Hiring and paying freelancers in Indonesia: contracts, invoices, rates and how the money arrives

Short answer. Hire the freelancer under a simple contractor agreement, ask for an invoice in dollars or rupiah with their tax ID and bank details (BCA, Bank Mandiri, BNI), and pay the invoice from your Storspay balance: the exact rupiah figure lands usually within minutes at the mid-market rate for 1% all-in, and both sides get a receipt with the invoice number. The freelancer needs no account and no app.

Who hires in Indonesia

Companies in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe hire Indonesian developers, designers, writers, analysts, support agents and virtual assistants — the sectors are software and design agencies, Bali-based creative studios and developers, furniture, textile and handicraft manufacturers, coffee, cocoa and spice exporters, customer-support teams — mostly in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Yogyakarta and Bali. The freelancer is a sole trader: they invoice, you pay, they handle their own tax.

The three documents

A contractor agreement (scope, rate, intellectual property, termination), a monthly or milestone invoice with the freelancer's tax ID and bank account, and the Storspay receipt that matches it. That is the file your accountant wants and the file the freelancer's bank may ask for.

Paying ten freelancers at once

Run Payroll pays the whole list in one batch — type each amount or upload a CSV — with one fee line and one statement. Each freelancer receives their own transfer, in rupiah, with their own invoice reference. If one of them is also on Storspay as a sole trader, that payment is free and instant.

What is different about Indonesia

Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest economy and a bank-account market: salaries and supplier invoices are paid to BCA, Mandiri, BNI or BRI accounts, and the domestic BI-FAST rail moves money in seconds. Rupiah amounts are large (a US$1,000 invoice is roughly Rp 18 million), so the exact figure matters and a rate that is a few per cent off is visible to everyone. Storspay quotes the mid-market rate, shows the 1% on its own line, and the recipient's bank sees an ordinary domestic credit in rupiah.

How a payment to Indonesia works on Storspay

1. Fund your balance in USD (ACH or wire), CAD (Interac e-Transfer or EFT), GBP (UK bank transfer) or EUR (SEPA) — to account details in your own business name. Funding is free.
2. Add the recipient once: their name as it appears on the account, the bank (BCA, Bank Mandiri, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, Permata and the other BI-licensed banks) and the account number. Storspay checks the account name before you confirm.
3. Type the amount in either box. Enter what you want to send and see the rupiah that land, or type the rupiah figure on the invoice and see what it costs you. The rate is the mid-market rate; the 1% is on its own line.
4. Confirm. The money goes over BI-FAST and usually lands within minutes — the same business day at most. The recipient gets a notification with the exact amount, and you get a receipt with the invoice reference.

Nobody in Indonesia has to sign up, install an app or touch anything other than their own bank account. Everything on the recipient side looks like an ordinary domestic transfer.

What it costs

Storspay charges 1% all-in on payments to Indonesia, with a minimum of US$2, at the mid-market rate. That one line covers conversion, settlement and delivery; there is no FX markup, no intermediary-bank charge and nothing deducted on the recipient side.

Rates in this guide are the mid-market rate on the day of writing (1 USD = 17,893.30 IDR); the calculator on the homepage shows today's. Large payments are split automatically under the local channel cap, under one reference and one fee.

See what your team in Indonesia receives →

Questions businesses ask before the first payment to Indonesia

Should I pay in dollars or rupiah?

Agree the rate in whichever currency the contract uses; Storspay shows both figures before you confirm, so a dollar-denominated invoice lands as the right number of rupiah at the mid-market rate.

Is there withholding tax?

For an independent contractor in Indonesia, you pay the invoice in full and the freelancer handles their own income tax locally. If your home tax authority requires a form from foreign contractors (for example a W-8BEN for US payers), collect it at onboarding.

Can the freelancer hold dollars instead?

Yes, if they open a free Storspay sole-trader account: then they get USD account details in their own name, hold dollars, and cash out to their Indonesian bank whenever they choose. See Storspay for freelancers.

Which Indonesian banks can you pay?

Any bank licensed by Bank Indonesia — BCA, Mandiri, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, Permata, Danamon and the rest. You enter the account number and the bank; Storspay verifies the account name before you confirm.

Why does the rupiah amount look so large?

Because the rupiah is a small unit — roughly Rp 18,000 to the dollar. Storspay shows the full rupiah figure with the mid-market rate on the same screen, so you and the recipient read the same number.

Can I pay a GoPay, OVO or DANA wallet?

Not today. Storspay pays bank accounts in Indonesia; e-wallets are on the roadmap. Most wallet users also have a bank account at BCA, Mandiri, BNI or BRI.

Who this is for — and who it is not for

Storspay is for businesses and organisations: companies, agencies, schools, hospitals, facilitators, foundations and sole traders paying other businesses and professionals for work, goods and services. A sole trader counts as a business and signs up in their own name.

What Storspay is not is a personal money-transfer service. We do not open personal accounts, and every payment has to be a business transaction: an invoice, a contract, a fee note, work delivered. Money to family and personal transfers are not what this is, and we would rather say so now than at verification.