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JAKARTA — Indonesia's tax office said on Wednesday it has asked e-commerce marketplaces Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada and Blibli to collect income taxes from sellers based on sales made on their platforms, with the policy to take effect from August.The tax office said it has appointed Tokopedia, which is controlled by ByteDance's TikTok and also partly owned by Indonesia's biggest tech company GoTo Group, Sea Limited's Shopee, the Alibaba-backed Lazada, and Blibli as platforms that must become tax collectors.
Sellers with turnover of 500 million rupiah (US$28,000) or less will be exempted from having taxes collected if they provide a letter to the tax office, according to the statement.
The finance ministry last year issued a regulation requiring e-commerce platforms that meet certain criteria to collect and pass on income tax on sales made by small- and medium-sized sellers, and to also pass on information regarding sales to tax authorities.
After complaints from sellers and platforms, the policy was postponed to this year. The platforms are now expected to comply with the regulation from Aug 1, giving them time to brief sellers and make other preparations, a tax office spokesperson said.
