Cost of Living in Bali for Digital Nomads

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Indonesian visa lets you stay in Bali for a year, and what does each one forbid?

Two routes give someone who earns from abroad a legal year in Bali without an Indonesian employer: the index E33G remote worker visa and the index E33 second home visa. Everything else on the list is a visit permit with a hard stop.

The Directorate General of Immigration lists E33G under the name second home visa for a remote worker and describes its purpose in one line, as living in Indonesia to carry out duties for an overseas company, with repeated entry and exit for as long as the re-entry permit holds. Its published requirements are an employment contract with a company established outside Indonesia, a bank account evidencing salary or income of at least USD 60,000 a year, and three months of bank statements showing a minimum of USD 2,000 for living costs, plus a passport valid at least six months, a photograph, a CV and an itinerary. No Indonesian sponsor or guarantor is required, which is the biggest practical difference from a work permit, and the stay permit runs one year with renewal handled online through the official eVisa portal.

Immigration publishes the state charges as separate non-tax revenue items rather than one price: Rp 500,000 for the limited stay visa, Rp 2,000,000 for category II visa verification, Rp 3,000,000 for a limited stay permit of up to one year, and Rp 1,500,000 for a re-entry permit of up to one year. That is Rp 7,000,000 in state charges before any agent adds a service fee. The stated processing time is five working days after payment, and an issued visa lapses if it is not used to enter Indonesia within 90 days of issue.

The E33 second home visa is a different proposition entirely. Immigration describes it as being for a foreigner who wants to live and settle in Indonesia without needing a guarantor, whether an individual or a company. It carries a first stay permit of up to five years, extendable but capped at ten years in total, and it asks for a commitment to hold USD 130,000 or the equivalent at a state-owned bank, or to buy a strata-title flat or apartment in Indonesia worth at least USD 1,000,000 or the equivalent. Note the wording: the property option is a flat, not a villa or a house on its own land. The initial application also asks for three months of statements showing a minimum of USD 2,000, the same living-cost test as E33G, which is separate from the guarantee. Published charges for the five-year package total Rp 13,000,000, made up of Rp 500,000 visa, Rp 2,000,000 verification, Rp 7,000,000 for the five-year stay permit and Rp 3,500,000 for the five-year re-entry permit.

What these permissions forbid matters more than what they cost, and the wording differs by index, so read your own. For both E33G and E33 the published restriction is that the holder must not stay beyond the stay permit, must not do work that does not match the stay permit, and must not sell goods or services except where that is required in their work. That last clause is an exception, not a loophole: it attaches to the work the permit was granted for, which for E33G is work for an overseas company. Rules and charges confirmed on imigrasi.go.id as of 5 September 2026; re-check before you apply, because the visa index codes were restructured and secondhand summaries go stale fast.

When does living in Bali make you an Indonesian tax resident?

You become an Indonesian resident taxpayer once you are present in Indonesia for more than 183 days in any 12-month period, and those days do not have to be consecutive.

The Directorate General of Taxes sets out the mechanics in PER-23/PJ/2025 of 9 December 2025, on determining resident and non-resident tax subjects. Article 4(2) measures presence across a rolling twelve months, continuous or broken, and counts any part of a day as one whole day. A landing after midnight and a breakfast-time departure are two days, not none. If you are managing the count on a calendar of border stamps, count the way the regulation counts rather than the way a booking confirmation reads.

Days are not the only trigger. Article 3 gives three alternative routes to resident status for an individual: residing in Indonesia; being present more than 183 days in twelve months; or being present in a tax year and holding the intention to reside in Indonesia. The regulation then treats a VITAS or an ITAS valid for more than 183 days as evidence of that intention, alongside a contract to carry out work, business or activity in Indonesia for more than 183 days and an agreement to rent somewhere to live for more than 183 days. So a one-year stay permit is evidence, and so is a twelve-month villa lease, which is the document almost every long-stayer signs first. Article 4(1) fills in what residing means: occupying premises in Indonesia that are available to you and not merely temporary, having your main centre of activities in Indonesia, or carrying on your daily habits there. Read that before assuming a day count is your only exposure.

The consequence is a change of base, not just a change of rate. The tax authority describes Indonesia as applying the domicile principle to resident taxpayers, taxing all income including income from abroad, while a non-resident taxpayer is charged only on income obtained in Indonesia.

If the test catches you, the rates are published rather than negotiable. The Directorate General of Taxes sets the progressive scale for an individual at 5 per cent on taxable income up to Rp 60 million, 15 per cent above Rp 60 million to Rp 250 million, 25 per cent above Rp 250 million to Rp 500 million, 30 per cent above Rp 500 million to Rp 5 billion, and 35 per cent above Rp 5 billion. Taxable income is what is left after the personal allowance, which the same source gives as Rp 54 million for the taxpayer plus additions for a spouse and for up to three dependants at Rp 4.5 million each. Those bands are in rupiah, so a foreign salary climbs the scale as the rupiah weakens even when the salary itself has not moved.

Notice the trap. The E33G bars you from work that does not match the permit, but nothing in that bar exempts you from the residency test, so you can hold a visa built around foreign earnings and still become an Indonesian tax resident. Whether Indonesia then taxes your foreign salary turns on your home country's double tax agreement with Indonesia and its tie-breaker for a person resident in both. Take that to a tax adviser who can read both texts, and check the current wording at pajak.go.id. Position as of 5 September 2026.

What a Bali electricity and water bill is actually made of

Both are set by published tariff schedules and by the band your meter sits in, not by your landlord, and in Badung the same electricity rating decides your water price too.

Household electricity for non-subsidised customers is reviewed every three months under Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 7 of 2024 on electricity tariffs supplied by PLN, using four parameters: the rupiah exchange rate, the Indonesian Crude Price, inflation and the coal reference price. On 30 June 2026 the ministry announced that tariffs for the 13 non-subsidised customer groups would not rise for the third quarter of 2026, covering July to September, and that the 24 subsidised groups were unchanged. It published the parameters it used for the February to April 2026 reference window: an exchange rate of Rp 16,959.32 to the dollar, an Indonesian Crude Price of USD 96.12 a barrel, inflation of 0.21 per cent and a coal reference price of USD 70 a tonne, and said these should have produced an increase which the government chose not to pass on. Because the review is quarterly, treat any rupiah-per-kWh figure you are quoted as valid only until the next one, and read the current figure on PLN's own tariff page.

The band is where a villa differs from a room. In the adjustment announced on 13 June 2022, group R-2 (3,500 to 5,500 VA) and group R-3 (6,600 VA and above) moved from Rp 1,444.70 to Rp 1,699.53 per kWh for the July to September quarter, while households below 3,500 VA, business and industry were left where they were. A house with air conditioning in several rooms, a pool pump and an electric water heater is frequently wired at 3,500 VA or more, which is the band that pays the unsubsidised rate.

Water is set regency by regency, and Badung publishes its own decree. Keputusan Bupati Badung Number 1058/01/HK/2025 of 31 December 2025 set the 2026 tariff for the regency water utility with effect from 1 January 2026, under the interior ministry's rules on calculating and setting drinking water tariffs. Household classes are defined by the electricity connection: class I is 450 or 900 VA, class II 1,300 VA, class III 2,200 VA and class IV above 2,200 VA. The tariff then rises in consumption blocks, and a fixed subscription charge of Rp 13,000 a month is added on top.

Three mechanics catch long-stayers out. The block structure means the marginal cost of a pool or a garden sits far above the headline rate, because water past 20 cubic metres a month is charged at the top block, and in the highest household class that block is roughly double the first one. The customer group matters as much as the block. The same decree puts an accommodation business with fewer than ten rooms in business class Usaha I at Rp 6,532 a cubic metre in the first block, above every household class, so a villa billed as a small accommodation business is not on a household tariff at all. And a villa advertised with bills included can simply mean the owner buys the electricity token or pays the water account and recharges you at a rate nobody wrote down. Ask what the electricity meter is rated at, whether it is prepaid or postpaid, whose name the water account is in, which customer group that account sits in, and whether the property is on the piped network at all, because a house on a bore well and pump has moved its water cost onto the electricity meter.

Fixed-line internet is the item to verify at the address rather than the area. There is no official per-address coverage dataset to consult, so ask for the name of the existing connection, its contract end date and whose name the account is in, then check that operator's own coverage tool for the address. Komdigi, the communications ministry, is the sector regulator if you need to escalate.

Why your Bali rent is quoted in dollars but has to be paid in rupiah

Prices in Indonesia must be quoted and settled in rupiah, whatever currency the villa listing uses.

Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 17/3/PBI/2015 on the mandatory use of rupiah in Indonesian territory requires every party, individual or corporate, to use rupiah in every cash and non-cash transaction in Indonesia, and requires businesses to quote prices for goods and services in rupiah only. Bank Indonesia's own guidance extends the single-quotation rule to offers made online. Refusing rupiah is prohibited except where the notes are of doubtful authenticity or a foreign-currency settlement has been agreed in writing under one of the regulation's carve-outs, which cover things such as certain state budget transactions, international trade, foreign currency bank deposits and international financing. The regulation was promulgated on 31 March 2015 and the non-cash obligation took effect on 1 July 2015.

This has teeth, and the teeth differ by breach. Bank Indonesia supervises compliance. A non-cash transaction settled in foreign currency draws administrative sanctions, from a written warning to a payment of 1 per cent of the transaction value capped at Rp 1 billion, and can cost a business its access to the payment system. Quoting a price in a foreign currency draws a written warning. Breaching the rule on a cash transaction, and refusing rupiah, are treated as criminal matters under the Currency Law rather than as administrative ones. So a landlord who wants dollars in cash is not offering you a convenience, and the rule they are on the wrong side of is the harsher one.

For a twelve-month stay the practical edge is exchange rate risk. A dollar rent headline is a marketing convention. The amount that actually leaves your account is a rupiah amount converted on a particular day, and if your income is foreign that risk is yours, not the landlord's. Ask for the rupiah figure and the conversion date in writing before you commit, and be clear which of you carries the gap if the rate moves between signature and transfer.

Domestic inflation is the second variable. Bank Indonesia's published inflation data records Indonesian consumer price inflation of 3.19 per cent year on year for August 2026, against 2.88 per cent in July and 3.34 per cent in June. That is mild, but it compounds across a year, and it is a national average. Statistics Indonesia's Bali province office publishes a separate provincial year-on-year series, and that is the number to read for a Bali budget rather than the national one.

Hold your budget in rupiah and convert only when you must. People who keep the figure in their head in dollars tend to misread a rupiah price rise as a currency move, or the reverse, and then correct the wrong thing.

Does a resident pay the Bali tourist levy?

No, if you hold a KITAS or a KITAP. The levy of Rp 150,000 per person falls on foreign tourists, and stay permit card holders are on the published exemption list.

The Bali provincial tourism office recorded the levy as applying from 14 February 2024. The legal stack the Love Bali system now publishes is Law Number 15 of 2023 on the Province of Bali, Bali Regional Regulation Number 6 of 2023 on the levy, Bali Regional Regulation Number 2 of 2025 amending it, Governor Regulation Number 2 of 2024 on payment procedures and Governor Regulation Number 25 of 2025 amending that. If a summary you are reading cites only the 2023 and 2024 instruments, it predates the 2025 amendments.

The exemption list covers holders of diplomatic and official visas, crew members on transport vehicles, holders of a temporary stay permit card (KITAS) or permanent stay permit card (KITAP), and holders of family unification, student, golden and other visas. The route differs by category: golden visa holders and the residual other-visa category apply through the Love Bali system, while the rest simply show the card to an officer. The levy itself is paid once while travelling in Bali, before the person leaves Indonesian territory, and Love Bali encourages payment online before departure so the airport or port step is a scan rather than a queue.

This belongs on a cost-of-living page rather than a holiday budget because of what it signals. The moment you hold a stay permit, Indonesian systems begin treating you as a resident rather than a visitor, and this is the first one you meet. Carry the permit in paper and on your phone, because an exemption you cannot evidence is not an exemption. Anyone in the group who does not yet hold a stay permit, including family visiting you, pays.

The Bali costs that are annual, not monthly

The largest sums a long-stayer in Bali actually hands over are annual, which is why a monthly table can be arithmetically correct and still leave you short.

• Rent up front. Long villa and house lets are commonly agreed for a year and paid as one lump sum at the start. That is a working-capital problem, not a monthly one, and it is why people arrive with a budget that balances and still cannot sign anything.
• Permit charges in one block. The published E33G state charges of Rp 7,000,000 cover visa, verification, one-year stay permit and re-entry permit together, and they fall at application and again at renewal rather than spreading across the year. On the E33 route the equivalent five-year block is Rp 13,000,000.
• The re-entry permit. Immigration prices it as a separate line from the stay permit, which surprises people who assume a limited stay permit already implies a right to leave and come back.
• Water and electricity standing charges. The Badung water decree adds a fixed Rp 13,000 a month whatever you use, and an empty house still draws it.

Health cover resists a monthly average entirely. Indonesia's national health insurance scheme is built around people working in Indonesia, which is exactly what a remote worker permit does not make you, so do not assume you are either entitled to it or obliged to join. Confirm your own position with BPJS Kesehatan directly, and price a private international policy in parallel, before you fly rather than after.

One deliberate omission. This section gives no monthly rent, meal or coffee figure, because no Indonesian statistical authority publishes a Bali cost-of-living index for foreigners. Crowd-sourced cost sites are not statistics and are frequently years stale. Build the year from the charges above, which are published and dated, then estimate the discretionary part yourself.

At a glance

State charges and conditions as published by the Directorate General of Immigration and checked on 5 September 2026. Immigration restructured its visa index codes, so confirm the current index and price on imigrasi.go.id before paying anyone.

Frequently asked questions

Can I legally work remotely in Bali on a tourist visa?

No, and the wording is explicit rather than a grey area. The index B1 visa on arrival prohibits selling goods or services and receiving compensation, wages or anything similar for your work or business from an individual or corporation in Indonesia. The index C1 visitor visa prohibits selling goods or services or receiving compensation, wages or the like for your work or business, and separately prohibits appearing as a speaker at an event. Immigration's own description of the remote worker route is living in Indonesia to carry out duties for an overseas company, which is the permission a visitor visa does not carry. If you intend to work from Bali for months, the E33G exists precisely for that and does not need an Indonesian sponsor.

How much money do I have to show for the E33G remote worker visa?

Two separate figures, and applications fail because people only prepare one. The Directorate General of Immigration asks for a bank account evidencing salary or income of at least USD 60,000 a year, supported by an employment contract with a company established outside Indonesia, and separately for three months of bank statements showing a minimum of USD 2,000 as proof of living costs. Your passport needs at least six months of validity, and you also submit a photograph, a CV and an itinerary. Processing is stated as five working days after payment, and the issued visa must be used to enter Indonesia within 90 days. Confirm the list on imigrasi.go.id before you gather documents, as of 5 September 2026.

Do I owe Indonesian tax if I live in Bali for a year?

Presence past 183 days in a 12-month period makes you an Indonesian resident taxpayer, and PER-23/PJ/2025 counts those days whether continuous or broken, with part of a day counted as a full day. Days are not the only route: the same regulation treats residing in Indonesia, or being present with the intention to reside, as alternatives, and it names a VITAS or ITAS valid for more than 183 days, a contract to work in Indonesia for more than 183 days, and a lease on somewhere to live for more than 183 days as evidence of that intention. A twelve-month villa lease is therefore evidence in its own right. The tax authority describes resident taxpayers as assessed on all income including foreign income, and non-residents as assessed only on Indonesian-source income. What Indonesia actually collects then depends on the double tax agreement with your home country. Put this to a tax adviser rather than a forum, and check the current pages at pajak.go.id.

Do residents pay the Rp 150,000 Bali tourist levy?

Holders of a KITAS or a KITAP are on the published exemption list, along with holders of diplomatic and official visas, transport crew, and holders of family unification, student, golden and other visas. Golden visa holders and the other-visa category apply through the Love Bali system; the rest show the card to an officer. The levy is Rp 150,000 per person, paid once while travelling in Bali before leaving Indonesian territory, applying from 14 February 2024. The current legal basis runs through Law No. 15 of 2023, Bali Regional Regulation No. 6 of 2023 as amended by No. 2 of 2025, and Governor Regulation No. 2 of 2024 as amended by No. 25 of 2025.

Why can two houses in Bali have very different utility bills?

Because the electricity meter's power rating decides which tariff band applies, and in Badung it decides the water class as well. In the electricity adjustment announced on 13 June 2022, groups R-2 (3,500 to 5,500 VA) and R-3 (6,600 VA and above) moved to Rp 1,699.53 per kWh from Rp 1,444.70, while households below 3,500 VA, business and industry were unchanged. Tariffs are reviewed quarterly under Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 7 of 2024, and the ministry announced on 30 June 2026 that they would not rise for the third quarter of 2026. On water, Keputusan Bupati Badung No. 1058/01/HK/2025 sets the 2026 tariff and grades households by the same electricity rating, at 450 or 900 VA, 1,300 VA, 2,200 VA and above 2,200 VA, with the price per cubic metre rising in consumption blocks and a fixed Rp 13,000 a month on top.

Is water cheaper in Bali than at home, and does a pool change that?

The first ten cubic metres a month are cheap and the water after that is not, which is the part a pool or a garden runs into. Badung's 2026 tariff decree charges household water in three consumption blocks, 0 to 10 cubic metres, above 10 to 20, and above 20, with the rate stepping up at each. Every Bali regency sets its own tariff by decree of its regent under the interior ministry's rules on calculating and setting drinking water tariffs, so Badung's figures do not apply in Gianyar or Tabanan. Read the decree published by the utility for the regency your address sits in, and ask whether the house is on the piped network at all, because a bore well and pump moves the cost onto the electricity meter instead.

Can I be paid in US dollars while I am living in Indonesia?

Money you earn from an employer outside Indonesia is paid where that employer pays it. What is regulated is transactions inside Indonesian territory. Bank Indonesia Regulation No. 17/3/PBI/2015 requires rupiah for every cash and non-cash transaction in Indonesia and requires prices to be quoted in rupiah only, including online offers, with narrow written exceptions. A non-cash breach carries administrative sanctions up to 1 per cent of the transaction value capped at Rp 1 billion; a cash breach or a refusal of rupiah is handled as a criminal matter under the Currency Law. In practice your rent, your utilities and your groceries are rupiah obligations even when a listing advertises a dollar number, so treat the dollar figure as a headline and the rupiah figure as the contract.

What income tax rate would I pay in Indonesia as a resident?

The Directorate General of Taxes publishes a five band progressive scale for an individual: 5 per cent on taxable income up to Rp 60 million, 15 per cent above Rp 60 million to Rp 250 million, 25 per cent above Rp 250 million to Rp 500 million, 30 per cent above Rp 500 million to Rp 5 billion, and 35 per cent above Rp 5 billion. Taxable income is gross income less allowable deductions and the personal allowance, given by the same source as Rp 54 million for the taxpayer with additions for a spouse and for up to three dependants at Rp 4.5 million each. The bands are rupiah amounts, so a foreign salary moves up the scale when the rupiah weakens. What Indonesia actually collects on foreign income turns on the double tax agreement with your home country, so take the calculation to an adviser and check the current figures at pajak.go.id. Position as of 5 September 2026.