DGT Affirms Fiction Books To Comics Stay Free Of VAT

Director of Counseling and Public Relations of DGT Dwi Astuti. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

The Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) of the Ministry of Finance emphasized that books with the category of fiction books to comic books are still given the exemption of Value Added Tax (VAT) as long as they are not categorized as books that violate the law.

In Regulation of the Minister of Finance (PMK) Number 5 of 2020 Article 3 Paragraph (2), the books released by VAT are books that do not conflict with Pancasila values; are not discriminatory based on ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup (SARA); do not contain pornographic elements; do not contain elements of violence; and do not contain hate speech.

"So that if the fiction or comic book meets the requirements above, it can be categorized as a general book containing elements of education," said Director of Counseling on Services and Public Relations of Dwi Astuti, quoted by Antara, Monday, December 30.

Dwi Astuti explained that the determination if the book violates the law can only be determined through a court decision.

"So that if the requirements that have not been met have no court decision, they will still get VAT exemption facilities," he explained.

However, if the court's decision states that the book is a book that violates the law, the publisher or importer of the book must pay VAT according to the provisions, which is 11 percent for 2024, and increase to 12 percent by 2025.

In order for information regarding the exemption of VAT for books to be understood by industry players, Dwi Astuti said that his party had carried out socialization through the tax.go.id website and DGT social media.

As for in detail, in Article 1 PMK 5/2020, books are defined as written works and/or drawing works published in the form of bundle prints or in the form of electronic publications that are published regularly.

Meanwhile, Article 2 details imports and/or submissions of books exempted from the imposition of VAT covering general textbooks, holy books, and religious textbooks.

One of the definitions of general textbooks in the regulation refers to Law Number 3 of 2017, with education books being books used in general education, vocational education, academic education, professional education, vocational education, religious education and special education.

Another definition of general textbooks is general books that contain elements of education.

PMK 5/2020 explained that general books containing elements of education that are entitled to receive VAT exemption facilities are books that do not conflict with Pancasila; discriminatory based on ethnicity, religion, race, and/or intergroup (SARA); and contain pornography, violence, and hate speech.

Previously, in PMK 122/2013, books such as entertainment books, music, popular romance, magic, advertisements, promotion of a business, catalogs outside educational needs, caricatures, horoscopes, horrors, comics, and painting reproduction were not included in general textbooks. However, this rule has been lifted after the issuance of PMK 5/2020.