Japan’s Tax-Free Shopping Turns Into a Refund
From 1 November, visitors to Japan pay full price, tax included, and claim the consumption tax back at departure. Clients need time at the airport and their purchases in hand.
Shopping in Japan changes on Sunday 1 November. Visitors will no longer have the consumption tax taken off at the till. They pay the full, tax-inclusive price and get the tax back at departure, once customs confirms the goods are leaving with them.
The current system runs until 31 October, according to the Japan Tourism Agency. The refund method applies to anything bought on or after 1 November.
How the refund works
- Minimum spend: ¥5,000 or more, before tax, per shop, per day.
- Deadline: complete the customs step within 90 days of purchase.
- At the airport or seaport: scan your passport at a tax-free terminal in the international departure lobby, before checking bags. Checked luggage can’t be retrieved for this.
- Green or red: a green result means you’re done. A red result sends you to a customs inspection area with the goods.
- Online option: at Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha, Visit Japan Web can be used in designated areas up to security.
- Who pays: the refund comes from the shop or the refund service provider it uses. Ask the shop how.
Inspections are per receipt: one missing item voids the whole receipt. Food, drinks and cosmetics used up in Japan don’t count, and the special sealed bags are gone.
Sources
Lauren Smith writes Hotel Watch for Not An Atlas. She grew up in Glasgow and now works from Toronto, usually within reach of a pug, a laptop and a stack of McDonald's Monopoly vouchers. Her first flight was to Orlando, and she still remembers how kind everyone was. She's a window-seat loyalist (somewhere to rest your head), eats whatever the locals recommend (schnitzel and an Austrian beer, the moment she landed in Vienna), and always packs spare underwear. Just in case. Hallstatt on a sunny day is her “this is why I travel” moment, the Highlands are where she'd go back tomorrow, and South Korea or Japan is next. Friends say bubbly, caring and fun. Her mum says chaotic but organized.
