, and
   • geothermal or electricity from a contractor of a Joint Operation Contract.
   There is also an exemption for the purchase of goods with a value of up to IDR 2 million, IDR 10 million, and IDR 20 million for events (3), (4), and (16) respectively. In the other events, the importer or the buyer of the designated goods must pay PPh 22 in addition to the amounts payable for the goods imported or purchased.
2. The withheld PPh 22 constitutes a pre-payment of corporate/individual income tax liabilities, except for the purchase of oil and gas fuel by distributors/agents, which is categorised as final tax.
3. Exception applies on the sale of forestry, plantation, agriculture, cattle breeding, and fishery products since it is already subject to PPh 22 in event (16).
4. Exception applies on the purchase of very luxurious motor vehicles since it is already subject to PPh 22 in event (20).
5. Exemption applies on the sale to end consumers, taxpayers with certain gross income, taxpayers who have Article 22 Tax Exemption Letter, Bank Indonesia, and through the physical market of digital gold.
6. The WHT is categorised as final tax.  

The tax does not apply, either automatically or with an Exemption Certificate issued by the DGT, on certain type of events.

Taxpayers without a Tax Identification Number will be subject to a surcharge of 100% in addition to the standard tax rate.