Money in Bali: why it has to be rupiah, and where to change it

We read the seven guides that led a search for this query and its dollar variant on 10 September 2026. Each was written by someone selling the solution. None cites a law, a Bank Indonesia regulation or the Bali list of licensed money changers, and none gives a penalty.

The law is short. Rupiah is the only lawful way to pay for anything in Indonesia, in cash or by card, and the penalty in the 2011 statute was rewritten on 2 January 2026. The practical part comes first, in the order you will need it.

Pay in rupiah, whatever the price tag says

Pasal 21 ayat (1) of UU 7/2011 on currency requires rupiah in every transaction whose purpose is payment on Indonesian territory. Bank Indonesia's implementing regulation, PBI 17/3/PBI/2015, applies that to cash and to non-cash payments alike (Pasal 2 and Pasal 3), the non-cash half since 1 July 2015 (PBI Pasal 23). A card payment taken in dollars is inside the rule as much as a banknote is.

The duty runs the other way too. Pasal 23 of the statute forbids anyone to refuse rupiah tendered as payment, with two exceptions: doubt that the notes are genuine, or payment in foreign currency agreed in writing. Pasal 10 ayat (3) of the PBI confines those written agreements to the transactions the law exempts, or to strategic infrastructure projects approved by Bank Indonesia. A villa booking agreed "in USD" is neither. passportandstamps.com tells its readers to "Bring $100-200 in USD as a backup for places that don't accept IDR". That place would itself be breaking Pasal 23.

Prices follow the same rule. Pasal 11 of the PBI requires businesses to show prices "hanya dalam Rupiah", only in rupiah. Bank Indonesia's circular SE BI 17/11/DKSP of 1 June 2015 also bans dual quotation, rupiah and a foreign currency side by side. Its section II.B names tourism service fees, vehicle rental, restaurant menus and receipts, and section II.C extends the ban to electronic media. A tour or a villa priced in dollars on its own website is inside the text.

Dollars keep one lawful use: being changed. Question 18 of Bank Indonesia's FAQ on the regulation states that money changing is not a transaction that must be made in rupiah. How much cash you can carry across the border is a different rule, on the cash declaration page.

Change money only where Bank Indonesia has licensed it

A non-bank money changer needs a Bank Indonesia licence (UU 4/2023 Pasal 50 ayat (2)) and must be a limited company, a Perseroan Terbatas (PBI 18/20/PBI/2016 Pasal 1 angka 5). A counter run by an individual cannot hold the licence.

Pasal 24 ayat (1) of the same regulation says what the counter must show. A licensed changer "wajib memasang", must put up:

1. the licensed money changer logo issued by Bank Indonesia;
2. the business licence certificate issued by Bank Indonesia;
3. the words "Penyelenggara Kegiatan Usaha Penukaran Valuta Asing Berizin"
4. ("Authorized Money Changer"), with the name of the company.

bali.com's money guide lists security cameras, LED rate boards and money counting machines as the marks of an authorised changer. None of those is in the regulation.

The list of licensed changers is moneychangerbali.com, a searchable list and map. It does not sit on bi.go.id, but its footer reads "Licensed Money Changers in Bali Province - Bank Indonesia", and ANTARA reported on 13 March 2026 that Bank Indonesia's Bali office provides it. Warta Bali reported the same office calling it integrated with the provincial Love Bali portal, whose "Authorized Money Changer in Bali" section shows images served from the site.

A licensed changer may not charge a separate fee

Penyelenggara KUPVA Bukan Bank dilarang mengenakan biaya kepada Nasabah.

Pasal 10 ayat (3) of PBI 18/20/PBI/2016: a licensed non-bank changer is prohibited from charging the customer a fee. Pasal 10 ayat (2) requires the rate to be shown to the customer transparently. The whole margin has to sit in the displayed rate, which makes a commission line on the receipt a breach in itself. The Love Bali portal warns about the reverse: a zero-fee claim can hide the cost inside the rate. Compare rates, not signs.

Unlicensed changing is the operator's offence

UU 4/2023 Pasal 288 ayat (1) punishes money changing without a Bank Indonesia licence, and the offence sits on the operator, not on the customer. As enacted in 2023 it carried 1 to 5 years in prison and a fine of Rp 50,000,000 to Rp 2,000,000,000. Since 2 January 2026 it carries prison of at most 5 years and/or a fine of at most category IV, Rp 200,000,000, with the minimums gone (UU 1/2026, Lampiran I). Bank Indonesia can also issue a written warning and recommend that the business be shut (PBI 18/20/PBI/2016 Pasal 38 ayat (3)).

ANTARA reported on 29 September 2025, citing Henry Nosih Saturwa, a division head at Bank Indonesia's Bali office, that the bank was working with the Bali regional police on 68 suspected illegal changers reported by the public. The reporting channel is BI-PATROL, at bit.ly/BI_Patrol.

Card and QRIS: no surcharge

Penyedia Barang dan/atau Jasa dilarang mengenakan biaya tambahan (surcharge) kepada Pengguna Jasa atas biaya yang dikenakan oleh PJP kepada Penyedia Barang dan/atau Jasa.

PBI 23/6/PBI/2021 Pasal 52 ayat (1) forbids a merchant to pass on to the customer, as a surcharge, the fee its payment service provider charges it. Ayat (2) makes the provider responsible for compliance. The rule reaches any payment processed by an Indonesian licensed provider, card acquiring and QRIS alike. It sets no fine on the merchant. The sanction runs through the provider: the elucidation of Pasal 51 ayat (2) names surcharging among the acts that justify ending the merchant relationship.

viceroybali.com says of the resorts, restaurants and shops that take cards: "But they may charge an additional 2-3% on card payments." bali.com says some smaller places, hotels, guesthouses and homestays "tack on a 3% surcharge". Both describe what Pasal 52 prohibits.

QRIS depends on where your app is from

Bank Indonesia's QRIS page states that "there are no additional fees for consumers when using QRIS". A visitor can scan a Bali QRIS code with a home app only if that country has a cross-border link with Indonesia and the app is one Bank Indonesia lists for it: for China, Alipay or UnionPay, with WeChat Pay "under development" according to ANTARA on 30 April 2026. The visitor pays in home currency and the merchant receives rupiah, up to Rp 10,000,000 per transaction. On 10 September 2026, Bank Indonesia's cross-border page listed six countries:

The launch months come from Bank Indonesia's release 28/68/DKom of 1 April 2026. The China date comes from ANTARA's report of 30 April 2026, not from a Bank Indonesia release, and ANTARA's report from Beijing the same day calls it a soft launch. The Bank Indonesia release counts 5,892,621 inbound cross-border QRIS transactions in 2025, against 1,681,112 outbound.

For Australia, Europe, the United States and India, Bank Indonesia publishes no route. The head of its Bali office told ANTARA on 8 August 2026 that trials were under way with India and Saudi Arabia. We found no launch release for either. bali.com's line "As a tourist, usually one does not have access to those payment gateways" has been wrong for Thai visitors since August 2022. For most Western visitors it still holds, and bali.com does not make the distinction.

The law: one obligation, a short list of exceptions

Rupiah wajib digunakan dalam: a. setiap transaksi yang mempunyai tujuan pembayaran; b. penyelesaian kewajiban lainnya yang harus dipenuhi dengan uang; dan/atau c. transaksi keuangan lainnya yang dilakukan di Wilayah Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.

UU 7/2011 Pasal 21 ayat (1): rupiah must be used in every transaction whose purpose is payment, in settling other obligations that must be met with money, and in other financial transactions carried out on Indonesian territory.

Ayat (2) lists five exceptions: certain state budget transactions, grants from or to abroad, international trade transactions, foreign currency bank deposits, international financing. PBI 17/3/PBI/2015 Pasal 5 adds foreign-currency transactions that other statutes allow, such as a bank's foreign-currency business and government securities issued in foreign currency. A tourist paying a hotel, a driver or a shop is on none of them. Nor is a stay in Bali "international trade": PBI 17/3/PBI/2015 Pasal 8 ayat (1) huruf b limits international trade in services to cross border supply and consumption abroad, meaning a service consumed outside Indonesia.

The text binds the payer as well as the seller. Pasal 33 opens with "Setiap orang", every person, and the elucidation of PBI 17/3/PBI/2015 Pasal 2 ayat (1) defines a party as "orang perseorangan atau korporasi", an individual or a corporation.

Three regimes, not one

None of the seven guides gives a penalty. PBI 17/3/PBI/2015 separates three:

The 1% is a rate with a ceiling, not a ceiling alone. The criminal offence is a pelanggaran, a minor offence, not a kejahatan (UU 7/2011 Pasal 41 ayat (1)).

The 2011 penalty was rewritten

Setiap orang yang tidak menggunakan Rupiah dalam: a. setiap transaksi yang mempunyai tujuan pembayaran; ... dipidana dengan pidana kurungan paling lama 1 (satu) tahun dan pidana denda paling banyak Rp200.000.000,00 (dua ratus juta rupiah).

That is Pasal 33 ayat (1) as enacted in 2011: detention of at most one year and a fine of at most Rp 200,000,000. Ayat (2) set the same for refusing rupiah.

UU 1/2026, which adjusts criminal penalties across Indonesian statutes, was signed and promulgated on 2 January 2026 and took effect that day (Pasal IX). Its Pasal II ayat (3) reads:

Ketentuan pidana dalam Undang-Undang selain Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2023 ... yang memuat ancaman pidana kurungan dan pidana denda secara bersamaan diubah dengan ketentuan: a. pidana kurungan dihapuskan; dan b. pidana denda diubah berdasarkan ketentuan sebagaimana dimaksud pada ayat (2).

Where a statute other than the new criminal code threatened detention and a fine together, the detention is abolished and the fine converted. Lampiran I, in the row for UU 7/2011, gives both Pasal 33 ayat (1) and ayat (2) the same new penalty: "dipidana dengan pidana denda paling banyak kategori III". The criminal code, UU 1/2023 Pasal 79 ayat (1) huruf c, sets category III at Rp 50,000,000.

Since 2 January 2026, then, not using rupiah for a cash payment, or refusing it, carries a fine of at most Rp 50,000,000; detention is no longer a penalty. Paling banyak means at most. It is a ceiling for a court, not a tariff.

The same row stops at Pasal 38 ayat (2), on page -65- of the signed text. Pasal 39 (a one-third increase for corporations) and Pasal 40 (substitute detention for an unpaid fine) are not listed, and Pasal VIII sends any provision missing from Lampiran I to the general rules of Pasal I to III. This page does not work those rules through.

The consolidated text of UU 7/2011 that Bank Indonesia published in March 2023 still prints one year and Rp 200,000,000; it predates UU 1/2026. The bank's 2015 FAQ on PBI 17/3/PBI/2015 prints no figure at all: its question 22 only refers cash breaches to Pasal 33. An official document can be overtaken by a later law it never mentions.

What we could not establish

• A single enforcement of Pasal 33 against a tourist. The text reaches the
• payer; no case, Bank Indonesia statement or police notice against a visitor
• has been found.
• What Governor Wayan Koster announced on 3 May 2026 about tighter supervision
• of money changers. The Bisnis Bali report blocks both our fetcher and a
• browser, and we have not read it. Whether a Pergub, an Instruksi Gubernur or
• a Surat Edaran sits behind it is unknown; nothing on baliprov.go.id says.
• How many licensed changers Bali has. ANTARA, in September 2025, gave 137
• head offices and 413 branches for the first quarter of 2025. Bank
• Indonesia's Bali office gave Warta Bali and ANTARA, in March 2026, a network
• of 601 licensed offices on 2025 data. moneychangerbali.com says "150+". The
• unit being counted is not stated consistently, and the three do not
• reconcile.
• Any route for QRIS from an Australian, European, American or Indian app.
• Bank Indonesia publishes none, and no "tourist QRIS" product on its site.
• Pages describing an Indonesian e-wallet opened with a foreign card rely on
• operators' own terms, which no official source sets out.
• ATM withdrawal fees on foreign cards. No official schedule exists; the fees
• are set by the card issuer and the machine's operator. The $2 to $5 and "up
• to 10%" figures are widely repeated online, unsourced.
• How widely cards are accepted in Bali. No official statistic is published.