Indonesia to require e-commerce platforms to collect tax on sellers
JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia's finance ministry will require e-commerce platforms to collect and pass on an income tax on sales made by small- and medium-sized sellers, according to new regulations published on Monday.
Platforms that meet certain criteria must withhold and pass on a 0.5% tax on sales made by sellers with an annual turnover of between 500 million rupiah to 4.8 billion rupiah (US$30,800 to $296,000).
They must also share the sellers' information with tax authorities.
The ministry will notify a platform if it meets the criteria, which will be based on site traffic and total transaction value over the past 12 months. While the directive is effective immediately, platforms will be given a month to comply.
Reuters reported exclusively last month on the plan to impose the tax.
The tax office has said the rules are intended to tackle the "shadow economy".
Indonesia's e-commerce association idEA has said its members would comply, but expressed concern over the implementation timeline, with the regulation set to impact millions of sellers.
Indonesia's main e-commerce operators include ByteDance's TikTok Shop and Tokopedia, Sea Limited's Shopee, the Alibaba-backed Lazada, Blibli and Bukalapak.
South-East Asia's largest economy has a booming e-commerce industry, with last year's estimated gross merchandise value of US$65 billion expected to grow to US$150 billion by 2030, according to a report by Google, Singapore state investor Temasek and consultancy Bain & Co. ($1 = 16,240 rupiah)
(Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by David Stanway) - Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Romanian government survives no confidence vote and pushes tax hikes through
FILE PHOTO: Romania's interim President Ilie Bolojan walks to attend a European Union summit in Brussels, Belgium March 20, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan's three-week old coalition government survived a no confidence vote on Monday, allowing it to push through unpopular tax hikes needed to lower the European Union's largest budget deficit. The government has fast-tracked through parliament an increase in value-added tax, excise duties and other levies from August to prevent a ratings downgrade to below investment level and to unblock access to EU funds. The broad coalition of four pro-European parties took power at the end of June, ending months of political deadlock after a presidential election was cancelled in December and was re-run in May. The parties have been reluctant to agree the hikes that have been criticised by employers and unionists while thousands of public sector workers have staged protests. The hard-right opposition filed Monday's no confidence motion and said it will file more. "I understand the opposition does not agree with the measures proposed by the government," Bolojan told lawmakers. "What then are the solutions? On the one hand we are told the problems in the economy are serious, on the other not to take these measures. We can't have both." While all four parties in the government approved the increases, the Social Democrats, the coalition's largest party without which a ruling majority cannot hold, criticised them on Monday. "For solid, continued political support we must quickly correct some of the absurd things from this first package of measures," Social Democrat leader Sorin Grindeanu said. The Social Democrats had supported replacing a flat rate of tax on income with progressive taxation instead of raising VAT, but the other parties did not support that and the tax authority has said it is not equipped to enforce it. Bolojan said earlier this month the coalition government would do everything possible to lower the deficit to around 8% of economic output by year-end from last year's 9.3% - above an initial 7% target - and closer to 6% in 2026. Under Romanian law, the tax measures could be challenged in the constitutional court, and the opposition last week said they would seek to do so. (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; editing by Barbara Lewis)
Malaysia Sun
3 hours ago
- Malaysia Sun
Germany only has six Patriots left defense minister
US President Donald Trump said earlier that he was ready to supply more air defense systems to Ukraine, but the EU would have to foot the bill Germany has only six US-made Patriot air defense systems available, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has told the Financial Times. The official added that Berlin could no longer deplete its own stocks to arm Kiev. While Ukraine has received a number of Patriot units since its conflict with Russia escalated in February of 2022, Vladimir Zelensky has been increasingly urging his Western backers to provide more recently. In an interview with the FT published on Sunday, Pistorius said that "we only have six left in Germany," revealing that two of the country's Patriot units had been lent to Poland, while another was unavailable due to maintenance or training. "That's really too few, especially considering the NATO capability goals we have to meet. We definitely can't give any more," the German defense minister stressed. Speaking to reporters on Sunday evening, US President Donald Trump indicated his readiness to supply several Patriots to Ukraine. However, he stopped short of saying whether he was talking about entire air-defense systems or just the missiles for them. "But the European Union is paying for them. We are not paying anything for them... This will be a business for us," Trump emphasized. The comment came shortly after the Pentagon reversed its decision to cut some of its military aid for Kiev. The US president has recently toughened his rhetoric toward his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being unwilling to end the hostilities. Commenting on the Patriot system, valued at around $1 billion per battery, Trump said earlier this month that "it's a shame that we have to spend so much money" on supporting Ukraine. The Russian military claims to have destroyed some of the Western-supplied Patriot air defense systems during the course of the conflict. Moscow has consistently stressed that no amount of Western military aid to Ukraine can change the course of the conflict but only serves to prolong the bloodshed and escalate the hostilities. (
The Star
5 hours ago
- The Star
EU threatens countermeasures over US tariffs, Trump says he is open to talks
BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The European Union on Monday accused the U.S. of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached to avoid the punishing tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened to impose starting on August 1. Trump, meanwhile, said he was open to further discussions with the EU and other trading partners before new 30% tariffs kick in next month and that EU officials would be coming to the United States for negotiations. "They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we're always open to talk, including to Europe," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk." Trump stepped up his trade war on Saturday, saying he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico next month, following similar warnings for other countries including Asian economic powerhouses Japan and South Korea. The EU has so far held off on retaliatory measures to avoid a spiralling tit-for-tat escalation while there remains a chance of negotiating an improved outcome. But EU ministers emerging from a meeting in Brussels on Monday appeared closer to striking back. Speaking at a news conference following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the tariff threat "absolutely unacceptable." EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said he believed there was "still a potential to continue the negotiations" but voiced frustration with Washington's failure to agree to a deal with its largest trading partner. "As I said before, it takes two hands to clap," he said, adding that EU member states agreed that the 27-nation bloc would need to take countermeasures if the trade negotiations with the U.S. fail. Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani earlier said the EU had already prepared a list of tariffs worth 21 billion euros ($24.5 billion) on U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a deal. Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that she believed the two sides would reach a deal on security ahead of the August 1 deadline. The White House has clarified that the 30% tariffs on Mexico, which Trump has blamed for not doing more to stem the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., would not apply to goods shipped under the USMCA trade agreement, which covers the vast majority of goods shipped from Mexico to the U.S. Sheinbaum said any agreement would not involve U.S. forces entering Mexican territory, as previously floated by Trump. EUROPEAN STOCKS DIP White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said trade talks were still under way with the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Canada is facing a tariff of 35% starting in August. The threatened duties have sounded alarm bells in Europe, notably in Germany, the EU's biggest economy. After Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday that a 30% tariff would "hit the German export industry to the core", the head of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry called for swift action. "The escalating tariff conflict with the USA poses a serious threat to many German companies," Volker Treier said on Monday. "Tough negotiations are now needed to avert a collapse of transatlantic trade." European industries, meanwhile, are preparing for the worst. Producers of Italy's renowned Chianti wine in Tuscany, for example, have demanded a new export strategy backed by the EU targeting alternative markets such as South America, Asia and Africa. Since returning to the White House earlier this year, Trump has sought to use an array of tariffs to boost the U.S. economy, push companies to invest in the United States and revitalise manufacturing. His initial "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April, which set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports and higher duties on certain products or countries, raised fears of global supply chain disruptions, sending shockwaves through markets. But subsequent U-turns and delays, including a 90-day pause on most duties aimed at allowing time for trade deal negotiations, have left investors largely inured to Trump's chaotic policy rollouts. European stocks fell on Monday, while U.S. indices were little changed in response to the latest salvo. European autos and alcohol stocks were among those hardest hit. SCRAMBLE FOR DEALS The looming August 1 deadline has set off a scramble by governments around the world to seal trade agreements. South Korea's top trade envoy said on Monday it may be possible to strike a deal "in principle" by the deadline and signalled that Seoul may be open to allowing the U.S. greater access to its agriculture markets, local media reported. Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo, who held high-level talks with U.S. officials last week, said South Korea was seeking to avoid "unfair" U.S. tariffs on key sectors that would undermine industrial cooperation with its main security ally and trading partner, media reports said. "I believe it's possible to reach an agreement in principle in the U.S. tariff negotiations, and then take some time to negotiate further," the Newsis news agency quoted Yeo as telling local media reporters. "Twenty days are not enough to come up with a perfect treaty that contains every detail," he added. South Korea is in a race to reach a compromise trade pact in the hope of avoiding a 25% tariff slapped on its exports, the same level faced by Japan. (Additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Hyunjoo Jin, Milan Strahm, Cristina Carlevaro, Andrea Shalal, Nandita Bose, Brendan O'Boyle, Kylie Madry, John Revill, Andreas Rinke, Wayne Cole and Emma RumneyWriting by Keith Weir and Joseph AxEditing by Joe Bavier and Nick Zieminski)
