Sri Mulyani: Govt Collects Rp96mn in Taxes from Netflix, Other Digital Products

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government has pocketed at least Rp96 billion in value-added tax (VAT) on sales of digital products, such as Netflix, Spotify, and Amazon.

“In just a few months, we have received nearly Rp96 billion from several companies that have been subjected to VAT (on digital goods),” said Sri said in an event broadcasting online on Wednesday, October 21, 2020.

The government started to collect 10 percent VAT on sales of digital products on June 1, 2020, under Law No. 2 of 2020.

“Through this regulation, we mandate companies operating and remarkably marketing their products in Indonesia such as Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon [to pay the VAT] although they are not physically present in the country,” Sri explained.

The digital tax, she argued, would continue to be an important topic of discussion between countries in the future considering that all states were willing to grab and collect a fair share of the taxes.

Thus, the government was carrying out various international efforts so that the country could maintain the basis of the tax, especially during the digitalization era when there is a very thin line of boundaries between countries.

“We are conducting measures in international forums to fight for Indonesia's interests that are not only in taxation but also in order to increase compliance,” said Sri Mulyani.

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