Do you pay acquisition tax when you buy someone else's Bali lease
BPHTB attaches to a closed list of land rights. A rental right is not on that list, which decides the answer for most leasehold transfers on this island.
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BPHTB taxes the acquisition of a right over land. Law 1 of 2022 lists those rights, and the list is closed: a rental right is not on it. The rate is capped at five per cent, the regency sets it, and the statute puts the charge on the buyer.
Sources accessed 08/09/2026
Someone is selling you the remainder of their lease on a villa. A broker mentions BPHTB, the acquisition duty, and a percentage. Before the percentage, the question is whether the tax attaches to this transaction at all.
Article 44(1) of Law 1 of 2022 makes the object of BPHTB the acquisition of a right over land and/or a building.1Direktorat Jenderal Perimbangan Keuangan, Kementerian Keuangan, Last reviewed The next paragraph decides the case. Article 44(3) then lists which rights those are, and the list is closed: hak milik, hak guna usaha, hak guna bangunan, hak pakai, hak milik atas satuan rumah susun and hak pengelolaan. A rental right — hak sewa — does not appear in it.1Direktorat Jenderal Perimbangan Keuangan, Kementerian Keuangan, Last reviewed
Most Bali leasehold deals sold to foreigners are structured as hak sewa, a contractual rental right, not as one of the registered rights on that list. Where that is genuinely what is being transferred, the object of the tax is absent, and a rate discussion is beside the point.
Two cautions, and they matter more than the rule.
The first is that what a deal is called and what it is are different questions. A transaction packaged as a lease transfer may in substance convey hak pakai, and the paperwork at the land office is what decides. If a deed of grant of hak pakai is being signed, you are inside the list.
The second is the rate. Article 47 caps BPHTB at 5 per cent and leaves the actual rate to a regional regulation.1Direktorat Jenderal Perimbangan Keuangan, Kementerian Keuangan, Last reviewed The regency sets it, so the answer for Badung is not automatically the answer for Gianyar, and we have not read every regency’s current regulation.
One fact worth carrying into the negotiation regardless: the taxpayer under Article 45(2) is the person acquiring the right, not the person giving it up.1Direktorat Jenderal Perimbangan Keuangan, Kementerian Keuangan, Last reviewed When a seller offers to “cover the BPHTB”, they are offering to pay a liability that the statute places on you — which is a price concession, not a favour, and it belongs in the price discussion.
We read the statute in the copy published by the finance ministry’s directorate for fiscal balance, as that file stood on 8 September 2026.
Sources
- Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2022 tentang Hubungan Keuangan antara Pemerintah Pusat dan Pemerintahan Daerah — Direktorat Jenderal Perimbangan Keuangan, Kementerian Keuangan A · primary source · accessed
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