Japan's tax-free shopping becomes a refund from 1 November 2026

Tax-free shopping is not being abolished, and the 5,000 yen minimum spend is not changing. What disappears is the tax-free price at the till, and with it the sealed bags, the 500,000 yen cap on consumables and the old habit of showing your purchases to customs only after passing security.

This guide explains the new rules as the Japan Tourism Agency (観光庁) and the National Tax Agency (国税庁) have published them, and turns them into a routine you can follow on a shopping trip to Osaka and a departure from Kansai or any other airport. Everything below comes from those two agencies' pages, leaflets and question-and-answer documents, all read on 23 September 2026.

What changes on 1 November

The switch is set by date of purchase, not date of departure. The Japan Tourism Agency's traveller page says that until October 2026 eligible visitors have the consumption tax exempted at the time of purchase, and that "2026年11月１日購入分から" (for purchases from 1 November 2026) the system moves to a refund method, the リファンド方式, in which the tax is refunded after customs confirms the goods are being taken out of Japan.

The National Tax Agency's English leaflet from April 2025, which set out the FY2025 tax reform, lists the four changes in plain terms. Shops "sell tax-free goods to foreign tourists ... at a price that includes consumption tax"; purchasers "need to receive confirmation at customs upon departure that they are carrying tax-free goods out of Japan within 90 days from the date of purchase"; the shop's exemption depends on keeping the customs confirmation record; and the shop "will refund the amount equivalent to consumption tax" after that confirmation.

There is no overlap period. The same leaflet says: "There will be no period during the shift when the current system and the refund system can be effective together." If you buy something on 31 October 2026 you are on the old rules; if you buy it on 1 November you are on the new ones, even on the same trip.

The amount at stake is the consumption tax itself. The National Tax Agency's tax answer on rates gives a standard rate of 10% and a reduced rate of 8%, the reduced rate applying to food and non-alcoholic drinks (not eating out) and to subscription newspapers. The refund is described throughout as the "消費税相当額", the amount equivalent to consumption tax, so on a 11,000 yen tax-inclusive item at the standard rate the tax element is 1,000 yen.

A rate change for food is in the pipeline but is not law. On 15 September 2026 the Cabinet adopted an outline to cut the consumption tax on food and drink to 1% from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029, and the National Tax Agency's special site stresses that this applies only if a bill is submitted to and passed by the Diet. If it passes, the tax element in the price of food and drink bought from April 2027 would be smaller, and so would any refund of it.

The left-hand column follows the Japan Tourism Agency's comparison table, its 免税店とは page and its English leaflet, which describes the pre-November system as "Tax-free purchases (or counter refunds)" with "Customs inspection after clearing security (Restricted area)". The right-hand column follows the same leaflet and the National Tax Agency's English leaflet.

Terms on the receipt and signs

Most of what you will see in shops and at the airport is in Japanese, and the words are the same ones the agencies use. The table decodes them; the price column gives the official threshold where one exists, not what any shop charges.

The legal name matters because it is what the National Tax Agency's documents use. Its pages refer to 輸出物品販売場制度, literally the export goods sales place system, and the Japan Tourism Agency's 免税店とは page explains that a 免税店 in this sense is the 輸出物品販売場 defined in Article 8 of the Consumption Tax Act.

The shop still has to process your passport. The comparison table lists the explanations the shop must give you, including that the tax is refunded if you show your passport at departure within 90 days and receive customs confirmation, that you must show the goods if customs asks, and that confirmation cannot be done after your bags have been checked in. If a shop hands you a refund card or asks you to register a card or app, that is the refund method registration the Japan Tourism Agency says you will be told about at purchase.

Who qualifies and what counts

Eligibility is largely unchanged by the switch, and it is narrower than "any tourist". The Japan Tourism Agency's list of eligible purchasers covers non-residents of foreign nationality who can show that less than six months have passed since they entered Japan, with exceptions for diplomatic, official and US forces status. For short-term visitors, the document to show is the passport.

Cruise passengers and crew on landing permits now need their passport as well as the permit. The list gives passport plus cruise-tourist landing permit, crew landing permit, emergency landing permit or shipwreck landing permit, and allows a copy of the passport for cruise-tourist permit holders.

Japanese nationals living abroad also qualify under set conditions. They must have lived outside Japan continuously for two years or more and be within six months of their return, and show a passport plus a copy of the family register attachment (戸籍の附票の写し), a certificate of residence (在留証明, including the electronic version) or a My Number Card showing a move abroad. The registered domicile no longer needs to appear on these documents.

The spending threshold is 5,000 yen or more, excluding tax, for one purchaser at one shop on one day. The National Tax Agency's July 2026 Q&A confirms that the figure is judged on the tax-exclusive price, and its English leaflet says the threshold now applies "without category", because the split between general goods and consumables is abolished.

Three things are excluded outright. The National Tax Agency lists gold and platinum bullion, gold and platinum coins, and goods that are exempt from consumption tax. The old exclusion for goods obviously bought for business or resale has gone, and so has the requirement that goods be for everyday use.

The real limit is what you can carry. The Japan Tourism Agency's traveller FAQ says purchases are limited to the quantity you can personally take out of Japan when you leave, and that you should be able to present every item to customs at departure. If you are stocking up on skincare or medicine, the guide to reading a drugstore label helps you know what you are buying before you commit to carrying it.

Consumables are where the new rules bite hardest. The traveller FAQ says the special packaging is abolished, but if you consume food, drinks or cosmetics in Japan you cannot receive customs confirmation, and therefore no refund. The Japan Tourism Agency's English leaflet puts it the same way: "if you use or consume food, beverages, cosmetics, etc. within Japan, you will not be eligible for a tax refund."

At the airport before check-in

The customs step now happens on the public side of the airport. The Japan Tourism Agency says terminals and customs inspection points are placed in the international departure lobby before baggage drop, and its English leaflet shows the order as: terminal for tax-free procedures, then check your luggage at the airline counter, and describes the new inspection as "before clearing security (General access area)".

You must do it before your suitcase goes to the airline. The traveller FAQ answers the question directly: luggage already checked cannot be pulled back, even if the terminal then gives you a red judgement, so the terminal comes first. The National Tax Agency's notice to foreign travellers repeats that customs confirmation "cannot be completed after you have checked your hand luggage".

The terminal step itself is quick. The traveller FAQ says the time from reading your passport to the result is a few seconds, and that a green judgement ends the customs procedure. A red judgement sends you to the customs inspection point with the goods.

The deadline is 90 days, counted from the day after purchase. The National Tax Agency's English leaflet gives the example that goods bought on 1 November must be confirmed at customs by 30 January of the following year. The requirement applies to everyone claiming the refund, and the Japan Tourism Agency's shop FAQ adds that it applies regardless of status, including diplomatic and official visas.

At seven busy airports there is an online alternative. The Japan Tourism Agency names Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha, where you can use Visit Japan Web instead of the terminal while connected to a dedicated wireless network in the international departure lobby, in the area before the security checkpoint. Its leaflet adds that registering with Visit Japan Web before or after arriving makes procedures at immigration and tax-free stores smoother.

Connections and cruises have their own rules. If you fly from Osaka to another Japanese airport and leave Japan from there, the Japan Tourism Agency says the procedure is done at the last airport of departure. On a cruise that starts or ends abroad, the check is at the last Japanese port, before baggage drop, using an electronic terminal; for a fly-and-cruise trip that returns to Japan, you do it at the airport when you finally fly out.

The per-receipt rule is the one most likely to cost you money. The National Tax Agency says that if you are missing any item from one purchase record, meaning one sale or receipt, you cannot be confirmed for any item on it. The Japan Tourism Agency's leaflet illustrates this with a 91,000 yen receipt of three items where one item is missing, and the result is "No tax exemption for any goods".

If you have eaten or used some of the goods, do not scan your passport at the terminal. The traveller FAQ says to skip the terminal procedure and tell a customs officer at the counter instead.

Once confirmed, the goods must leave. The National Tax Agency's notice says that if goods confirmed by customs are not exported without delay, "the amount of consumption tax equivalent to the exempted consumption tax shall be collected, and you will be subject to a penalty". Its leaflet on the reform says penalty provisions and immediate collection by customs were created alongside the refund method.

Getting the money back

The refund does not come from the government. The Japan Tourism Agency's traveller page says refunds are paid by each tax-free shop or by a refund agent it has appointed, and tells you to ask the shop for details. The National Tax Agency's July 2026 Q&A says the Consumption Tax Act sets no rules on how the refund is made.

The possible methods are examples, not guarantees. Both agencies list bank transfer, credit card remittance, app remittance and cash at the port of departure after customs confirmation as methods that could be used, and the traveller FAQ says methods differ by shop. You register your refund method at the time of purchase, and the leaflet's panel for November 2026 reads "Register refund details for credit cards, etc."

Timing is not fixed either. The traveller FAQ says the refund is basically paid after the tax-free sale is established by customs confirmation at the port, and to ask the shop for details. The National Tax Agency adds that shops may choose to refund before confirmation, but at their own risk, since the sale becomes taxable if you never get confirmed.

Fees are the open question. The Japan Tourism Agency's FAQ for shops says there is no rule on whether a refund agent's fee is borne by the traveller or the shop, notes that "諸外国では、旅行者負担とすることが一般的です" (overseas, it is common for the traveller to bear it), and states that the government collects no fee for refunds. The same FAQ says shops may refund in coupons or points usable only at certain facilities, or refund more than the tax as a discount, because the law does not restrict the method.

Unclaimed refunds can lapse under the shop's own terms. If a refund fails because of a wrong account number or a registration error on your side, the National Tax Agency says the shop can treat the amount as its income under its contract with you, and the Japan Tourism Agency suggests shops agree in advance that refunds are not paid after a set number of days. No legal deadline is set, so the deadline is whatever the shop tells you.

Planning an Osaka shopping trip

Osaka has more tax-free shops than any prefecture except Tokyo. The Japan Tourism Agency's count, compiled from National Tax Agency data, gives 7,184 tax-free shops in Osaka Prefecture on 30 September 2025, up from 7,058 six months earlier, against 16,386 in Tokyo and 64,499 nationwide; Kyoto had 2,231 and Hyogo 2,212.

Those shops may drop out if they are not ready. The National Tax Agency's English leaflet says permits of shops that have not filed the notification on electronic provision of purchase records by 31 October 2026 become invalid on that date. A tax-free sign on a door is therefore not proof that a shop can process the new procedure; ask before you buy.

A day trip to Kyoto or Nara from Osaka does not change anything. The 5,000 yen threshold is per shop per day, and each receipt is confirmed separately, so several small receipts from different shops are not combined, and several receipts from one shop on different days are each their own unit for customs.

If you plan to eat the local snacks you bought, buy them separately. Because one consumed item voids the whole receipt, keeping food you intend to open in Japan on a different receipt from gifts you will carry home protects the refund on the rest. For the city's covered shopping streets, the guide to Osaka's shopping arcades sets out what the counts show about them.

Posting purchases home is no longer a route to a tax-free price. The Japan Tourism Agency says the arrangement in which travellers mailed their own tax-free goods abroad was abolished on 31 March 2025. The National Tax Agency says shipping arranged at the shop, where you sign a transport contract and hand the goods to the carrier on the spot, is still possible and is treated as an export under Article 7 of the Consumption Tax Act; whether a shop offers it is up to the shop.

Your budget should assume the full price. Under the refund method the tax-inclusive price is what leaves your card or wallet on the day, and the refund arrives later, possibly minus a fee the shop or agent sets. The Japan Tourism Agency's FAQ for shops notes that the fee practice abroad is to charge travellers, so ask rather than assume the refund equals the full consumption-tax amount (1,000 yen on an 11,000 yen item at the standard rate).

What this guide does not cover

A standard refund fee is not given here, nor a refund percentage or payment time, because neither the Japan Tourism Agency nor the National Tax Agency sets one; each shop or refund agent decides, and none was checked individually. It does not name refund companies: the National Tax Agency points to a list kept by the Japan Duty-Free Shops Association, compiled from companies' own declarations and carrying no government guarantee, and that list was not opened.

It does not show where the terminals are inside Kansai Airport's departure hall, since no official airport page describing them was found; the Japan Tourism Agency says only that they are in the international departure lobby before baggage drop. The Visit Japan Web English page loads only in a browser script and could not be read, so the online option is described from the Japan Tourism Agency's pages alone.

It does not cover duty-free shops beyond immigration, customs allowances for goods you bring into your home country, or the separate procedure forms for shops, which the National Tax Agency says will be published around autumn 2026. The proposed 1% food rate from April 2027 is described only as a Cabinet proposal awaiting legislation.