How much cash you can carry into Bali
How much cash can you bring into or out of Bali?
Any amount, but from Rp 100,000,000 or its equivalent in any currency you must declare it to customs. Failing to declare costs 10 percent of the whole sum, capped at Rp 300,000,000, and the fine is taken directly from the cash you are carrying.
In force since
Travel forums quote the hundred million rupiah figure with every possible distortion: as a ban, as a customs duty, as applying only to rupiah, as applying only on exit. The rule itself is three articles long, it lives in the anti money laundering law rather than in customs regulation, and it is stricter and simpler than the folklore.
The duty: declare from Rp 100,000,000
Pasal 34 ayat (1) of UU 8/2010:
Setiap orang yang membawa uang tunai dalam mata uang rupiah dan/atau mata uang asing, dan/atau instrumen pembayaran lain dalam bentuk cek, cek perjalanan, surat sanggup bayar, atau bilyet giro paling sedikit Rp100.000.000,00 atau yang nilainya setara dengan itu ke dalam atau ke luar daerah pabean Indonesia wajib memberitahukannya kepada Direktorat Jenderal Bea dan Cukai.
Four points, each of which contradicts something commonly repeated:
- Any currency counts. Rupiah, dollars, euros: the threshold is the
- equivalent value, not the currency.
- Paper counts as cash. Cheques, traveller's cheques, promissory notes
- and bilyet giro are inside the definition.
- Both directions. The duty applies entering and leaving Indonesia.
- It is a declaration, not a limit. Nothing in the article caps what
- you may carry. It caps what you may carry silently.
The price of silence
Pasal 35 ayat (1) sets the sanction for not declaring: an administrative fine of 10 percent of the entire amount carried, capped at Rp 300,000,000. Not 10 percent of the part above the threshold: of the whole sum.
Declaring falsely has its own clause. Carrying more than the declared figure costs 10 percent of the excess, same cap, under Pasal 35 ayat (2).
The fine leaves your bag, not your bank
The detail no summary carries is Pasal 35 ayat (3):
Sanksi administratif ... diambil langsung dari uang tunai yang dibawa dan disetorkan ke kas negara oleh Direktorat Jenderal Bea dan Cukai.
The fine is taken directly from the cash in front of you and paid into the state treasury by the customs officer. There is no invoice, no appeal window before payment, no settling it later by card.
Where this rule lives, and why it matters
This is not customs law. The declaration duty sits in the money laundering statute, customs merely collects it and reports each case to the financial intelligence unit, PPATK, within five working days. That is why the duty free thresholds in what you can bring into Bali say nothing about cash: the two regimes are separate laws with separate logic, and clearing one does not clear the other.
What we could not establish
- The practical declaration procedure at Ngurah Rai, and whether the
- electronic customs declaration satisfies Pasal 34 by itself. Pasal 36
- delegates the procedure to a government regulation we have not yet read
- at source.
- The separate Bank Indonesia regime restricting the physical carriage of
- foreign banknotes at or above the equivalent of Rp 1,000,000,000, which
- targets licensed money changers and banks. It deserves its own reading
- before we state what it means for a traveller.
Also asked
- Is it illegal to carry more than Rp 100,000,000?
- No. The law sets no ceiling on the amount. It sets a declaration duty: from Rp 100,000,000 or the equivalent in any currency, you must tell customs, in both directions, entering and leaving.
- Does the threshold count foreign currency and cheques?
- Yes. Pasal 34 covers rupiah, foreign currency, and payment instruments including cheques, traveller's cheques, promissory notes and bilyet giro, alone or combined, valued at the equivalent of Rp 100,000,000.
- What if I declare but carry more than I declared?
- A separate sanction covers exactly that case: 10 percent of the undeclared excess, with the same Rp 300,000,000 cap. Declaring a lower figure does not protect the difference.
- How is the fine collected?
- Directly from the cash you are carrying. Pasal 35 ayat 3 instructs customs to take the sanction from the money itself and pay it to the state treasury. It is not an invoice you settle later.
How we verified this
What changed
- First publication, from the statute itself. Announced in the customs allowances page and promised there