Japan switching to post-departure tax refunds in November

Tokyo – Japan will switch to a post-departure refund system for consumption tax paid by foreign visitors starting Nov. 1, following a series of cases in which purchased tax-free goods were resold in Japan at prices including tax.

Foreign visitors can currently buy goods at prices excluding the consumption tax at tax-free shops in Japan.

Under the new system, which is intended to prevent illegal acts by ensuring that purchased items are taken out of Japan through customs inspections at ports and airports, foreign visitors would buy goods at tax-inclusive prices and receive refunds equivalent to the tax after departing.

On Thursday, Tokyo Customs demonstrated tax exemption procedures for the press at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the run-up to the transition to the new system.

While predeparture customs checks are conducted after security inspection at present, inbound visitors, from November, will need to have their passports scanned by a dedicated machine before security inspection to be eligible for consumption tax refunds.

“To prevent any confusion, we will establish a solid operation system,” including by deploying staff to guide travelers, a Tokyo Customs official said.

Seven busy international airports — including Haneda Airport, Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture and Kansai International Airport near the city of Osaka — will allow foreign travelers to conduct the procedures through a dedicated smartphone website to reduce congestion.

In recent years, many foreign visitors were known to have bought large quantities of goods at tax-exclusive prices and resold them in Japan at prices including tax before leaving the country.

According to government statistics, however, only 10% of the 690 departing foreign visitors who bought ¥100 million or more worth of tax-free goods in fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 were confirmed to have possessed the items in predeparture customs inspections at ports or airports.