Government Has Not Decide Tax on eCommerce

Ilustrasi (dok)

JAKARTA (IndoTelko)  - The decision on eCommerce taxation in Indonesia is still under the discussion by the government, said the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Rudiantara.

"There is still no decision on the eCommerce tax. It is still being discussed on what kind of tax to be charged," said the minister on Monday (13/4).
Rudiantara said that the government is considering incentives for eCommerce in Indonesia so that it could contribute about 8% of the total national trade in next 10 years.

"If the context is incentives it could be done by fiscal relief which is now being reviewed by the Fiscal Policy Office," Rudiantara said.

Rudiantara said that eCommerce is not simply a matter of taxes, but also the ecosystem. For example on payments where needed for the national payment gateway, infrastructure logistics, climate investment, and others.

"We in the Ministry are concentrating to provide fast and technical Internet infrastructure. This is why there are the roadmap is involving many parties, as the whole project belongs to the government," Rudiantara said.
Earlier, a government formed team to discuss the eCommerce roadmap which will be published on August 2015 has held their initial meeting last week.

A number of governmental institutions involved in that meeting are Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Kemenkominfo), Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Transportation, the Investment Coordinating Board, and the Creative Economy Agency (BEK).

Indonesian eCommerce Association (IdEA) has submitted their proposal on the release of the circular note DG No.SE-62 / PJ / 2013 and SE-06 / PJ / 2015, on government tax for transactions in the online marketplace, classified ads, daily deals and online retail.

IdEA proposed that first, the Tax Director General's assertion that online retail sales transactions treatment is similar with retail sales transactions. So that the treatment on the Online Retail sales tax invoice can use the total amounts reported tax invoice in accordance with Article 6.b on SE No. 98/2010.

IdEA also requested the government not to implement the of Government Regulation (PP) No. 46/2013, which requires income tax to the e-commerce businesses which have a turnover of less than Rp4.8 billion per year. Neither the on the income tax (PPh, Article 23) for e-commerce who just established under 5 years.

Second, there is no need for examination by the Directorate General of Tax for startup e-commerce companies that are established under 5 years and still not gaining profits. Sellers who have a TIN (Tax Identification Number) also asked to be released from tax during the initial 3 years. Shortly after three years, the individual seller can choose whether to be a Taxable Person (PKP) or use the rules of the Regulation No 46/2013 which will be taxed 1%.

Third, IdEA also asked the government to disseminate obligations to issue tax invoice to individual sellers at the marketplace websites. Also to build a accessible TIN database by the online transaction organizer for the seller verification process.

Lastly, IdEA is expecting the government to educate e-commerce players to adopt measures in accordance with the business model so that no one and might kill the e-commerce industry in its premature period. Government was asked to further reinforce the mandatory regulation on legal body establishment for foreign eCommerce who want to do business in Indonesia.

Rudiantara gave signal to postpone the tax for eCommerce, at least it will not be enforced in 2015, when he said that the VAT on toll roads was also a longstanding discourse but the execution is possibly to be carried out in this year.

In Indonesia there are currently 73 million active internet users in which 7% were familiar with eCommerce. The transactions value in 2014 was US $ 12 billion and 2016 is estimated to reach US $ 24 billion.(es)