Taxand Indonesia mentioned in a post that Indonesia has introduced a new VAT biased electronic invoicing system. This new system will be implemented in 3 stages. For the first phase, the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has identified 45 companies which will be required to issue electronic VAT invoices. These are mostly foreign investment companies, state-owned enterprises and publicly-listed companies.

The Indonesian Tax Office surely have learned from the Latin American successes and has introduced the use of electronic VAT invoices (e-VAT invoice) under DGT Regulation No. 16/PJ/2014 dated 20 June 2014, with the following key points:

• The e-VAT invoice must be issued through the electronic application system determined or provided by the DGTThe e-VAT invoice must use an electronic signature
• The e-VAT invoice must use the Indonesia rupiah (IDR) as currency. If the transaction is denominated in a foreign currency, it has to be converted into IDR
• The hard copy version of the VAT invoice can be accepted only in a force majeure situation
• The use of the e-VAT invoice must be reported to and previously approved by the DGT

Moreover, DGT Decision Letter No. 136/PJ/2014 provides that the use of e-VAT invoice will be implemented in 3 stages:

• Starting 1 July 2014 – it will be mandatory for the selected 45 corporate taxpayers to issue the e-VAT invoice
• Starting 1 July 2015 – it will be mandatory for all corporate taxpayers registered in the 17 regional tax offices in the islands of Java and Bali
• Starting 1 July 2016 – it will be mandatory for all corporate taxpayers to implement the e-VAT invoice

From looking at it, South-East Asia is following to trail that Latin America created on VAT based mandatory electronic invoicing.