Since 1 July 2026, an Indonesian bank will sell you no more than USD 10,000 of foreign currency against rupiah in a month unless you can show what the money is for, and it will not send more than USD 25,000 abroad in foreign currency without supporting documents. At the start of the year both lines stood at USD 100,000. Bank Indonesia moved them four times between April and July, each time citing the rupiah, and the last two changes landed in the same fortnight. For a PT PMA that pays suppliers abroad or sends a dividend to its shareholders, and for anyone living here on a KITAS who moves savings home, the practical question is no longer whether the transfer is allowed. It is which paper the bank will ask for, and whether you have it before you walk in.
What changed, in one table
Two separate Bank Indonesia rules moved. One governs buying foreign currency with rupiah, the other governs sending foreign currency out of the country. They were tightened on the same days and are usually reported as one rule, but they apply to different moments in a transaction and the bank checks them separately.
| In force from | Buying foreign currency against rupiah without an underlying, per party per month | Outward transfer in foreign currency needing supporting documents | Regulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before April 2026 | USD 100,000 | Above USD 100,000 | PADG 11/2024 and PADG 21/28/2019 |
| 1 April 2026 | USD 50,000 | Above USD 50,000 | PADG 7/2026 and PADG 8/2026 |
| 2 June 2026 | USD 25,000 | Above USD 50,000 | PADG 11/2026 |
| 1 July 2026 | USD 10,000 | Above USD 25,000 | PADG 15/2026 and PADG 13/2026 |
The amounts are per party per month for purchases and per transfer for outward remittances, and each is measured in dollars or the equivalent in another currency. The deputy governor’s explanation in April was that transactions should rest on a real need rather than on a view about where the rupiah is going, and the two later cuts were announced in the same terms.
“Cash” means spot, not banknotes
The purchase limit is described in the regulation as applying to “transaksi tunai”, which most English coverage has translated as cash. In Bank Indonesia’s vocabulary a tunai transaction is one that settles within two days: today, tomorrow or spot. It is the ordinary act of converting the rupiah in your company account into dollars in your company account. Banknotes over the counter are inside it, but so is every conversion done through internet banking. Anyone reading the headline as a limit on airport money-changers has read it too narrowly.
The regulation also says what does not count as an underlying. Placing funds on deposit, an undrawn credit facility, crypto assets, and foreign-currency securities issued by Bank Indonesia or by the government inside Indonesia are all excluded. Wanting to hold dollars is not an underlying either. The bank needs a transaction the currency is for.
What the bank will accept
The list of acceptable supporting documents for outward transfers is set out in the 2019 monitoring regulation and did not change in July. Only the amount at which the bank must see them changed. For the transfers a foreign-owned company and its people actually make, the documents look like this.
| Transfer | Which line it crosses | What to have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Paying a supplier or contractor abroad | Purchase above USD 10,000 in the month, transfer above USD 25,000 | The invoice or the contract, in the name of the company making the payment |
| Dividend to a foreign shareholder | Both, in almost every case | The shareholders’ resolution approving the dividend, the financial statements it is paid from, and the withholding tax evidence |
| Repaying a loan from a shareholder or parent company | Both | The loan agreement, and the offshore loan reporting to Bank Indonesia that should already exist for that loan |
| Royalty or service fee to a related company abroad | Both | The agreement, the invoice, and the withholding tax evidence |
| A foreign director’s or employee’s salary sent home | Transfer above USD 25,000, purchase above USD 10,000 in the month | The employment contract and the payslip |
| A KITAS holder moving personal savings abroad | Transfer above USD 25,000, purchase above USD 10,000 in the month | Evidence of where the money came from: salary records, a sale deed, a dividend statement |
| Capital coming in to fund a PT PMA | Neither. The rules cover purchases and outward transfers | Nothing for the transfer, but keep the deed and the capital deposit record, because they become the underlying when that capital is later returned |
Two things follow from that table. The first is that the underlying has to be in the right name. A supplier invoice addressed to a director personally does not support a payment from the company, and a company document does not support a transfer from a personal account. The second is that a dividend or a royalty needs paperwork that exists only if the company’s compliance is current: a shareholders’ resolution needs the accounts it approves, and the withholding tax evidence needs a filing. A company that is behind on its accounts will find that the bank’s request in July is really a request for last year’s bookkeeping.
The July transition, and a deadline in October
Transfers between USD 25,000 and USD 50,000 made between 1 and 31 July 2026 were allowed through on a customer’s written statement, with the full documents to be delivered to the bank by 31 October 2026. If your company made a transfer in that band in July, that follow-up is still open. Everything since 1 August has needed the documents at the time of the transfer.
What did not change
Nothing in these rules limits how much money can leave Indonesia, and nothing in them requires approval from Bank Indonesia for a transfer. They set the amount at which your bank must be able to show a regulator what a transaction was for. The bank has always recorded a purpose on every outward transfer for its own reporting. What is new is the amount at which a stated purpose is no longer enough and a document has to sit behind it. Transfers in rupiah, and money coming into the country, are outside the two thresholds discussed here.
Questions we are being asked
Is there now a limit on how much money I can send out of Indonesia?
No. The thresholds are the points at which the bank must hold documents. A transfer of any size goes through with the right paper behind it.
Does the USD 10,000 cap apply to buying dollars inside my bank account, or only to cash?
Both. In Bank Indonesia’s vocabulary “tunai” means a spot transaction, which includes converting rupiah to dollars through internet banking.
What counts as an underlying document?
An invoice or contract in the name of the account holder, a loan agreement, a shareholders’ resolution with the accounts behind it, an employment contract, a sale deed. A deposit placement, an undrawn credit line or a crypto holding does not.
I sent USD 30,000 abroad in July on a written statement. What do I owe the bank?
The full supporting documents, by 31 October 2026. That was the transition for transfers between USD 25,000 and USD 50,000 made in July.
Do these rules touch rupiah transfers, or money coming into Indonesia?
No. They apply to buying foreign currency against rupiah and to sending foreign currency out.
What to do
For a company, the useful step is to look at the next six months of outward payments and match each one to a document before it is needed. A supplier contract signed in the company’s name, a shareholders’ resolution that references the accounts, a loan agreement that was reported when the loan came in. Where the payment can be timed, keep monthly currency purchases under the USD 10,000 line when there is no invoice to show yet, and buy against the invoice when there is. Where a dividend is planned, close the accounts and file the withholding before the transfer date rather than after the bank asks.
For an individual on a KITAS, the same logic applies to the account in your own name. If you expect to send more than USD 25,000 home in one go, the bank will want to see where it came from, and salary credits into the same account are the easiest evidence there is.
If you would like us to look at a planned transfer, send us the three facts the bank will ask about: who is paying, who is receiving, and what for. We will tell you which line it crosses and which document satisfies it. Keeping a PT PMA’s accounts, filings and shareholder paperwork current is what we do under ongoing compliance, and since July it is also what gets a transfer through the bank.
Correct at the date of publication. Thresholds are those in force under the Bank Indonesia regulations named above, and a bank may apply its own stricter checks. Ask us about a specific transfer, or know more about tax and accounting.