Annual Personal Tax Return in Indonesia: Filing Rules for Expats
Your annual personal tax return in Indonesia: who has to file, what it reports, the 31 March deadline, and what changes in the year you arrive or leave.
- UU No. 6 Tahun 1983 on general provisions and tax procedures (the KUP Law), as amended by UU No. 28 Tahun 2007. Article 3(1), the duty to file. Article 3(3)(b), three months after the end of the tax year. Article 3(4) and (5), the two-month extension. Article 7(1), the fine for a late return. Neither UU No. 7 Tahun 2021 nor UU No. 6 Tahun 2023 amends Article 3 or Article 7.
- UU No. 7 Tahun 1983 on income tax (the Income Tax Law), as amended. Article 2(3)(a) and 2(4)(b), who is resident, as substituted by UU No. 6 Tahun 2023. Article 2A(1) and (6), when residence begins and ends, and the part-year rule, inserted by UU No. 10 Tahun 1994. Articles 16(4) and 17(5), the part-year calculation.
- UU No. 7 Tahun 2021, amending the Income Tax Law. Article 4(1a) and (1b), the four-year option on Indonesian income only. Article 7(1), the tax-free allowance. Article 17(1)(a), the individual rates, from the 2022 tax year.
- UU No. 36 Tahun 2008, amending the Income Tax Law. Article 8(1) to (3), the taxation of married couples. Article 24(1) and (2), the credit for foreign tax. Article 26(1)(d) and (5), withholding from a non-resident, as substituted by UU No. 6 Tahun 2023.
- PMK No. 81 Tahun 2024, in force 1 January 2025. Article 16(5), a separately taxed wife's own tax number. Articles 28, 29 and 31, closing a tax number. Article 95(1), paying the balance before filing. Article 164(2), what the return contains. Article 169(1), the 31 March deadline. Article 170(1), the part-year return. Article 173(1), deadlines moved by holidays. Article 179, the late-filing fine and who is spared it. Articles 442 to 447, worldwide income and the four-year option. Amended by PMK 11/2025, 53/2025, 54/2025 and 1/2026, none of which changes those articles.
- PER-11/PJ/2025 on tax returns, in force 22 May 2025. Articles 6(1)(a) and 7(2), the BPA1 annual withholding slip and when the employee receives it. Article 81, the individual's annual return and the couple's combined computation. Article 83(1), its attachments. Articles 97 and 98, the extension notice. Article 112(2) to (4), who is exempt from filing.
- PMK No. 168 Tahun 2023 on PPh 21 withholding. The worked examples in its annex, in which tax withheld from an employee, including one who arrived part way through the year, is a credit in that year's annual return.
If you are resident in Indonesia for tax and hold an NPWP (Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak, the tax number), you file one annual personal tax return (SPT Tahunan) for each tax year. It is due by 31 March of the following year, and it goes in through Coretax, the tax office’s online system. The only exemption is a year in which your net income was no more than the tax-free allowance (PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 112(2)(a) and (3)). We prepare and file it for you.
Who has to file
Residence decides it. You are resident for tax if you live in Indonesia, or are here for more than 183 days in any twelve months, or are here during a tax year and intend to stay (Income Tax Law, Article 2(3)(a), as substituted by UU No. 6 of 2023). Any one of the three is enough, and the rules apply to Indonesians and foreigners alike. Our guide to settling in Indonesia explains how a stay permit bears on the third test.
A resident is taxed on income from Indonesia and from abroad (PMK 81/2024, Article 442(1)).
A foreigner who is here for no more than 183 days in twelve months, and who neither lives here nor intends to, is not resident (Article 2(4)(b)). An employer in Indonesia withholds 20% of that person’s gross pay, and the tax is final (Income Tax Law, Article 26(1)(d) and (5), as substituted by UU No. 6 of 2023).
Four years on Indonesian income only
A foreigner with certain expertise can apply to be taxed only on Indonesian income for the first four tax years of residence (Income Tax Law, Article 4(1a); PMK 81/2024, Article 446). It covers foreign workers in positions the manpower minister designates, and foreign researchers (PMK 81/2024, Article 443). Pay for work done in Indonesia still counts as Indonesian income when it is paid abroad (Article 4(1b)). The four years run from the date you first became resident (PMK 81/2024, Article 444). We assess whether you qualify and make the application, as a separate engagement.
Four things people assume
What the return reports
The annual personal tax return sets out the year’s income, the tax on it, the tax already paid, and what you own and owe (PMK 81/2024, Article 164(2); PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 83(1)).
Salary and the BPA1
Your employer’s annual withholding slip. The tax it shows is credited against the tax for the year (PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 6(1)(a); PMK 168/2023, annex examples).
Other income
Anything else earned during the year, including income that is not taxable or has already been taxed at a final rate (PMK 81/2024, Article 164(2)).
Foreign income
Foreign tax paid on it is credited in the same year, up to the Indonesian tax on that income (Income Tax Law, Article 24(1) and (2)).
Assets and debts
What you own and owe as at 31 December, listed in the first attachment (PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 83(1)).
Family
The dependants who count towards your tax-free allowance, listed with your assets (PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 83(1)).
Dividends from an Indonesian company have their own rules: nothing if reinvested, otherwise 10% final tax, which our guide to dividend tax sets out. The full list of papers we ask for is on our personal tax page.
How the tax for the year is worked out
Net income for the year, less the tax-free allowance (penghasilan tidak kena pajak, PTKP), is taxed at five rising rates. The allowance is set by the Income Tax Law, Article 7(1), and the rates by Article 17(1)(a), both as amended by UU No. 7 of 2021. The tax on your BPA1 and any foreign tax credit are then taken off, leaving a balance to pay or an overpayment (PMK 81/2024, Article 164(2)). How your employer arrives at the monthly deduction during the year is covered in our explanation of PPh 21 (the income tax withheld from pay).
| Rate | |
|---|---|
| Up to IDR 60,000,000 | 5% |
| Over IDR 60,000,000 to 250,000,000 | 15% |
| Over IDR 250,000,000 to 500,000,000 | 25% |
| Over IDR 500,000,000 to 5,000,000,000 | 30% |
| Over IDR 5,000,000,000 | 35% |
When the annual personal tax return is due
The deadline is three months after the end of the tax year, which is 31 March (KUP Law, Article 3(3)(b); PMK 81/2024, Article 169(1)).
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The year ends
Assets and debts are counted as at this date.
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Your BPA1 arrives
Within a month of the year’s last tax period.
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Papers to us
Preferably by then, to leave time to prepare.
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Any balance paid
Tax still owed is paid in full first.
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Return filed
Filed through Coretax.
If papers are running late, the deadline can be extended by up to two months (KUP Law, Article 3(4)). The notice goes in before 31 March, with a provisional calculation, and any tax still owed is paid first (Article 3(5); PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 97). We file that notice for you, as a separate engagement.
A return filed late carries a fine of IDR 100,000 (KUP Law, Article 7(1); PMK 81/2024, Article 179(1)). It is not charged to a foreign national who no longer lives in Indonesia, or who is not here for more than 183 days in twelve months (Article 179(3)(c)).
Returns go in through Coretax. If your Coretax account has not yet been activated, we help you set it up, as a separate engagement.
Married couples
The law treats a married woman’s income as her husband’s (Income Tax Law, Article 8(1)). The exception is pay from a single employer that has withheld PPh 21, in work unconnected with the husband’s or the family’s business.
A couple are taxed separately in three cases (Article 8(2)):
- a court has ordered them to live apart
- they have a written agreement separating their property and income
- the wife chooses to handle her own tax
In the last two, each spouse files a return, and the tax is worked out on their combined net income and shared between them in proportion (Article 8(3); PER-11/PJ/2025, Article 81(2) and (3)). A wife taxed separately needs her own tax number (PMK 81/2024, Article 16(5)), and registering for an NPWP explains how she gets one. We prepare returns for couples either way: one joint return, or two.
Arriving and leaving
Residence begins when you arrive or intend to settle, and ends when you leave Indonesia for good (Income Tax Law, Article 2A(1)). In either year, the part of the year you were resident takes the place of the tax year (Article 2A(6)). Income for that part is annualised, and the tax is then scaled back to the part of the year (Articles 16(4) and 17(5)).
| First year | A full year | Last year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers | From the day residence begins | 1 January to 31 December | Up to the day you leave for good |
| Tax | Annualised, then scaled to the part year | The five rates, after the allowance | Annualised, then scaled to the part year |
| Due | 31 March of the next year | 31 March of the next year | Three months after you leave |
| Also | Tax withheld at 20% before you became resident is not final | Assets and debts as at 31 December | Closing your tax number, once nothing is owed |
That last date rests on two rules read together: residence ends on departure, and a return for part of a year falls due three months after that part closes (PMK 81/2024, Article 170(1)). In the first year, the 20% is not final because you changed status to resident (Income Tax Law, Article 26(5)(b)).
Once you have left for good, your tax number can be closed on application, with a document showing the departure (PMK 81/2024, Articles 28 and 29). The tax office decides within six months, and closes it where nothing is owed and nothing is pending (Articles 29(4) and 31). We prepare the final return and apply to close the tax number, as a separate engagement.
What this means for you
For most people working here, the year comes down to one slip from the employer, one annual personal tax return and one date. Send us your papers, preferably before the end of February, and we take it from there. If you are still waiting for a tax number, that comes first.