TEMPO.CO, Semarang - Bank Indonesia (BI) Deputy Governor Ronald Waas said that the government reserves the right to collect taxes on e-commerce transactions even though the regulation is not yet in place.

“We are finding ways to collect taxes, but to be fair the government reserves the right to collect taxes on e-commerce transactions,” Ronald said Sunday, as quoted by Antara.

Ronald explained that the government has received suggestions from stakeholders, including from BI, to tax the digital economy, bearing in mind that transaction volume of financial technology industry continues to grow year over year.

However, he said the agreement has yet to be reached in the delibaration of tax regulation over tax rates and types.

According to him, it is high time for companies engaging in information technology service industry to pay taxes, particularly amid issues faced by Indonesia in collecting taxes from Google.

The Indonesian Fintech Association Supervisory Board official Dian Kurniadi said she would not mind if the government tax e-commerce businesses, provided that it establishes the tax regulation.

Earlier, Bank Indonesia recorded that e-commerce transactions volume in Indonesia stood at US$14.48 billion in 2016.

The figure is expected to rise to US$130 billion by 2020, which would be dominated by e-commerce, online marketplace and fintech companies.

ANTARA