Jakarta. The government has promised to return the money that they had already collected from popular digital services that were not supposed to be subject to the latest value-added tax (VAT) increase.

Just hours before the year changed to 2025, President Prabowo Subianto announced Tuesday evening that the 12 percent VAT would exclusively apply to luxury goods such as yachts and private jets, to name a few. The VAT hike officially entered into force on Jan. 1 or Wednesday. Indonesia has been imposing an 11 percent VAT on its goods and services since 2022. This means that the 12 percent VAT should not affect popular streaming platforms such as Spotify. But following the last-minute announcement that the hike would only affect luxury goods, some platforms already imposed the 12-percent VAT on their services.

“We are aware that the policy only got announced on Dec. 31, so such incidents might happen. We are currently preparing for the transition process. But in principle, if the taxes that we collect are bigger than we are supposed to, of course, we would return the money,” Suryo Utomo, the director-general of taxes, told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

Yon Arsal, another senior official at the Finance Ministry, said later that day that the government was still in the process of deciding the best possible way to return the miscalculated taxes. He added: “Compensation is a possible option, but we will likely announce the final scheme in the coming days.”

The Jakarta Globe had checked that a purchase of the Spotify Premium individual plan on Spotify had cost Rp 61,589 as of Jan. 2, a day after the policy entered into force. The pre-tax price stands at Rp 54,990, meaning that it is already subject to the 12 percent VAT (Rp 6,599). Under the 11-percent scheme, the VAT for the subscription should only be around Rp 6,049.

The Globe also tried to find out whether a 12-percent VAT had affected video game purchases on Google Play Store. As seen in the screenshot, The Globe had to pay an additional Rp 7,200 in tax for a game that cost Rp 60,000, meaning that a 12-percent VAT is already in place in these digital transactions. The Google Play bill should have amounted to Rp 66,600 under an 11-percent VAT.

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