BERITA TERKINI
JAKARTA, DDTCNews - The government's designation of marketplace providers as tax collection agents has drawn widespread public attention throughout the week. The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has officially appointed four marketplace providers as Article 22 Income Tax collection agents for the income earned by online merchants.
The 4 designated marketplace providers are Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada and Blibli. The 0.5% tax collection by these marketplace providers will become effective on 1 August 2026.
According to the Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, the government will continue to expand the list of marketplace providers designated as tax collection agents.
"Eventually, all of them will be designated in stages," he said.
Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, stated that the designation of marketplace providers as tax collection agents must take into account various considerations, including the readiness of the providers' systems, transaction volumes, administrative capacity, the use of escrow account mechanisms as well as the providers' readiness to collect, remit and file taxes electronically.
He emphasized that the designation of marketplace providers as tax collection agents under MoF Reg. 37/2025 does not introduce a new type of tax. Rather, the policy is intended to adapt tax administration procedures to the evolving nature of transactions in the digital economy.
“This is part of our effort to modernise and establish a tax administration system that is fairer, simpler and better aligned with the development of the digital economy," he claimed.
Bimo noted that Indonesia's marketplace industry has been operating for 13 years and has experienced rapid growth. Against this backdrop, the DGT has updated the tax collection mechanism applicable to online merchants to facilitate tax compliance while ensuring a level playing field between online merchants and conventional brick-and-mortar retailers.
With marketplace providers assuming responsibility for tax collection, he assured that tax administration for merchants would become simpler, as taxes would be collected through existing transaction systems. The corresponding tax collection receipts will also be available through the coretax system, allowing merchants to access them easily.
He noted that tax revenue from the digital commerce sector has ranged between IDR8 trillion and IDR12 trillion annually over the past 5 years. Under the tax collection mechanism through marketplace providers, tax revenue from the sector is projected to double.
“Tax collection will improve the accuracy and comparability of data in our coretax system. We hope, God willing, that revenue will increase by at least 100% to between IDR16 trillion and IDR24 trillion per year," he said.
Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA) Chairperson, Budi Primawan, said the 4 marketplace providers designated as tax collection agents would begin adjusting their respective systems and business processes. The marketplace providers will also conduct outreach to merchants concerning the new mechanism before commencing tax collection.
“This implies we have 1 month to adjust our systems, conduct testing, refine our business processes and communicate with sellers before collection begins on 1 August 2026," Budi said.
Apart from the designation of marketplace providers as tax collection agents, several other tax-related developments also merit attention this week. These include deliberations on the Indonesia International Financial Centre (IIFC) Draft Law and plans to conduct another reliability test of the coretax system.
The government and the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR in Indonesian) are targeting completion of deliberations on the Indonesia International Financial Centre (IIFC) Draft Law by 21 July 2026, allowing it to be enacted before Parliament enters its recess.
The IIFC Draft Law has been prepared to support the establishment of an international financial centre in Indonesia. The draft law follows up on Article 248A of Law 4/2026, which mandates the establishment of the draft law governing the administration of the IIFC within 3 months after the promulgation of Law 4/2026.
The IIFC Draft Law will contain a range of special provisions, including tax provisions.
"We will establish dedicated tax, customs and excise regulations. We are making a comprehensive effort. What has previously existed in general laws, we will provide as specific exceptions in the IIFC Law," said Mukhamad Misbakhun, Chairperson of House Commission XI.
The DGT has recently implemented further enhancements to the coretax system to ensure greater stability in tax administration services.
Bimo revealed that Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, will participate in testing the newly upgraded coretax system. According to him, the tax authority has made every possible effort to ensure that the system operates smoothly and reliably, particularly ahead of next week's testing.
"We are continuously updating and improving coretax. There was a case management issue that had slowed down somewhat and caused problems, but we resolved it internally yesterday. So, today it is running well again, and next week the Minister will conduct a test, so we are making thorough preparations,” he remarked.
The DGT reported that tax revenue grew by 23% in the first half of 2026. Tax revenue continued to record positive growth in line with stronger economic activity.
“We are grateful that tax revenue performance has been very encouraging. From January through June, we recorded growth of more than 23%," Bimo said.
He added that tax revenue in the first half of 2026 had also reached 45% of the revenue target of IDR2,357.7 trillion set under the 2026 state budget. As a result, tax revenue collected through June 2026 amounted to approximately IDR1,060.96 trillion.
The government plans to review the tax provisions of pension benefits following a proposal to abolish tax on income derived from the old age security (jaminan hari tua/JHT in Indonesian) programme.
Minister of Finance, Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, said the tax policies on old age security would be determined based on the outcome of the government's assessment and must satisfy the principle of fairness. He stressed that any new policy should not disproportionately benefit pensioners receiving substantial JHT payouts.
"Insofar as it is just and fair, we will undertake the necessary measures based on the assessment. However, if it only ends up benefiting pensioners receiving very large payouts of IDR1 billion to IDR2 billion, there is no need for that," he remarked.
The Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung/MA in Indonesian), together with the government, has begun preparing for the integration of the Tax Court pursuant to the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi/MK in Indonesian) Decision No. 26/PUU-XXI/2023.
The Director General of the Military and State Administrative Courts Body (Badan Peradilan Militer dan Tata Usaha Negara/Badilmiltun in Indonesian) of the Supreme Court, Yuwono Agung Nugroho, stated that the integration under a unified judiciary would be carried out in stages to ensure that dispute resolution at the Tax Court is not disrupted.
" We must ensure that the transition process proceeds smoothly. On one hand, the tax dispute resolution services must not be disrupted, as they constitute an important part of the state's financial system. On the other hand, institutional changes must continue to run within the applicable legal framework," he said. (dik)
