TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Service fees for transactions with electronic money (e-money) and digital wallets (e-wallet) will be subject to a 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) levy early next year. The Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance said that e-money and e-wallet services are not new VAT objects.

The increase in VAT from 11 percent to 12 percent will take effect on January 1, 2025. Director of Counseling, Services, and Public Relations of the DJP Dwi Astuti explained that the administrator fees for digital wallets and electronic money have so far been subject to VAT. "Electronic transaction services have something called admin fees, this is what has been subject to 11 percent (VAT) so far," said Dwi at the Directorate General of Taxes head office, South Jakarta, Monday, December 23, 2024.

The VAT rate is charged to digital wallet service providers. According to him, the increase in the fee rate is regulated by the service provider. The basis for imposing tax on electronic money and digital wallets is not the value of the money filled, the amount of top up, the balance, or the value of the sale and purchase transaction. But for the service of using electronic money or digital wallet.

Dwi gave an illustration of someone who tops up electronic money by Rp1,000,000. The top up fee, for example, is Rp1,500, then the VAT is 11 percent times Rp1,500, the result is Rp165, the admin fee becomes Rp1,665. With the increase in VAT to 12 percent next year, the calculation is 12 percent times Rp1,500, which is Rp180 or the admin fee becomes Rp1,680. The increase based on the DJP's calculation is only Rp15.

Director of Public Policy at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) Media Wahyudi Askar said that although it is charged to service providers, the increase in VAT rates will be included in the calculation of price components. "Which in the end must also be paid by consumers," he said Monday, December 23, 2024.

In aggregate, the growth in the use of digital services according to Askar is indeed increasing. But its growth is at risk of being hampered, because service users or consumers, can switch to cheaper cash payments. "Although it only saves hundreds of rupiah, for the lower classes it is quite a lot. This is counterproductive to the push for digital service growth," he said.

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