Japan tax-free changes 1 Nov 2026: refund at the airport

The short answer: pay in full at the shop, get it back after the airport check

Sources: National Tax Agency, "Revision of the export goods sales place system to the Refund Method"[NTA]; Japan Tourism Agency, "FAQ for tax-free shops" Q17[JTA]

Which system applies is decided by the date of sale. It is not the date you leave Japan[NTA Q&A, Q8]. Anything bought on or before 31 October stays under the old system, even if you fly out in November. There is no transition period in which you can choose between the two.

The Ministry of Finance states the reason plainly. The change answers fraud in which goods bought tax-free are diverted and resold inside Japan: tax is now charged on the sale first and returned afterwards[MOF, FY2025 Tax Reform].

At the airport, reach the customs terminal before you check in your bags

Departure day is where the routine changes most. Get the order wrong and you lose the refund.

1. Buying. Show your passport and go through the tax-free procedure. The condition is that your purchases at the same shop on the same day come to ¥5,000 or more excluding tax.
2. Paying. You pay the tax-included price as marked. There is no discount at the register.
3. Until departure. Do not throw away the boxes or bags. Keep the goods in the state you bought them in[NTA Q&A, detailed edition].
4. At the airport. Head for the terminal in the international departure lobby before you check in your baggage.
5. Show your passport at the terminal. The result appears within seconds. If no inspection is needed (a green result), you are finished.
6. If an inspection is required. Show the goods at the customs inspection area and have the export confirmed.

Source: Japan Tourism Agency, "Information on the new system (Refund Method) for travellers"[JTA]

At seven airports — Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha — you can use Visit Japan Web instead of the terminal. It works inside the dedicated wireless area of the international departure lobby, up to the security checkpoint. If you connect from a domestic flight, do the procedure at the last airport you leave Japan from.

You get back 10% of the tax-excluded price: ¥9,091 on a ¥100,000 tag

The refund is the tax-excluded price multiplied by the consumption tax rate. In the National Tax Agency's bookkeeping example, a sale of ¥11,000 including tax is refunded as ¥1,000[NTA, About the Refund Method]. Japanese shops display tax-included prices as a rule, so the number on the tag is not what comes back.

A tax-excluded tag gives a different figure. Here are four examples.

Note: the tax-excluded prices and refunds in each row are our own calculations, applying the method the National Tax Agency sets out. Fees are not included.

The last row is the trap. The ¥5,000 minimum is judged excluding tax[NTA Q&A, Q4]. For goods taxed at 10%, you need to spend ¥5,500 or more at the shelf price to qualify. At ¥5,400 including tax the tax-excluded price is ¥4,909, which is ¥91 short.

The ¥500,000 cap and the sealed packaging are gone; the ¥5,000 minimum stays

Because customs now checks the goods themselves, the fine-grained conditions that once guarded against diversion are no longer needed. Travellers are freer in what and how much they buy.

Sources: NTA Q&A (overview edition) Q4[NTA]; Japan Tourism Agency page for travellers[JTA]

Sealed packaging is gone, but anything eaten in Japan is out. If you are not holding it on departure, it cannot be confirmed. Sending goods separately by post before you leave was abolished on 31 March 2025 and is a separate matter from this reform[NTA Q&A, Q23].

Miss one item on a receipt and nothing on that receipt comes back

Customs confirms one receipt (one set of purchase record information) at a time. If even one item on it is not in your hands, nothing on that receipt is refunded[NTA Q&A, Q20]. There are five ways to fall in.

• Putting the goods in checked baggage. Once checked, the bag cannot be brought back. Finish the procedure first.
• Throwing away the packaging. Separating the contents from the box or bag makes the goods hard for customs to identify.
• Eating or using it in Japan. That part is not refunded, and you must say so at the counter.
• Letting 90 days pass. Buy on 1 November and the confirmation deadline is 30 January of the following year.
• Running out of time. If the confirmation is not finished and you miss your flight, neither the airline nor customs compensates you.

The deadline is the 90th day counted from the day after purchase[NTA Q&A, Q19]. On a long stay, buying at the end of the trip is the safer plan.

Who can buy: short-stay visitors, and Japanese nationals living abroad for two years or more

Eligibility turns on your status of residence, not on how long you have been here. This reform leaves that unchanged[NTA Q&A, Q3].

There is a real gain for Japanese nationals living abroad. To show two years or more outside Japan, the My Number Card now works alongside a copy of the family register supplement (戸籍の附票) or a certificate of residence abroad (在留証明). The registered domicile no longer has to be shown[JTA, FAQ for travellers].

Only a card bearing the record of moving out of Japan counts. It must be the original; copies are not accepted.

Resale control moves from policing to collecting the tax up front

Under the old system the goods left the shop at a price with the tax stripped out. If they were then resold in Japan, the state lost the consumption tax. Under the new system the tax is collected at the sale, so nothing is lost. If the confirmation is not obtained, the money simply is not returned.

Immediate collection has not disappeared. It now applies in one situation: when goods that have passed the customs confirmation end up not being exported.

There is a penalty too. Failing to export without good reason carries imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to ¥500,000[Consumption Tax Act, Art. 65, in force 1 November 2026]. Buyers are checked as well: a business that purchases goods knowing they were bought tax-free cannot take the input tax credit.

Shops are affected as well. A tax-free shop that has not moved to electronic procedures loses its licence on 31 October 2026[NTA, Outline of the export goods sales place system]. The outsourced-procedure type is merged into the general type, leaving two categories of shop.

The ¥3,000 departure tax is a different tax

It is often mentioned in the same breath as a cost for travellers, but the departure tax (the International Tourist Tax) is separate. It has been ¥3,000 per departure since departures on 1 July 2026, and is already in force[NTA No.7195]. It has nothing to do with the tax-free refund and is not deducted from it. For details see the rise in the departure tax to ¥3,000, and for local lodging taxes see the nationwide list of accommodation taxes.

Summary

• For purchases from November 1, 2026, tax-free shoppers pay the tax-inclusive price upfront at the store, then get the consumption tax refunded after customs confirmation when leaving Japan.
• The refund equals the tax-exclusive price times the tax rate — on a ¥100,000 tax-inclusive price tag, that's ¥9,091. Fees and payout timing vary by store, since there's no legal standard for them.
• The deadline is departure within 90 days of the day after purchase. At the airport, visit the customs counter before checking in baggage.
• If even one item from a single receipt is missing when you leave, nothing on that receipt gets refunded.
• The ¥500,000 cap on consumables and the special-packaging requirement are both abolished; the ¥5,000 (tax-exclusive) minimum purchase still applies.

References (sources)

• NTA: Revision of the export goods sales place system to the Refund Method (Japanese) — how refunds are made, and when the forms are due
• NTA: Q&A on the export goods sales place system (Refund Method, overview edition) (Japanese) — when it starts, how the minimum is judged, how the 90 days are counted
• NTA: Tax-Free Shopping System will be shifted to the Refund Method from November 2026 (English) — the official English outline
• NTA: Attention Foreign Tourists — please read this carefully (English) — the leaflet handed out in shops from 1 November 2026
• Japan Tourism Agency: information on the new system for travellers (Japanese) — the procedure and the seven airports
• Japan Tourism Agency: leaflet for travellers (English) — the flow on one page
• Japan Tourism Agency: FAQ for travellers (Japanese) — when and how you are paid, documents for Japanese nationals abroad
• Japan Tourism Agency: FAQ for tax-free shops (Japanese) — who bears the fee, status of residence and the 90 days
• Digital Agency: Visit Japan Web (English) — passport presentation and online procedures
• Ministry of Finance: FY2025 tax reform (Japanese) — the purpose of the revision and why the conditions were dropped
• Consumption Tax Act (version in force 1 November 2026) (Japanese) — the conditions and the penalty
• NTA No.7195: Outline of the International Tourist Tax (Japanese) — ¥3,000 per departure

Note: this article is general information. For your own case, check with the tax-free shop, customs, or the tax office. Practice may change around the start of the new system.