Bali Taxes Hotel – How to Tax Online Transactions for Accommodation Bookings
Bali Taxes Hotel
In an Effort to Secure More Tax Revenues, the Badung Regency in Bali is Exploring How to Tax Online Transactions for Accommodation Bookings.
Building on limited success with efforts to install “tapping boxes” and “online cash registers” in local restaurants, the government is eyeing how to track transactions in which people book hotel rooms in Bali from online computers and other devices.
A Badung official charged with safeguarding tax and revenue streams for the Regency, I Made Sutama, told NusaBali that his office is exploring how to tax transactions for the large number of hotel rooms in Badung Regency booked online.
Sutama is seeking clarification from officials in Jakarta and the Ministry of Communications and Information (Kemenkominfo) to learn if there are any legal or administrative obstacles to imposing such a tax.
Linking the plan to tax online accommodation to the introduction of tapping boxes and cash registers in Badung restaurants, Sutama seems certain that Badung Regency’s plans to increase tax revenues to Rp. 5.9 trillion in 2018 can be achieved.
Tourism observers suggest plans to try to collect tax on online accommodation bookings in the Badung Regency may be ill-conceived or, at the very least, devoid of proper planning. Among the formidable road blocks ahead for Sutama and his plan is his failure to take into account that most accommodation for Bali sold online already includes Hotel and Restaurant Tax (PHR) meaning his proposal would amount to “double taxation.” Moreover, it would be problematic for Regency officials to tax the majority of online booking providers who operate in locations typically far-removed from Bali and equally far-removed from the tax jurisdiction of the Badung Regency.
