Buying Property in Bali as an Australian: Ownership, Money, Tax at Home and What It Costs in AUD

How an Australian can hold Bali property

Article 21 of the Basic Agrarian Law (Law 5/1960) reserves freehold, Hak Milik, for Indonesian citizens. An Australian has three lawful routes, the same as any foreigner.

What villas ask in Australian dollars

Converted at Bank Indonesia’s 7 October 2026 midpoint of IDR 12,496 per Australian dollar, from the medians of completed leasehold villas listed by Baliestate’s partner agencies on 6 October 2026. The rupiah figure is the real one; the AUD moves with the exchange rate until the day you pay.

Moving the money

Bank Indonesia Regulation 17/3/PBI/2015 requires transactions in Indonesia to be settled in rupiah, so agree the rupiah price in the contract and convert before completion. Compare the rupiah that lands, not the headline fee: banks are commonly reported to add 2–5% to the exchange rate. The buyer’s acquisition duty, BPHTB, is up to 5% on a registered transfer and is paid before the notary signs; a leasehold deed costs the notary’s fee, capped at 1% under PP 24/2016.

Letting it out

Letting property is a business, and foreign investment has to take the form of a PT PMA, so an Australian lets a Bali villa through one, whether to a yearly tenant or nightly guests. Since BKPM Regulation 5/2025 the paid-up capital is IDR 2.5 billion per business line, with an investment plan above IDR 10 billion excluding land and buildings. Nightly letting also needs an NIB with KBLI 55193, a PBG and an SLF.

Count the costs before the yield. Industry sources put net cash 40–60% below a quoted gross yield, and AirDNA measured 57% occupancy across Bali’s short-term rentals in the 12 months to September 2026.

Tax at home

The Australian Taxation Office’s rule is that Australian residents for tax purposes declare income from anywhere in the world, including foreign rental income and capital gains on overseas assets, and may claim a foreign income tax offset for tax paid abroad on the same income. Australia and Indonesia signed a double tax agreement on 22 April 1992, in force since that year and modified by the OECD multilateral instrument from 2019.

How that applies to a villa held through a PT PMA, a leasehold in your own name or a company’s dividends depends on the structure, so take advice from an Australian tax adviser and an Indonesian one before you choose it.

Visas, and living there part of the year

Owning a leasehold gives no right to stay. Hak Pakai needs a KITAS or KITAP, and the visa guides compare the Second Home visa, the retirement visas and the E33G remote-worker visa. Australians were the largest group of Bali’s 6,948,754 direct foreign arrivals in 2025, at about 1.63 million (BPS Bali), and Baliestate can show its listings’ prices in Australian dollars as well as rupiah.

Common questions

Sources and further reading

• ATO: Australian residents’ foreign and worldwide income
• DFAT treaty database: Australia–Indonesia double tax agreement, 1992
• Law 5/1960, the Basic Agrarian Law (JDIH BPK)
• PP 24/2016 on the PPAT’s fee (JDIH BPK)
• BPS Bali: 2025 foreign arrivals
• Leasehold villas for sale in Bali
• What buying costs: duty, notary and VAT

Related guides

• Leasehold vs Freehold in Bali and Indonesia (2026): Who Can Own
• Bali Villa Rents and Prices in US Dollars, Pounds, Euros and Australian Dollars
• How to Transfer Money to Bali to Buy Property
• PT PMA: when you need one, and when you do not
• Rental income tax in Bali: what actually applies
• Indonesia’s Second Home Visa: Requirements, Cost and What You Get
• Moving to Bali from Australia: Rent in AUD, Visas and Tax at Home
• Buying Property in Bali as a UK Citizen: Ownership, GBP, UK Tax

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