1. Purpose of Stamp Duty
The definition of stamp duty under Indonesian law shall mean tax over documents, and the document itself shall mean anything written or in writing, whether hand written, printed, or electronic that can be used as a form of evidence or information.[1] In Indonesia documents that are signed or written as a tool to explain a civil event or documents used as forms of evidence in court must be imposed a stamp duty, examples of civil event are as follows:[2]

• Agreement, certificate, statement letter, or other similar letters, along with their duplicates
• Notarial deed along with its original copy (grosse), copy and excerpt;
• Deed made by land deed official (Pejabat Pembuat Akta Tanah/PPAT) along with its copy and excerpt;
• Securities under any name and in any form;
• Securities transaction documents, including futures contract transaction documents, under any name and in any form;
• Auction documents in the form of excerpts of auction treatise, minutes of auction treatise, copies of auction treatise, and original copy of auction treatise;
• Documents stating the amount of money with a nominal value of more than IDR 5,000,000.00 (five million rupiah) that:
  a. Mentions the receipt of money;
  b. Contains acknowledgement that the debt in whole or in part has been paid or taken into accounts
• Other documents stipulated under a government regulation.

The stamp duty shall be charged 1 (one) time for each of the documents as mentioned above.[3] Under Article 5 of of Law number 10 of 2022 on Stamp Duty (“Stamp Duty Law”) the stamp duty rate is stated at a fixed rate of IDR10,000,000.00 (ten thousand Rupiah) but may be adjusted (be it reduced or increased) depending on the national economic conditions and the level of income in the Indonesian household.[4]

In accordance with Article 7 of the Stamp Duty Law there are some documents that would not need stamp duty to be affixed, these are the following:

1. Documents related to the traffic of people and goods, such as:
   1. Deposit of goods;
   2. Bill of lading (konosemen);
   3. Passenger and goods transportation letter;
   4. Proof for the delivery and receipt of goods;
   5. Letter of delivery of goods for sale at the sender’s expense; and
   6. Other letters which may be equivalent to letters as mentioned in the examples above.
2. All forms of diploma;
3. Receipt of payment of salaries, standby compensation, pension, allowances, and other payments related to employment relationship, as well as letters submitted to obtain said payments;
4. Proof of receipt of state money from the state treasury, regional governments treasury, banks, and other institutions appointed by the state based on the previous laws and regulations;
5. Receipt for all types of taxes and for other revenues which may be equivalent to that and originated from the state treasury, regional governments treasury, banks and other institutions appointed based on the provisions of law and regulations;
6. Money receipts made for internal purposes of an organization;
7. Documents mentioning the deposit of money or securities, payment of deposit money to depositors by banks, cooperatives, and other entities that organize money deposits, or issuance of securities by custodians to customers;
8. Pledge certificate;
9. Sign for the sharing of profit, interest, or yield of securities, under any name and in any form; and
10. Documents issued or produce by Bank Indonesia (Indonesia’s central bank) for the implementation of monetary policies.

2. Application of Stamp Duty

According to Article 8 of the Stamp Duty Law, a stamp duty shall be payable during any of the following conditions:

1. The execution or signing of a document:
   1. agreement along with its duplicate;
   2. Authentic notarial deed along with its copies and quotes;
   3. Deed of Land Title Registrar (Pejabat Pembuat Akta Tanah / “PPAT”) along with the copies and quotes.
2. The completion of a document drafting:
   1. Securities (surat berharga) under any name and in any form;
   2. Transaction documents of the securities, including future contract transaction documents under any name and in any form;
3. Document submitted to the party for whom the document was made for:
   1. Certificates, statement letters, or other similar letters, along with the duplicate;
   2. Auction documents;
   3. Documents stating the amount of money.
4. Documents shall be submitted to the court, for documents used as forms of evidence in a court.
5. Documents at the time of use in Indonesia that are made abroad.

Aside from the documents mentioned above, the Minister of Finance may determine other items that the stamp duty shall be applicable.

3. Payment of Payable Stamp Duty

According to Article 12 of the Stamp Duty Law the payment of the stamp duty can be made through the following process:

1. Duty Stamp (meterai); or 
2. Tax Payment Slip.

The Duty Stamp mentioned above under Article 1 paragraph (6) of the Stamp Duty Law is defined as a label or strip in patch or electronic form, or other forms that has characteristics and contains security elements issued by the government of the Republic of Indonesia, and which are used to pay taxes for documents. Thus the Duty Stamp itself if purchased and placed upon a document shall be a legal mean to place a stamp duty upon a document.

The forms of Duty Stamp as already mentioned before is divided into the following:

1. Patch duty stamp;
2. Electronic duty stamp;
3. Duty stamp in other forms stipulated by the Minister of Finance.

IV. Infringement of Stamp Duty

It is regulated in the Stamp Duty law, specifically Articles 24 until 26, that certain actions related to stamp duties can be charged with criminal sentences. The actions as regulated according to each of the articles are mostly related to the infringement of the Stamp Duty.

V. Consequences of infringing Stamp Duty

The charges shall vary from each actions and violation. The summary of each actions shall be as below:

1. Article 24 - Infringement or falsification of Duty Stamps

Under Article 24 anyone who imitates or falsify Duty Stamp issued by the government of the Republic of Indonesia with the intention of using or asking other people to use said Duty Stamps as real, non-falsified, or valid Duty Stamps; or with the same intention as mentioned before, making Duty Stamps using the original stamp unlawfully, including making electronic Duty Stamps, shall be subject to imprisonment for a maximum of 7 (seven) years and a maximum fine of IDR 500,000,000.00 (five hundred million Rupiah).

1. Article 25 - sales and delivery of forged Duty Stamps

Under Article 25 anyone who uses, sells, offers, delivers, has supplies for sale, or imports into the territory of the Republic of Indonesia:

1. Duty Stamps that are falsified or made unlawfully as if they were real, not falsified, and made lawfully; or
2. Goods affixed with a Duty Stamp, as if the said goods are real, not falsified and made lawfully.

Shall be subject to imprisonment for a maximum of 7 (seven) years and a maximum fine of IDR 500,000,000.00 (five hundred million Rupiah).

Article 26 - reusing and refurnishing used Duty Stamps

Under Article 26 anyone who:

1. Removes the sign used to indicate that a Duty Stamp is no longer usable on the Duty Stamp which has been used with the intention of using or asking someone else to use it as if the said Duty Stamp has not been used;
2. With the same intention as the above, remove the signature, characteristic, or sign when the Duty Stamp that has been used in accordance with the provisions of prevailing laws and regulations must be affixed on or to the Duty Stamp; or
3. Uses, sells, offers, delivers, has supplies for sale, or imports into the territory of the Republic of Indonesia, of Duty Stamps whose sign, signature, characteristics, or date of use has been removed, as if the said duty stamps has not been used.

Shall be subject to imprisonment for a maximum of 3 (three) years or a maximum fine of IDR 200,000,000.00 (two hundred million Rupiah).

VI. Conclusion

From the penalty that has been detailed above we can take into account that infringements of stamp duty is a serious offense under Indonesian law and the penalty ranges to imprisonment and also fine. This is due to the nature of the stamp duty being a tax levied on documents. It is understandable that the practice in Indonesia people think that having a Duty Stamp on a document is simply just for the sake of making the document authentic and people even go to the lengths of just placing a signed Duty Stamp copy pasted from previous documents, but even such a simple act just for the sake having a Duty Stamp signed across is against the law and shall bring criminal penalty to those who have committed such act. Thus it is reminded that the use of Duty Stamp to be in accordance with the law and Duty Stamp should be legally purchased and used in a lawful manner.