How to get your money out of Indonesia: rent, sale proceeds and the paperwork banks want

Yes. Under Law 24/1999, Indonesia keeps a free foreign-exchange regime: it asks for reporting, not caps. Neither of Bank Indonesia's 2026 changes limits how much you can send. They limit what you can send without explaining it (ASEAN Briefing; ExpatDen, 2026).

In practice your bank converts the rupiah into foreign currency first, then wires that. Two checks sit on the path: one on the conversion, one on the wire. Both thresholds were cut this summer.

Source: Law 24/1999 on foreign exchange, summarized by ASEAN Briefing; ExpatDen, Sending Money from Indonesia, 2026

Bank Indonesia tightened the rules in two steps to protect the rupiah. A bank now asks for the underlying documents once you buy more than about Rp 179 million of foreign currency in a month, or send more than about Rp 448 million in one transfer. Both limits are written in foreign currency, so their rupiah value moves with the exchange rate.

The bank counts cumulatively. BCA applies the monthly purchase limit to everything bought from a rupiah account in that month, so cutting one wire into five on the same day buys you nothing.

1. June 2, 2026Purchase limit halved

   PADG 11/2026 cut foreign-currency purchases without documents from about Rp 896 million to about Rp 448 million a month.

2. July 1, 2026Purchase limit cut again

   PADG 15/2026 lowered it to about Rp 179 million a month for each customer.

3. July 1, 2026Wires need papers sooner

   PADG 13/2026 made documents mandatory above about Rp 448 million per outgoing transfer, down from about Rp 896 million.

Source: Bank Indonesia, PADG 11/2026, PADG 13/2026, PADG 15/2026; BCA notice and outward remittance page, 2026; Allen & Gledhill, June 2026; Indonesia Business Post, June 19, 2026. Rupiah values at Rp 17,917, our conversion

Expect two questions: what is this money, and where did it come from? Answer them with a short file. If you keep it from year one, the bank's request takes an afternoon instead of a month.

Bring your tax number (NPWP) as well. Banks treat a missing one as a reason to slow everything down. People who've moved large sums report two to four weeks between deciding and seeing the money land, so build that into your plans.

Source: ExpatDen, Sending Money from Indonesia, 2026, for sale and savings; Rise Real Bali practice, 2023–2026, for rental income

For a non-resident owner, rent is hit by 20% withholding (PPh 26) on the gross amount, and costs aren't deducted. A tax resident of Indonesia pays a flat final 10% (PP 34/2017). The rental income tax guide works through both.

Don't count on a treaty to lower the 20%. Treaty rate cuts apply mainly to dividends, interest and royalties, and they need a certificate of domicile from your home tax office (PwC, June 11, 2026). Income from land and buildings sits under Article 6 of most treaties, which leaves Indonesia free to tax it at its domestic rate (Ortax, June 19, 2026).

One point is contested, so budget for the higher number. On May 29, 2026, the Tax Court canceled a PPh 26 assessment on hotel property rent paid to a US company and applied the 10% final rate instead (Taxindo, case PUT-011996.13/2020/PP/M.IIIA). Eight weeks later, the president of the Asia-Oceania Tax Consultants' Association told an IKPI panel that 20% still applies to non-resident landlords. We plan on 20% until the tax office or a higher court settles it.

Source: PP 34/2017; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (Indonesia, withholding taxes), reviewed June 11, 2026; Ortax, June 19, 2026; Income Tax Law, Article 26; Taxindo on the Tax Court decision of May 29, 2026; IKPI, July 24, 2026

When a land right changes hands, the seller owes a final income tax of 2.5% on the price (PP 34/2016). You pay it before the deed is signed, and it applies whether you sold at a profit or a loss. The buyer carries the transfer duty (BPHTB), capped at 5% under Law 1/2022, and an ordinary leasehold doesn't trigger it at all.

Add an agent's commission of about 5% and the notary, and a sale leaves you roughly 91.5% before your home country takes its share. Our selling guide runs the numbers on a Rp 5 billion villa.

Hold the villa through a PT PMA and profit leaves as dividends instead. The statutory withholding is 20%, and most treaties bring it down to 10–15% if you hold a certificate of domicile (PwC, June 11, 2026).

Source: PP 34/2016, via pajak.go.id; Hukumonline, BPHTB calculation; Law No. 1 of 2022 (HKPD); PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries for Indonesia, June 11, 2026

On a large wire, the fixed fees barely register. BCA charges Rp 35,000 for an e-channel wire plus a 0.125% commission, capped at the equivalent of about Rp 2.7 million. The exchange spread is where the money goes.

Speed is rarely the problem. A SWIFT wire arrives the same day to three business days later, and a money-transfer service often within a day (ExpatDen, 2026). The wait is the documents, not the wire.

Source: BCA, Outward Remittance fees, 2026; ExpatDen, 2026, on the roughly 0.6% fee for larger transfers; bank spreads of 1–2% are our assumption

Monthly transfers stay under both thresholds with room to spare. Take the Rp 4 billion Canggu villa from our rental yield guide. At 60% occupancy a non-resident owner keeps about Rp 274 million a year after 20% withholding, management and upkeep (our model). That's Rp 22.8 million a month, about one-eighth of the Rp 179 million purchase limit.

Lump sums are where owners get caught. Converting the whole Rp 274 million at once crosses the monthly purchase limit, and the bank asks for papers. You can send it with the lease and slips in one email, or convert a part each month and leave the rest in rupiah. Don't split a transfer across one day to dodge the limit. The bank counts the month.

• Withholding slips for every month of rent
• Lease or management agreement
• Your tax number (NPWP), already on file at the bank
• Statements showing the rent arriving in your own Indonesian bank account
• How your home country credits Indonesian tax

Source: Rise Real Bali yield model, run in September 2026; BCA, July 1, 2026

Start the paperwork before you list. A missing receipt causes most delays, not the bank.

1. 01
   Pay the 2.5% before the deed

   No validated payment, no signature from the notary.

2. 02
   Collect the file at closing

   Scan the notarized deed, the signed contract and the tax receipt.

3. 03
   Tell the bank the amount and date

   Ask what it needs before you send, so the day brings no surprises.

4. 04
   Move the money in one documented transfer

   One wire with the deed attached explains itself. Five without it don't.

5. 05
   Keep copies for your own tax office

   Your home country may tax the gain.

Source: ExpatDen, 2026; PP 34/2016; our own deal practice, 2023–2026

Money leaves most smoothly when it came in with a paper trail. Our guide to sending money to Indonesia covers the way in. Still choosing a villa? Browse the catalog and tell us your tax residency. We'll show what you keep after Indonesian tax and what's left to send home.

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