Government Prepares Tax Policy for EGR and Gold ETFs
JAKARTA, DDTCNews - The government will prepare a tax policy to accommodate electronic gold receipt (EGR) transactions. This topic is among the reviews covered by national media today, Tuesday (11/8/2026).
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, deems that special attention for the VAT and Article 22 Income Tax treatment of EGR as the underlying asset of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for gold is required.
"We have just spoken with the Deputy Minister of Finance [Juda Agung] and the Director General [of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto] regarding the VAT and Article 22 Income Tax treatment of EGR transactions. The hope is that this can be placed on an equal footing with other transactions," he said.
It should be noted that an EGR is proof of gold ownership in electronic form, issued on the basis of the underlying physical gold holding.
Meanwhile, a gold ETF refers to a mutual fund product whose units are traded on the stock exchange with gold as the underlying asset. As such, the ETF is designed to track movements in the gold price.
"A gold ETF not only adds to investment choices but also enhances liquidity. An EGR is a security that can be recorded as a security within the portfolio of a gold ETF," said Airlangga.
He expressed hope that the introduction of EGRs and gold ETFs would connect the various parties in the capital market, ranging from investment managers, custodian banks, bullion banks, and dealers, through to the stock exchange.
Moreover, he believes the introduction of gold ETFs also allows insurance companies to invest in gold-based assets. To date, insurance companies have not been able to invest stated capital in gold.
In addition to the above topic, there are reviews concerning the clarification by the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) on the issue of tax exploration from house rental as well as discussions on the deadline for acquisition duty on the right to land and building (bea perolehan hak atas tanah dan bangunan/BPHTB in Indonesian) validation, marketplace tax, tax incentives for gold ETFs, and other matters.
Below is a full review of the tax-related articles.
Government Reviews Tax Incentives for Gold ETFs
The Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has revealed that the government is drawing up income tax and VAT incentives for the investment vehicle in the form of the trade of gold commodities without any physical supply or gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Director General of Taxes, Bimo Wijayanto, said that plans to grant such incentives are still being coordinated with the Directorate General of Economic and Fiscal Strategy (Direktorat Jenderal Strategi Ekonomi dan Fiskal/DJSEF in Indonesian) at the Ministry of Finance (MoF). Gold ETFs would subsequently be eligible for tax incentives if they are treated on an equal footing with securities.
"Technically, [gold ETFs] should be able to be treated on a par with securities and have their income tax and VAT exempt. However, we must first coordinate with the Director General of SEF and report to the Minister of Finance," he said. (DDTCNews/Kontan)
Destry Damayanti Sole Candidate for Bank Indonesia Governor
The government has announced that it has submitted the Presidential Letter containing the proposed candidate for Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI) to the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat/DPR in Indonesian). In that letter, Destry Damayanti is proposed to become BI Governor, replacing Perry Warjiyo, who has withdrawn.
"[The nominee is] a sole candidate — one name, namely Destry Damayanti," said Minister-Secretary of State Prasetyo Hadi.
In addition to submitting the presidential letter proposing a candidate for BI Governor, the government also submitted a presidential letter proposing candidates for Senior Deputy Governor to replace Destry as well as candidates for Deputy Governor. (DDTCNews/Bisnis Indonesia)
DGT Clarifies Issue of House Rental Tax Exploration
The DGT has issued a clarification regarding plans to explore tax from house rental activities.
Director of Tax Dissemination, Service and Public Relations at the DGT, Inge Diana Rismawanti, said that to date there has been no proposed tax work programme specifically targeting property rental transactions.
"To date, there has been no specific DGT work programme proposal for 2027 that specifically targets landlords of rental houses or rental property," she claimed. (DDTCNews/Kontan)
BPHTB Validation Deadline Cut to 3 Days
The Ministry of Home Affairs (Kementerian Dalam Negeri/Kemendagri in Indonesian) and the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (Agraria dan Tata Ruang/Badan Pertanahan Nasional/ATR/BPN in Indonesian) have agreed on a joint circular letter (surat edaran bersama/SEB in Indonesian) concerning the acceleration of verification and validation of acquisition duty on the right to land and building (bea perolehan hak atas tanah dan bangunan/BPHTB in Indonesian) payments.
Minister of ATR/BPN, Nusron Wahid, said the government has set a maximum deadline of 3 days for BPHTB verification and validation, with a view to expediting the processing of right-to-land transfers.
"With the joint circular letter, BPHTB verification or validation takes only 3 days and applies a positive-fiction approach. This implies that if no verification is conducted within 3 days, the application is deemed approved," he said. (DDTCNews)
Marketplace Tax Proposed to Be Collected from Next Year
The government intends to commence collection of income tax (Article 22) through marketplaces on 1 November 2026. However, industry players appear not yet ready and have requested more time.
The Indonesian E-Commerce Association (idEA) has proposed that implementation begin in January 2027. According to idEA Chairperson, Budi Primawan, the proposal takes into account system readiness, technical aspects, socialisation and seller preparedness.
"From the industry's perspective, at a meeting with the DGT on 6 August, there was indeed a proposal for implementation to be considered from January 2027," he said. (Kontan)
Declining Consumption Weakens Local Tax Revenues
A slowdown in public consumption has begun to cast a shadow over local tax revenue performance. The Ministry of Finance has recorded that the realisation of local tax revenue up to 9 August 2026 stood at only IDR213.54 trillion, or 50.63% of the 2026 Local Government Budget (anggaran penerimaan dan belanja daerah/APBD in Indonesian) target of IDR421.93 trillion.
This achievement is lower than the same period last year, which reached approximately 60.43% of the 2025 APBD target of IDR292.53 trillion.
In line with this, the realisation of local own-source revenue (pendapatan asli daerah/PAD in Indonesian)) up to 9 August 2026 was recorded at IDR213.54 trillion, or 49.72% of this year's target of IDR429.50 trillion. This is below the same period last year, which stood at 61.82% of the IDR405.20 trillion target. (Kontan)
