By: Sutriso Kartomo

The rapid development of technology has led to many changes in various fields, including in various corporate industries. The company seems to have no choice, to join the carriage of change or be left behind and die. Technology also changes human behavior, including workers. Especially Generation Z, better known as the millennial generation.

Millennials are the generation born between 1985-1994. The hallmark of this generation is that they do not like competition, prefer to collaborate. This generation is very connected to gadgets, the internet and social media. In choosing their work, they prioritize comfort, time flexibility. This is also related to their penchant for traveling to cross-country. So it’s not surprising that freelancers/ freelancers are often their choice.

According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KKBI), freelancers are workers who are only needed from time to time depending on the availability of work. Reporting from sumup.co.uk a freelancer is a person who works for himself, where he provides services for several parties at the same time.

Furthermore, independent workers according to the tax regulations in Indonesia can be described as follows;

1. According to the Law on General Provisions and Tax Procedures (KUP) article 1 number 24 Free work is work carried out by individuals who have special skills as an effort to earn income that is not bound by an employment relationship
2. Article 2 paragraph 4 of Government Regulation Number 23 of 2018 explains what is meant by services in connection with independent work including:
   1. experts who do independent work, consisting of lawyers, accountants, architects, doctors, consultants, notaries, PPAT, appraisers, and actuaries;
   2. music players, presenters, singers, comedians, movie stars, soap opera stars, commercials, directors, film crews, photo models, model/models, playwrights, and dancers;
   3. sportsman;
   4. advisors, teachers, trainers, lecturers, extension workers, and moderators;
   5. authors, researchers, and translators;
   6. advertising agency;
   7. project supervisor or manager;
   8. intermediary;
   9. merchandise vendor;
   10. insurance agent;
   11. distributor of multi-level marketing companies or direct sales and other similar activities.
3. In addition, Article 3 of the Regulation of the Directorate General of Taxes No. 16 of 2016 describes more or less the same thing as the explanation of free work based on the Government Regulation above.

From the description above, it can be concluded that free workers are workers with the following criteria:

• people with special skills who work for and on their own behalf, do not represent an entity/institution/company
• the relationship with the employer is not as an employee but as a partner or expert/consultant
• generally there is flexibility in working hours/span>
• usually can provide services to more than one party at the same time

Consider the following example:

not free worker

• doctors who work in certain hospitals
• lawyers/legal experts who work for a particular lawyer’s office or company
• tax consultant, accountant or IT expert working for a particular company
• presenter/news/host who works for a certain television company

Free worker

• a doctor who opens his own practice
• lawyer/legal expert working on his/her own behalf
• presenter/news/host on his own youtube channel
• artists and artists

In terms of taxation, the income received by independent workers is the object of income tax (PPh) article 21 with a progressive rate of 5% to 30% according to Article 17 of the Income Tax Law No. 36 of 2008. As amended by the Law on the Harmonization of Tax Regulations No. 7 of 2021 which comes into effect January 1, 2022, there is an additional layer of tariff of 35% for income above IDR5,0000,000,000,-.

For free workers whose gross income does not exceed IDR4,800,000,000 in one year, the norm in calculating net income can be used. Net income is income that will be used as the basis for calculating income tax. This is as regulated in Article 14 number 2 of the Income Tax Law number 36 of 2008 “Individual taxpayers who carry out business activities or independent work whose gross turnover in 1 (one) year is less than IDR4,800,000,000, – (four billion eight hundred million rupiah) may calculate net income using the Net Income Calculation Norm as referred to in paragraph (1), provided that it notifies the Director General of Taxes within the first 3 (three) months of the tax year concerned”.

Don’t forget that at the end of the tax year, independent workers are also required to submit an annual Tax Return (SPT) no later than three months after the end of the tax year. For example, for the fiscal year 2021, the annual SPT must be reported no later than March 31, 2022. The deadline for submitting this annual SPT coincides with the deadline for notification of the use of norms for the above-mentioned freelancers.

An example of calculating PPh 21 for free workers and the discussion of the Norms for Calculation of Net Income will be discussed in a separate article. Hopefully it can be useful. Healthy greetings.