Indonesia has relaxed its value added tax (VAT) refund requirements for international tourists, a move aimed at encouraging small and medium enterprises to join the tax refund programme.
A regulation issued on Aug 23 now enables tourists to claim their VAT refund accumulated across multiple receipts to make up the minimum amount of Rp 500,000 (US$35).
Each receipt must indicate a VAT value of at least Rp 50,000 or Rp 500,000 in transaction value, The Jakarta Posted reported.
Tourists will be able to claim refunds at five international airports in the country, which include Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten; Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra; Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta; Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java and Ngurah Rai International Airport in Kuta, Bali.
The tax office has handed out VAT refunds amounting to Rp 11.2 billion last year, bumped up by the influx of 15.8 million international tourists.
The figure is nearly double of that in 2017, where Rp 6.4 billion in VAT refunds were processed when the country welcomed 14 million tourists.