Indonesia moves e‑commerce tax collection to October 1
Indonesia will require e‑commerce platforms to withhold income tax from sellers starting October 1, a month ahead of the previously scheduled November 1 start. The country’s e‑commerce market was valued at $71 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $140 billion by 2030, according to Google, Temasek and Bain.
The tax office had originally told Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada and Blibli to begin collecting taxes in August, but then‑finance minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa delayed the rollout to November 1 over concerns about purchasing power. After Purbaya was removed from office this week, his deputy Suahasil Nazara was named finance minister and the tax department head Bimo Wijayanto said the collection would go live on October 1 with no further drama. The finance ministry and tax office did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the change.
“God willing, we will immediately activate the regulation and implementation. They are ready, we are ready,” the head of the finance ministry’s tax department, Bimo Wijayanto, said, according to CNBC Indonesia, adding the collection will begin October 1. “There’s no drama,” Bimo Wijayanto, head of the finance ministry’s tax department said.
The move reverses a delay ordered by the previous finance minister and follows a shake-up at the top of the finance ministry this week. Purbaya was sacked this week and his deputy, veteran technocrat Suahasil Nazara, was named as President Prabowo Subianto’s third finance minister in less than two years.
What we know
Indonesia will begin making e-commerce platforms collect income taxes from sellers starting October 1, a month earlier than previously announced, local media reported on Thursday, citing the tax chief.
The next day, the tax office said the policy would be delayed to November 1 and promised taxes that were already paid would be refunded.
Indonesia has a booming e-commerce industry, with an estimated gross merchandise value of $71 billion in 2025 that is expected to grow to $140 billion by 2030, according to a report by Google, Singapore state investor Temasek and consultancy Bain & Co.
Tokopedia, controlled by ByteDance’s TikTok and partly owned by Indonesia’s biggest tech company GoTo, together with Sea Limited’s Shopee, the Alibaba-backed Lazada, and Blibli, had previously been appointed as tax collectors.