On August 5, 2026, the Director General of Taxes (“DGT”) issued Announcement No. PENG-46/PJ.09/2026 (the “Announcement”) to officially postpone, for a second time, the implementation of income tax under Article 22 of the Indonesian Income Tax Law (Law No. 7 of 1983 on Income Tax as amended by Law No. 6 of 2023) (“Article 22 Income Tax”) on transactions in the marketplace. The announcement sets November 1, 2026 as the new implementation date.
Background
The implementation was initially scheduled to begin with the issuance of Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) No. 37/2025 on July 14, 2025, which designates certain electronic commerce operators, known as PMSEs, as collectors of Article 22 Income Tax from domestic traders. Implementation was then delayed to August 1, 2026, which is when a number of large marketplaces actually began to collect the tax, but then the DGT delayed it again.
PMK 37/2025 appoints certain PMSEs as collectors, namely those who have an escrow account and have exceeded the transaction volume threshold set by the DGT. The tax rate is 0.5% of a trader’s gross turnover, excluding VAT and sales tax on luxury goods (PPnBM). The DGT has repeatedly emphasized that this is not a new tax, but rather an expansion of the long-standing Income Tax Article 22 mechanism, with digital platforms playing the role of collectors. Traders with an annual gross turnover of up to IDR500 million are excluded, but not automatically. They must submit a written statement to their PMSEs. Otherwise, the tax will still be deducted.
Those directly affected by this second delay are online merchants on these platforms and the PMSEs who were appointed as collectors. Consumers are relatively unaffected, because this levy is an obligation of the trader, not an addition to the selling price.
Current status under the Announcement
The collection of Article 22 Income Tax, which began on August 1, 2026, was temporarily suspended until October 31, 2026, and will only be mandatory again from November 1, 2026. The appointments of PMSEs as collectors that were already issued will be canceled and then reissued. Traders who were subject to Article 22 Income Tax deductions in the period from August 1 to 5, 2026 are entitled to a refund from the marketplace concerned.
Issues to be aware of
- Article 22 Income Tax is a tax credit, not a final tax, so it is taken into account against the income tax payable at the end of the year. Thus, this delay is actually only a matter of cash flow and timing, not a matter of the size of the trader’s tax liability.
- Traders who had tax deducted during August 1 to 5 will still need to match tax credits from the collection with proof of the deduction that was issued.
- For PMSEs, the repeated delays cause complications from a system standpoint: they have to quickly stop automated collections, process refunds to merchants, and then prepare to restart the systems in November. It’s important that their tax, finance, and IT teams work closely together to avoid mistakes that could cause new tax problems.
Actions to take now
Given the new date of November 1, 2026 for implementation, online merchants and PMSEs should begin to prepare now:
- PMSEs should set up the system, merchant data, and threshold exclusion statement documentation.
- Traders whose Article 22 Income Tax was deducted in early August 2026 should ensure that their returns are properly recorded in their books.
In addition, businesses should monitor the issuance of formal PMKs and economic indicators that are the government’s references, and consult with their tax adviser as needed to ensure compliance.