A. Legal Basis
The legal sources underlying these tax guidelines are as follows:
(i)	Law Number 6 of 1983 concerning General Provisions and Tax Procedures as amended several times, last amended by Law Number 6 of 2023 (KUP Law);
(ii)	Law Number 7 of 1983 concerning Income Tax as amended several times, last amended by Law Number 6 of 2023 (ITL);
(iii)	Government of the Republic of Indonesia Regulation Number 55 of 2022 concerning the Adjustment to the Regulation in the Field of Income Tax (Gov. Reg. 55/2022);
(iv)	Government of the Republic of Indonesia Regulation Number 50 of 2022 concerning Procedures for the Exercise of Tax Rights and Fulfilment of Tax Obligations (Gov. Reg. 50/2022)
(v)	Minister of Finance Regulation Number 168 of 2023 concerning Instructions for the Implementation of Withholding Tax on Income in Connection with Employment, Services and Activities of Individuals (MoF Reg. 168/2023);
(vi)	Director General of Taxes Regulation Number PER-17/PJ/2015 concerning Deemed Profit (DGT Reg. 17/2015);
(vii)	Director General Taxes of Regulation Number PER-16/PJ/2016 concerning Technical Guidelines for Procedures for the Withholding, Remittance and Filing of Article 21 Income Tax and/or Article 26 Income Tax in Respect of the Employment, Services and Activities of Individuals (DGT Reg. 16/2016); and
(viii)	Circular Letter of the Director General of Taxes Number SE-50/PJ/2020 concerning Instructions for the Implementation of the Submission of Notification of the Use of Deemed Profit (DGT Circular Letter 50/2020).

B. Definition and Duties
According to the Indonesian Standard Classification of Occupations (Klasifikasi Baku Jabatan Indonesia/KBJI in Indonesian), a translator is a professional who has the responsibility to interpret or translate texts from one source language to the target language, review the origin, development and structure of the language. In further detail, the duties of a translator include the following:
(i)	Translating from one language to another by ensuring that the exact meaning of the source language, specifically in legal, technical or scientific terms, is accurately translated as well as ensuring that expressions and terminology describing the purpose and style of the literary work are preserved;
(ii)	Conducting research on the relationship between ancient languages and various modern languages, identifying the origin and development of words, grammatical structures as well as forms of languages and presenting the findings;
(iii)	Providing recommendations or preparing frameworks for language classification, grammar, dictionaries and the like;
(iv)	Interpreting from a spoken language or sign language to another spoken language or sign language, specifically, in the context of conferences, meetings or similar events, with the utmost effort to ensure that their original meaning is correctly conveyed; and
(v)	Revising and improving the translated materials.
Several professions are also classified as translators, including:
(i)	Interpreters
	An interpreter or translator is an individual who is tasked with interpreting, specifically in the context of interpreting oral speech. His/her job involves translating language or sign language to allow for oral communication between individuals who use different languages, either simultaneously or consecutively.
(ii)	Lexicographers
	A lexicographer is a person who compiles a dictionary. In this profession, there are two disciplines, namely practical lexicographers and theoretical lexicographers.
(iii)	Philologists (Manuscripts)
	A philologist is an individual with expertise in the field of manuscripts who studies languages in written historical documents. A more general definition is that it is the study of literary manuscripts and historical records, the investigation of their authenticity and original forms as well as attempts to determine their meaning.
(iv)	Sign Language Interpreters
	A sign language interpreter is an individual who has the responsibility of assisting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in conveying oral information existing in various situations.
(v)	Subtitlers
	A subtitler is someone who is responsible for providing dialogues, narratives or information in the form of text in a movie and/or television show.
(vi)	Translators
	A translator is a person who translates from one language to another, either orally or in writing.
Based on the above description, in this article, we will focus on the work of translators in general performed by individuals.

C. Income Objects
Below is the income of the translator profession classified pursuant to the provisions under Article 4 paragraph (1) of the Income Tax Law (ITL):
i.	Income derived from employment, whether in an employment relationship or as a freelancer, may include honoraria, salaries and other ancillary benefits;
ii.	Income derived through capital ownership, such as capital gains or unused rights in business, interest, dividends, rent and royalties;
iii.	Income derived from business activities carried out by the translator concerned; and
iv.	Other irregular income, such as revenues from lotteries or prizes.
In the discussion of this article, we will review the general income of translators, namely income related to employment and independent personal services by translator service users.

D. Translator's Rights in the Scope of Taxes
A translator as a taxpayer has several rights that are protected by statutory tax provisions. Below are some of the rights of a translator as a taxpayer:
i.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to receive guidance from the tax authority related to tax administration;
ii.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to guaranteed confidentiality of data by the tax authority;
iii.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to be granted a deferral of tax payment;
iv.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to pay taxes in instalments;
v.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to obtain a time extension for the filing of the annual tax return (Surat Pemberitahuan/SPT in Indonesian);
vi.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to amend tax returns; and
vii.	A translator as a taxpayer has the right to file legal remedies for a tax dispute.

E. Translator's Obligations in the Scope of Taxes
Based on the GPTP Law, a translator has obligations as a taxpayer, including:
i.	A translator who has fulfilled subjective and objective requirements as a taxpayer is required to register at the nearest Tax Office to obtain a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN);
ii.	A translator as a taxpayer is required to maintain bookkeeping;
iii.	A translator as a taxpayer is required to notify the Director General of Taxes of the use of deemed profit (Norma Penghitungan Penghasilan Neto/NPPN in Indonesian) no later than three months from the beginning of the tax year;
iv.	A translator as a taxpayer is required to retain withholding tax receipts; and
v.	A translator as a taxpayer is required to fill in and file tax returns correctly.

F. Tax Treatment
A translator who is classified as an employee is a translator who works under a work agreement as an employee in a certain company or institution. In contrast, a translator classified as a non-employee is a translator who conducts independent personal services, provides professional services to the general public, companies or agencies without being bound by a contract as an employee.
A translator who conducts business or independent personal services is required to maintain bookkeeping. The bookkeeping obligation may be excluded for a translator who conducts business/independent personal services with a turnover of less than IDR4.8 billion in one tax year. This exclusion is followed by several provisions that must be fulfilled by the translator, including:
a.	A translator is required to notify the Director General of Taxes of the use of deemed profit no later than three months from the beginning of the tax year; and
b.	A translator is required to maintain recording.
F.1	Article 21 Income Tax Treatment of Income in Connection with Independent Personal Services
	A translator who receives income for his/her services and the payments are routine or non-routine will be subject to Article 21/26 Withholding Tax The following is the calculation of Article 21 Income Tax for a translator:
	F.1.1	Translators Who Use the Bookkeeping Method
		If a translator maintains bookkeeping, the tax base is net income that is obtained by:

		In the above calculation, operating expenses include all expenses incurred to derive, collect and maintain income.
	F.1.2	Translators Who Use Deemed Profit
		If the income derived by the translator from business activities or independent personal services is less than IDR4.8 billion, the translator is allowed to calculate net income by utilising deemed profit. Before utilising deemed profit, the translator needs to notify the Tax Office (Kantor Pelayanan Pajak/KPP in Indonesian) where the translator is registered related to the plan to use deemed profit to obtain net income. This notification is submitted no later than three months from the beginning of the tax year.
		Only if the notification of the use of deemed profit is followed up and approved, the translator may use deemed profit. On another note, the percentage of deemed profit for the translator profession pursuant to Appendix I of PER DGT 17/2015 with the business sector classification (Klasifikasi Lapangan Usaha/KLU in Indonesian) code 85493 is 30% for 10 provincial capitals in Indonesia, 27.5% for other provincial capitals and 25% for other regions. The following is the formula for calculating a translator’s net income:

		After obtaining net income, the next step is calculating taxable income (Penghasilan Kena Pajak/PKP in Indonesian), with the following calculation which is also complemented by the table of the amount of personal tax relief (Penghasilan Tidak Kena Pajak/PKP in Indonesian):


		Based on the above calculation, taxable income will be found, the last stage is to ascertain Article 21 Income Tax payable using the rates under Article 17 paragraph (1). The following is the calculation as well as the tax brackets pursuant to the HPP Law:


F.2	Article 21 Income Tax Treatment of Income as an Employee
	A translator who works under an employment agreement as an employee and derives income from the employer will be subject to Article 21 Withholding Tax by the employer. In addition to withholding tax, the employer is required to remit and file Article 21 Withholding Tax payable. As a taxpayer, the translator is also required to file taxes according to the withholding tax by the employer. The filing is conducted using the annual tax return and the deadline is 31 March in the following tax year. In summary, the following is the calculation to obtain net income, taxable income and Article 21 Income Tax payable to the translator of employee status from the employer:

	Additional notes pursuant to Article 10 of PER 16/2016:
	-	Occupational tax relief of 5% of gross income, charged a maximum of IDR500,000 per month or IDR6,000,000 in one tax year.
	-	Pension expenses of 5% of gross income, charged a maximum of IDR200,000 per month or IDR2,400,000 in one tax year.
	After obtaining net income, the next step is to calculate taxable income using the following calculation:

	If taxable income has been obtained, the last step is to calculate Article 21 Income Tax payable using the rates under Article 17 paragraph (1) of the ITL, as follows:

F.3	Article 26 Income Tax Treatment of Payment for Translation Services from Overseas
	Referring to Article 26 of the ITL, the payment for translation services by a non-resident taxpayer (Wajib Pajak Luar Negeri/WPLN in Indonesian) will be subject to Article 26 Withholding Tax by the service user who, in this case, is a resident taxpayer (Wajib Pajak Dalam Negeri/WPDN in Indonesian). The amount of rate used for translation services complies with Article 26 paragraph (1) of the ITL, i.e., 20% of the gross amount. In summary, the following is the calculation of Article 26 Income Tax for translation services conducted by a non-resident taxpayer:

	It is necessary to take into account the case where a non-resident taxpayer who provides translation services is a citizen of a tax treaty (Persetujuan Penghindaran Pajak Berganda/P3B in Indonesian) partner with Indonesia. The tax provisions will be adjusted to the tax treaty that has been agreed upon by Indonesia and the tax treaty partner.
G. Case Illustration
Rahman is a translator and is not bound by a work agreement as an employee with any agency. He resides in Malang and notifies the use of deemed profit to the Tax Office where Rahman is registered on 11 January 2021. In this case, Rahman is a taxpayer with the status (K/1). In 2022, from the translation services provided, he has a turnover of IDR600,000,000. As Rahman’s turnover is not more than IDR4.8 billion, Rahman may calculate net income using deemed profit. The deemed profit that applies in the Malang region (including other areas under DGT Reg. 17/2015) is 25%. The following is the calculation of Article 21 Income Tax payable:

Translators