Signing a villa contract from abroad: e-meterai and e-signatures

A management agreement is usually signed by an owner in Sydney, Singapore or London and a company in Bali. Indonesian law has rules for exactly that — for the signature, and for the small tax on the document — and both have gone electronic.

Eight words for signing at a distance

The electronic version of a signed and stamped contract has its own vocabulary.

The electronic stamp

UU No. 10 Tahun 2020 was written for electronic documents from the start. It defines a document as something written in handwriting, print or electronic form that can serve as evidence, and its definition of signature includes an electronic signature (Pasal 1).

How it is paid

Stamp duty is paid with a stamp or a tax payment slip; the stamp can be paper, electronic or another form (Pasal 12). PMK No. 134/PMK.03/2021, in force since 1 October 2021, says an electronic stamp is affixed through the Electronic Stamp System, following the system's own instructions (Pasal 6).

What a genuine one carries

A unique code — 22 digits of serial number generated by the system — together with the Garuda emblem, the words METERAI ELEKTRONIK, and the rate (Pasal 7). An image of a stamp pasted into a PDF does not carry a system-generated code.

The amount

The same flat IDR 10,000 as a paper stamp (UU No. 10 Tahun 2020, Pasal 5). Which villa documents owe it.

When a contract signed overseas owes it

A document made outside Indonesia owes stamp duty when it is used in Indonesia (Pasal 8 ayat (1) huruf e), and the party that owes it is the one that benefits from the document (Pasal 9 ayat (5)). The parties can agree otherwise (ayat (6)).

So an owner who signs in their home country and never produces the contract in Indonesia may never trigger it; an owner who needs to rely on it in Bali — with a bank, an office, or a court — does.

A worked timeline

An owner signs a management agreement electronically at home in 2026. Nothing is owed while the document stays outside Indonesia. In 2028 the owner needs to rely on it at a bank in Bali: the duty falls due then, on the owner as the party that benefits, at the flat rate. If it goes unpaid, the five-year expiry in Pasal 23 runs from that date, not from 2026 — and if the agreement ends up in court, it goes through later stamping, with the 100% sanction, before it can be used.

When an electronic signature counts

PP No. 71 Tahun 2019 sets the test. An electronic signature has legal force and legal effect if (Pasal 59 ayat (3)):

1. the signature-creation data is linked only to the signer;
2. it was under the signer's sole control at the time of signing;
3. any change to the signature after signing can be detected;
4. any change to the signed information after signing can be detected;
5. there is a way to identify who the signer is; and
6. there is a way to show that the signer consented to the signed information.

Certified and uncertified

Pasal 60 divides electronic signatures in two. A certified signature meets the six conditions, uses an electronic certificate from an Indonesian certification provider, and is made with a certified signing device. An uncertified one is made without an Indonesian provider. The regulation does not make the uncertified kind invalid; it makes the certified kind easier to prove.

A company's signature

When an electronic signature represents a business entity, the regulation calls it an electronic seal (Pasal 59 ayat (2)) — which is how a management company signs its side electronically.

What to ask before signing at a distance

• Which signing platform, and is the signature certified by an Indonesian provider?
• Who affixes the e-meterai, on whose copy, and who pays for it?
• Which language version governs. A contract with an Indonesian company raises the language question; the notary page covers what the Notary Act says about deeds.

What this page does not cover

• Remote notarisation. A notarial deed is read and signed before the notary under the Notary Act; whether and how that can be done at a distance is for the notary.
• Individual signing platforms. We name none and rank none.
• Signature rules in the owner's own country. Not Indonesian law.

Common questions