Indonesia maintains crypto tax despite rejecting its status as money
A 0.21 per cent final income tax applies to crypto transactions, while purchases and sales have been exempt from VAT since 1 August 2025.
Indonesia's recognition of only the rupiah as currency does not exclude cryptocurrency from taxation, Deputy Finance Minister Nurkholisoh Ibnu Aman said at an international tax seminar on 15 October 2026. Nurkholisoh said crypto remains a financial asset and is therefore taxable.
To explain the distinction, Nurkholisoh pointed to property rental income and profits from motorcycle sales. Houses and motorcycles are not money, but earnings from those assets can attract tax.
The current treatment follows a change in crypto's classification from commodities to financial assets comparable to securities. Finance Minister Regulation No. 50 of 2025 removed VAT from crypto purchases and sales from 1 August 2025. A final Article 22 income tax of 0.21 per cent still applies, with collection handled by Digital Financial Asset Traders (PAKD).
Oversight also changed on 10 January 2025, when responsibility for digital financial assets, including crypto, passed to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) from the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory Agency (Bappebti). Government Regulation No. 49 of 2024 provided for that transfer.
Nurkholisoh also described taxes on digital services as common practice, including in Muslim-majority countries, pointing to VAT on such services in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
