In 2023, Indonesia’s local cryptocurrency exchanges witnessed a steep 60% decline in cumulative trading volume compared to the previous year. The exchanges attribute this downturn to the heavy taxation imposed on cryptocurrencies classified as commodities, including income and value-added taxes (VAT). They anticipate that reclassifying cryptocurrencies as securities could alleviate the tax burden and bring users back to the platforms.
The Indonesian crypto industry, one of the fastest adopters of cryptocurrencies globally, is currently struggling with the significant tax load that is deterring investors. Each transaction on local exchanges is subject to both income tax and VAT, with industry representatives pointing out that the total taxes paid often exceed the transaction fees collected by the exchanges.
For instance, INDODAX’s CEO Oscar Darmawan highlighted that investors face a 0.1% income tax and a 0.11% VAT on each crypto transaction. Additionally, exchanges are required to pay a 0.04% fee to newly established national crypto exchanges. Darmawan stressed that these financial burdens are weighing heavily on the domestic crypto industry.
Some representatives from local crypto exchanges argue that if cryptocurrencies were classified as securities instead of commodities, it would reduce the tax burden on users and potentially attract investors back to the market. They draw parallels between stocks and cryptocurrencies, both being profitable, tradable assets, suggesting that a uniform tax regime for both would be fairer and more consistent.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is set to transfer the oversight and regulation of cryptocurrencies from the commodity regulator to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) in January 2025. This move is expected to reclassify cryptocurrencies as securities, which local leading exchanges like Reku, Tokocrypto, and INDODAX believe will eliminate the VAT burden.
