Taxes on a Bali property sale: who pays, how much, and when

Two taxes, one on each side, due at different moments. The PPAT may not sign the deed until the seller’s is paid — and the buyer’s falls due earlier than most expect.

Pajak penjual, pajak pembeli, PPh, BPHTB: twelve questions and which side each falls on

An Indonesian property sale carries two taxes, one on each party, set by different laws, due at different moments. Most quotes merge them into a single “tax and notary” figure. Separated, each one can be checked.

The seller’s side: 2.5%, paid before the deed

The seller bears final income tax of 2.5% of the gross transfer value (PP 34/2016 art. 2(1)(a)). “Final” means it is the whole income-tax charge on that income, not an advance on a later assessment. It applies to transfers and also to income from a PPJB and its amendments (PP 34/2016 art. 1(1)(b)).

The timing is the enforcement. The seller pays before the deed is signed (PP 34/2016 art. 3(1)), and the official signs only on proof of payment checked by the tax office (PP 34/2016 art. 3(5)). A seller who has not paid cannot get a lawful sale deed signed.

When the 2.5% is not owed, or not 2.5%

The final tax does not apply to every transfer. It is not owed on a transfer by inheritance (PP 34/2016 art. 6(d)); nor to a gift to a blood relative one degree up or down the direct line (PP 34/2016 art. 6(b)), on conditions set in a Finance Minister regulation we have not read, and only where the gift has no link to business, work or ownership between the two; nor to an individual below the tax-free income threshold transferring less than IDR 60 million (PP 34/2016 art. 6(a)). Where the seller is a developer selling a simple house or a simple flat, the rate is 1% (PP 34/2016 art. 2(1)(b)). None of these is the ordinary Bali villa sale, which is the 2.5% case.

Reselling a PPJB before completion

Off-plan buyers sometimes sell their place in the queue: the PPJB is amended to put a new buyer in their name before the AJB. That amendment is a taxable event of its own. The tax on it is paid by the buyer named in the PPJB before the change (PP 34/2016 art. 5(1)), and the developer signs the amendment only on proof of payment checked by the tax office. A “flip” priced as if it were tax-free has left a line out. How a PPJB works.

The buyer’s side: BPHTB, due at the PPJB

BPHTB is capped at 5% (Law 1/2022 (HKPD) art. 47(1)) on the transaction price (Law 1/2022 (HKPD) art. 46(2)(a)) — or NJOP where that is higher — after a tax-free amount of at least IDR 80 million (Law 1/2022 (HKPD) art. 46(5)). For a sale it falls due on the date the PPJB is signed (Law 1/2022 (HKPD) art. 49(a)), which is earlier than most buyers assume.

The regency sets the actual figures. The two by-laws we have read both adopt the ceiling and the floor unchanged: 5% after IDR 80 million in Denpasar (Denpasar Perda 5/2023 art. 13(1)), and 5% after IDR 80 million in Tabanan (Tabanan Perda 13/2023 art. 13). Tabanan’s adds the enforcement: the PPAT signs only after the buyer hands over proof of BPHTB payment (Tabanan Perda 13/2023 art. 16(1)), and the land office registers on the same proof.

What the two taxes come to

Our arithmetic on the articles, for a sale at IDR 5,000,000,000 where the price is above NJOP and the buyer has not acquired in that region before.

The two regions give identical figures on an ordinary sale because both by-laws adopted the national numbers. Where they differ is inheritance, below. For Canggu, Seminyak, Uluwatu and Ubud we have not obtained the by-laws and give only the national ceiling and floor.

When there is no sale: inheritance

An inherited property is still an acquisition for BPHTB, and here the two by-laws genuinely part. Denpasar charges 0% when a child or spouse inherits (Denpasar Perda 5/2023 art. 13(2)). Tabanan keeps its 5% rate but lifts the tax-free value for immediate family to IDR 3 billion (Tabanan Perda 13/2023 art. 12(5)). On a family property the regency is not a detail. What a foreign heir can hold at all.

Taxes, fees and the order of signing

Put the pieces in order and the sale runs: PPJB signed, BPHTB due; seller’s tax paid and proven; buyer’s BPHTB proven; AJB signed by the PPAT; deed lodged at the land office within 7 working days of signing (PP 24/1997 art. 40(1)). The PPAT’s own fee sits outside all of this and is capped at 1% of the transaction price stated in the deed, witnesses included (PP 37/1998 art. 32(1)). The two documents and the clocks. The fee caps.

We are not a tax adviser. We are paid a fixed fee per enquiry whether you buy or not; this page quotes the regulations so you can check the figures in a draft deed.

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