NPWP Registration in Indonesia: Deadlines, Documents and Steps
NPWP registration in Indonesia: the one-month deadline for a new company, when an individual must register, and a decision in one working day.
- UU No. 6 Tahun 1983 on general provisions and tax procedures (the KUP Law), as amended — the present text of Article 2 was substituted by UU No. 7 Tahun 2021, in force 29 October 2021. Article 2(1) and (1a), the duty to register and the identity number serving as the tax number. Article 2(4) and (4a), registration on the tax office's own motion and obligations running up to five years back. Article 7(1), the late fines, which attach to returns. Article 32(1)(a), a company represented by its management. UU No. 6 Tahun 2023 does not amend Article 2
- PMK No. 81 Tahun 2024 — in force 1 January 2025 (Article 484). Article 1, item 35, a representative office of a foreign company within the definition of a badan. Article 4, electronic administration. Article 10(3) and (4), who signs for a company. Articles 15–17 and 20–21, individual registration, the deadlines and the one working day. Articles 39–42, company registration, one month from establishment, and registration on the tax office's own motion. Article 472, item 1, the electronic filing identification number usable only for periods up to December 2024. Amended by PMK 11/2025, 53/2025, 54/2025 and 1/2026, none of which changes those articles
- PER-7/PJ/2025 on tax registration and account administration — set and in force 21 May 2025. Article 1, item 11, the same definition of a badan. Article 2, which number is given and the change of data when an identity number is obtained later. Articles 7 and 9, a number for administrative purposes. Article 12, the deadlines. Articles 14–16, the channels, the documents and what is issued. Article 18, registration on the tax office's own motion. Article 19, registration through the legal-entity system and OSS. Articles 20–22, the Taxpayer Account and the two-year authorisation code. Article 31, the place-of-business number. Article 94 revoked PER-04/PJ/2020 and PER-20/PJ/2018, which older guidance still cites
- PMK No. 112/PMK.03/2022, as amended by PMK No. 136 Tahun 2023 (in force 12 December 2023) — Article 2, the identity number as a resident individual's tax number, the 16-digit number for everyone else, and the two routes by which either is given
- UU No. 7 Tahun 1983 on income tax, as amended — Article 7(1), the tax-free income threshold of IDR 54,000,000, as substituted by UU No. 7 Tahun 2021; Article 2(3), the three residence tests, as substituted by UU No. 6 Tahun 2023
- PMK No. 18/PMK.03/2021 — in force 17 February 2021. Article 2, what each residence test means, and Article 2(4)(c), a stay permit valid for more than 183 days as evidence of the intention to reside. Articles 2–6 survive the partial revocation by PMK 81/2024, Article 483
- UU No. 40 Tahun 2007 (the Company Law) — Article 7(1), establishment by notarial deed drawn in Indonesian
- Permenkum No. 49 Tahun 2025 — in force 17 December 2025. Article 5, establishment filed through the legal-entity administration system; Article 6(1)(g), the founders' undertaking to obtain a tax number; Article 7(1), the approval issued when the application is received
- PP No. 28 Tahun 2025 on risk-based business licensing — in force 5 June 2025. Articles 206 and 207, the NIB, the tax number among its data, and its validation against the tax system
- PMK No. 35/PMK.03/2019 — in force 1 April 2019. Article 2(3), one month for a permanent establishment of a foreign company
NPWP registration in Indonesia gives a company or a person a Nomor Pokok Wajib Pajak, the tax number the tax office identifies them by. The guide to the 16-digit NPWP explains the number itself. Anyone who meets both the subjective test (being a tax subject) and the objective test (receiving income, or having to withhold tax from payments) must register and is given one (KUP Law, UU No. 6 of 1983 on general provisions and tax procedures, Article 2(1)). The part that matters in practice is how the number arrives: it is applied for, and on a complete application the tax office decides within one working day (PMK No. 81 of 2024, Articles 21 and 41(3)).
How a company gets its tax number
It is easy to assume that a new company’s tax number arrives with the company, somewhere inside the incorporation. It does not. Five steps happen in a fixed order, and knowing the order is what keeps the one-month deadline comfortable rather than tight.
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The deed of establishment is signed
Drawn by a notary, in Indonesian (Company Law, Article 7(1)).
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The Ministry of Law approves it
Filed by the notary through the Ministry's legal-entity system, and approved when the application is received (Permenkum 49/2025, Articles 5 and 7(1)).
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The tax number is applied for
With the establishment documents, and decided in one working day (PMK 81/2024, Articles 40 and 41).
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The NIB is issued through OSS
The Online Single Submission (OSS) licensing system issues the business identification number, which carries the tax number in its data and validates it against the tax system (PP 28/2025, Article 207).
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The Taxpayer Account is activated
With an authorisation code for signing, and a place-of-business number for each site (PER-7/PJ/2025, Articles 20 and 31).
The tax number does not arrive with the company
At establishment the founders supply a statement undertaking to obtain a tax number (Permenkum No. 49 of 2025, Article 6(1)(g)) — an undertaking, which is not the same as an issue. Only two routes to a number exist: the taxpayer asks for one, or the Director General of Taxes gives one on his own motion (PMK No. 112/PMK.03/2022, Article 2(4) and (5)).
The request goes in through one of four channels (PER-7/PJ/2025, Articles 14(1) and 19(1)):
- The taxpayer portal in Coretax, the tax office’s online administration system.
- The legal-entity administration system (SABH), where the notary who drew the deed may make the request on the company’s behalf, if they hold access to it (Article 19(2) and (3)). The smoothest route where it is used.
- The OSS licensing system.
- The tax office’s contact centre.
Where none of those is possible, the request can be made in person or by post (Article 14(2)). A company registers with the tax office covering the place where it is seated (PMK 81/2024, Article 39(1)). It has one month from the day it was established or became seated in Indonesia (Article 40; PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 12(1)(c)).
A foreign company that trades here through a permanent establishment registers within one month of starting to do so (PMK No. 35/PMK.03/2019, Article 2(3)). A representative office is a badan in its own right, and registers within one month of being established or taking its seat in Indonesia (PMK 81/2024, Articles 39–40; PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 12(1)(c)). It holds an NPWP for its withholding duties even though it earns nothing.
Registering the company does not register the people acting for it. A company acts through its management, and its electronic documents are signed with an authorisation code belonging to an individual (KUP Law, Article 32(1)(a); PMK 81/2024, Article 10(3) and (4)). A director’s own position is the next question.
NPWP registration in Indonesia for an individual
Two situations create the duty for a person, and only two (PMK 81/2024, Article 17; PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 12(1)(a)).
- In business or independent practice — within one month of starting.
- Employed, or otherwise receiving income — by the end of the month following the month in which income for the year reaches the tax-free threshold, penghasilan tidak kena pajak (PTKP). That threshold is IDR 54,000,000 a year for the taxpayer themself, with additions for a spouse and for dependants (Income Tax Law, Article 7(1), as substituted by UU No. 7 of 2021).
For a resident, registration is not the issue of a new number at all. The Nomor Induk Kependudukan (NIK), the national identity number already on the identity card, is activated as the tax number (KUP Law, Article 2(1a); PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 15(1)). There is no second number to keep track of.
If you are a foreign national
Residence decides what Indonesia taxes, and it is settled by three alternative tests rather than by one waiting period. A person is an Indonesian tax resident if they live in Indonesia, or are in Indonesia for more than 183 days in any twelve months. The third is being in Indonesia during a tax year and intending to reside here (Income Tax Law, Article 2(3), as substituted by UU No. 6 of 2023). Any one of the three is enough, and the text applies to Indonesian and foreign nationals alike.
The third test is usually the one that answers the question, and it answers it early. A limited stay permit (ITAS, commonly called a KITAS) valid for more than 183 days is itself listed as evidence of the intention to reside (PMK No. 18/PMK.03/2021, Article 2(4)(c)). So somebody who arrives on a one-year KITAS and is paid here is an Indonesian tax resident from the start. They are not counting out six months first, and the deadline that applies is whichever of the two above fits their situation.
What you actually hand over
Whichever path applies to you, the list is short.
A resident individual
Nothing at all. No supporting document is attached to the application (PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 14(3)).
A foreign national
A copy of the passport, and two colour photographs — one of them of the applicant holding the passport. That is the whole list (PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 14(4); PMK 81/2024, Article 20(2)).
A company
The deed of establishment and any amendments to it. A permanent establishment or a representative office of a foreign company supplies its head office’s letter of appointment instead (PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 14(5)(a)).
Shorter still where the paperwork already exists elsewhere: a document the system can check against the records of the authority that issued it does not have to be attached at all (Article 14(8)).
What arrives, and what replaced the EFIN
A successful application produces four things: the NPWP card, the registration certificate (surat keterangan terdaftar), a letter issuing the Taxpayer Account, and a letter issuing the authorisation code (PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 15(10)(a)). A resident individual also receives the letter confirming that their identity number has been activated (Article 15(5)(b)). All of it is delivered through the Taxpayer Account, to the registered email address, or by post (Article 15(11)).
The authorisation code is the one to diarise. It is what signs the company’s or the person’s electronic documents. It is valid for two years from issue, replaceable on request when it is close to expiring or the passphrase has been lost (Articles 21(1) and 21(2)).
It also replaced something readers still go looking for. The electronic filing identification number (EFIN), the electronic certificate and the verification code can be used only for tax periods and tax years up to December 2024 (PMK 81/2024, Article 472, item 1). A first-time registrant today is not issued an EFIN and does not need one.
Two further things follow registration rather than belonging to it. Registering for value added tax is a separate application with its own threshold and its own deadline, set out in VAT registration in Indonesia. Running the account afterwards — who may sign for a company, and when a tax letter counts as received — is covered in the guide to Coretax.
What this means for you
The deadlines are short; the work behind them is not. One working day for the decision, against a document list that runs to one item or to none. That balance is the whole argument for doing it on time.
The KUP Law’s late fines apply to late returns, not to late registration (Article 7(1)). What leaving it does cost is quieter. Where somebody has not registered, the tax office may register them on its own motion after reviewing the data it already holds (KUP Law, Article 2(4); PMK 81/2024, Article 42; PER-7/PJ/2025, Article 18). The obligations then run from the date the tests were first met, up to five years back (KUP Law, Article 2(4a)). Catching up is more work than keeping up.
For a company, the number is part of the formation work: forming a PT PMA or a local PT with us covers the deed, the Ministry of Law approval, the NPWP and the NIB. For an individual, personal tax covers tax registration where you need one, charged separately.