Indonesia has pushed back the 0.5% income tax that its marketplaces were supposed to start withholding from sellers this month, moving the start to November 1 and promising to refund anything already taken. The tax office said it made the call to protect household spending, and finance minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa told reporters the government will wait until purchasing power recovers, declining to name a date. Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada, and Blibli had all been appointed collectors and had built systems for it, but those appointments are being revoked and the selection reopened later. The levy applies only to sellers turning over more than Rp500 million a year, and it functions as an advance payment against income tax the seller already owes rather than a new charge.
