One of the facts of life when you travel is that you are guaranteed to pay taxes on departure for any country and Indonesia is no exception. It’s the way the respective governments raise revenue. Travelling inter-island in Indonesia it is noticeable that the taxes vary from island to island. In Bali the departure tax has remained stat for some time.
Every visitor must pay Rp150,000 per person on departure from the island and this includes children. You would be surprised at the number of people I have seen at Ngurah Rai International Airport walking around asking people for money simply because they have spent all their money whilst in Bali and didn’t bother to stow-away the departure tax.
The easiest solution is as soon as you change your first foreign currency in Bali just take out the Rp150,000 and stash it in the safety deposit box of the place you are staying with and completely forget about it. That should be your first priority rather than heading down to the markets or the shops on a shopping spree.
The other important matter to remember is your ‘white’ departure card. DON’T LOSE IT or mislay it. Before your aircraft arrives in Bali you will be given two forms to fill out – a green one which is your Customs declaration and the other, a white two-part Immigration card.
When you go through Immigration and obtained your VOA (Visa on Arrival) you will be returned half of the white form you filled out. This you must present to Immigration on departure. The best thing to do with this card is to keep it in your passport and stowed away in the safety deposit box. The loss of this card will cause you many headaches when you try to get out of the country and could be costly.
