Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

• A simplified invoice (適格簡易請求書), which need not name the customer, may be given in retail, restaurants, photography and travel, in taxi services other than those taking rides only at their office under fares approved or set for that under the Road Transport Act (道路運送法), a separate Act, in parking open to the public, and in similar businesses selling to many unspecified people. No qualified invoice is required for fares under 30,000 yen on scheduled buses, railways, tramways, scheduled ferries and shared-ride irregular sea passenger services, for fresh food that a wholesaler sells on consignment at a wholesale market meeting the Order's conditions or that an agricultural, fishery or forestry cooperative sells for its members under the conditions the Order sets, or for the low-value sales to the public, such as by vending machine, that a Ministry of Finance Order (財務省令) names. No qualified return invoice (適格返還請求書) is required for those sales, or for a refund or discount under 10,000 yen including tax.(Art. 70-11(1), Art. 70-9(2), Art. 70-9(3), Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-4(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-4(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-4(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The tax a business deducts on its taxable purchases (課税仕入れ) is 78% of the total of the tax shown on the qualified invoices, simplified invoices and electronic records it received, on the purchase statements it made and on the statements a wholesale market or cooperative selling for others gave it, with the tax on purchases needing no invoice worked out at 10/110 (8/108) of the price. It may instead take 78% of the tax it entered in its books at 10/110 (8/108) of each purchase as it made it, or, if it did not work out the tax on its sales from its invoices, multiply its purchase totals by 7.8/110, and by 6.24/108 for reduced-rate purchases. A purchase from a seller who is not a qualified invoice issuer comes with none of these documents: it counts only where books alone are enough, or for the reduced transitional share that the supplementary provisions (附則) of Act No. 15 of 2016, which amended the Consumption Tax Act, allow for such purchases.(Art. 46(1), Art. 46(2), Art. 46(3), Consumption Tax Act Art. 30(7), Consumption Tax Act Art. 30(9), Art. 49(1), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Books alone, without invoices, keep the deduction for public transport fares under 30,000 yen, tickets bearing the simplified-invoice entries that the issuer collected, used goods, forfeited pledges, buildings, metal scrap and recyclables that a second-hand dealer, pawnbroker, real estate dealer, notified metal-scrap buyer or recyclables dealer acquired for stock from someone not registered as an issuer, and other purchases a Ministry of Finance Order (財務省令) names as hard to get invoices for, provided the books note which case it is and, except for sellers the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency (国税庁長官) names, the seller's address. The books and invoices behind a deduction are kept for seven years, counted from two months (one month for a corporation in liquidation whose residual assets have been finalized) after the end of the taxable period in which the books were closed or the invoice received, at the place for tax payment or the office the transaction concerns, or for five years in the cases a Ministry of Finance Order sets. Any other purchase from a seller who is not registered as an issuer counts only for the reduced transitional share that the supplementary provisions (附則) of Act No. 15 of 2016, which amended the Consumption Tax Act, allow, except the small purchases under 10,000 yen that the same Act lets smaller businesses deduct on books alone until 30 September 2029.(Art. 49(1)(i), Art. 50(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 30(7), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53-2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 24-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under simplified taxation (簡易課税) the deemed purchase rates are: wholesale 90%; retail — selling goods bought from others without changing them — and the sale of food by farming, forestry and fishing, 80%; other farming, forestry and fishing, mining, construction, manufacturing (retailing one's own products included) and utilities 70%, except work done for a processing fee (加工賃); transport and communications, finance and insurance, and services other than restaurants 50%; real estate 40%; and any other business, restaurants and processing-fee work among them, 60%. A business in two or more categories weights each category's rate by the tax on its sales in it, but where one category is 75% or more of its taxable sales it may use that category's rate for all of them, and where two together are 75% or more it may use the higher rate of the two for that category and the lower for everything else. Sales a business has not sorted between two of its categories are treated as belonging to whichever of the two has the lower rate.(Art. 57(1), Art. 57(2), Art. 57(3), Art. 57(4), Art. 57(5), Art. 57(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The exemption for leasing land does not cover a lease of less than one month, or land used as part of a parking lot or other facility. The exemption for letting housing to be lived in does not cover a letting of less than one month, or the letting of a facility for the lodging business under the Inns and Hotels Act (旅館業法), a separate Act. Among the charges of the schools the Act names, the exempt ones are tuition, entrance and enrolment fees, facility fees, entrance examination fees, fees for certificates of enrolment, grades and other student records, and similar fees.(Art. 8(1), Art. 16-2(1), Art. 14-5(1), Consumption Tax Act Appended Table 2) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 November 2026

  The text on this site

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 125 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act, etc.

  消費税法施行令等の一部を改正する政令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 108 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 96 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 September 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 96 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 22 May 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 96 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act, etc.

  消費税法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 145 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2025

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 125 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行令の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 125 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Enforcement of the Act on Japan Institute for Health Security and the Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act on Japan Institute for Health Security

  国立健康危機管理研究機構法及び国立健康危機管理研究機構法の施行に伴う関係法律の整備に関する法律の施行に伴う関係政令の整備に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 19 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement, etc. of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Partial Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Marine Transportation Act, etc.

  海上運送法等の一部を改正する法律の一部の施行に伴う関係政令の整理等に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 372 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 50 amendments already in force

• A business that, for unavoidable reasons, could not file in time — by the day before a taxable period, or by the end of the period it started business in — the notification to become taxable (課税事業者選択届出書), to stop being so, or to choose or stop simplified taxation, is treated as having filed it in time if the district tax office director approves. It applies, stating the reason, within a reasonable time after the circumstances end.(Art. 20-2(1), Art. 20-2(2), Art. 20-2(3), Art. 57-2(1), Art. 57-2(2), Art. 57-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a registered issuer sells through an agent or auctioneer that is itself a registered issuer and has been told of the seller's registration, the agent may give the buyer the qualified invoice in its own name and registration number in the seller's place, keeping a copy and promptly giving the seller one.(Art. 70-12(1), Art. 70-12(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A partnership (任意組合等) whose members are all qualified invoice issuers, and whose managing member has filed the notification the Act provides for, may show on its qualified invoices the name and registration number of any one of its members together with the partnership's name, in place of every member's.(Art. 70-14(2), Art. 70-14(5), Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business not exempt from the tax that buys from a seller who is not a qualified invoice issuer may still deduct part of the tax, provided it keeps an invoice of the kind the Act's earlier wording required, or its electronic record, and its books note that the transitional rule applies: 7.8/110 of the price (6.24/108 for reduced-rate purchases) times 80% for purchases up to 30 September 2026, 70% from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2028, 50% from 1 October 2028 to 30 September 2030, and 30% from 1 October 2030 to 30 September 2031. Purchases from one seller beyond 100,000,000 yen in a year (in a business year, for a corporation) get no share. The rule is in the supplementary provisions (附則) of Act No. 15 of 2016, which amended the Consumption Tax Act.(Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 52(1), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1)(i), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1)(ii), Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business not exempt from the tax whose taxable sales were 100,000,000 yen or less in the base period, or 50,000,000 yen or less in the specified period (特定期間), needs only its books, without invoices, to deduct the tax on a purchase under 10,000 yen made up to 30 September 2029, even from a seller who is not a qualified invoice issuer; such a purchase counts in full, not for the transitional share. The Act's 2016 amending Act (Act No. 15 of 2016) sets this rule in its supplementary provisions (附則), and the Order's own supplementary provisions set the 10,000 yen.(Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 53-2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 24-2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 24-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business damaged by a disaster or other unavoidable cause may, with the district tax office director's (税務署長) approval, start simplified taxation for the taxable period in which the cause arose, if its taxable sales in that period's base period were 50,000,000 yen or less, and is treated as having notified in time. A business already using simplified taxation may in the same way stop it for that period, or for one later period that began while the cause lasted and within its two-year minimum, even though the minimum would otherwise bar that. It applies within two months after the cause ends, or by the filing deadline of that period's return where the cause ends after the period.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 37-2(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 37-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 37-2(6), Art. 57-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The Order sets no penalty of its own; the Consumption Tax Act does. Evading the tax, or getting a refund, by deception or other wrongdoing is punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 10,000,000 yen, or both, and where the tax evaded or refunded is more than 10,000,000 yen the fine can rise as high as that amount. Evading the tax by not filing a final return by its deadline is punishable by up to five years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 5,000,000 yen, or both, and where the tax evaded is more than 5,000,000 yen the fine can rise as high as that amount.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 64(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 64(3), Consumption Tax Act Art. 64(5), Consumption Tax Act Art. 64(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Handing out a document or electronic record that could be mistaken for a qualified or simplified invoice when not a qualified invoice issuer, or such an invoice with false entries when one, is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. So is failing without good reason to file by its deadline a final return that shows tax due, though the penalty may be remitted in the circumstances. Where a representative, agent or employee commits any of these offences, or evades the tax, in the business of a company or of an individual, that company or individual is fined as well as the person who acted.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-5(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 65(1)(iv), Consumption Tax Act Art. 66(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 67(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business that is not exempt keeps books recording its sales and transfers, its taxable purchases and the taxable goods it takes out of a bonded area, in the detail a Ministry of Finance Order (財務省令) sets, and keeps them for seven years at its place for tax payment or the office of the business concerned.(Art. 71(1), Art. 71(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 58(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where the heavy additional tax (重加算税) is imposed for facts concealed or disguised in electronic records a business keeps — among them the electronic records given in place of qualified invoices, the purchase records and customs confirmations of a tax-free shop, and the electronic purchase statements behind a deduction — it is raised by a further 10% of the tax resting on those facts, as the Act provides.This is the rule until 31 December 2026.(Art. 71-2(1), Art. 71-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 59-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where the heavy additional tax (重加算税) is imposed for facts concealed or disguised in electronic records a business keeps — among them the electronic records given in place of qualified invoices, the purchase records and customs confirmations of a tax-free shop, and the electronic purchase statements behind a deduction — it is raised by a further 10% of the tax resting on those facts, as the Act provides, unless the records were kept as the consumption tax laws require and have met, continuously from the day the business began keeping them, the requirements a Ministry of Finance Order (財務省令) sets. This applies to consumption tax whose statutory filing deadline falls on or after 1 January 2027; tax whose deadline fell earlier stays under the earlier rule.This is the rule from 1 January 2027.(Art. 71-2(1), Art. 71-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 59-2(1) from 1 January 2027, Consumption Tax Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 23(1) from 1 January 2027) (the provisions it rests on)
• The district tax office director (税務署長) decides the applications the Order provides for and approves or rejects each in writing, among them: a ratio to use in place of the taxable sales ratio (課税売上割合), which the director may later revoke; a late notification to become taxable or stop being so, or to choose or stop simplified taxation, accepted only where unavoidable circumstances prevented filing in time; permission to run a tax-free shop (輸出物品販売場), a tax-free procedure counter (免税手続カウンター) or a service sending purchase records for such shops; and dating by accounting year for corporations listed in Appended Table 3 (別表第三) of the Act. Where a public body that must notify its accounting year does not, the director designates one.(Art. 47(2), Art. 47(3), Art. 47(4), Art. 20-2(4), Art. 20-2(5), Art. 57-2(4), Art. 57-2(5), Art. 18-2(2), Art. 18-2(3), Art. 18-3(4), Art. 18-3(6), Art. 18-4(4), Art. 74(4), Art. 74(6), Art. 3(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business running a tax-free shop must tell each tax-free buyer that goods confirmed by customs must be exported without delay, and sends the purchase records without delay to the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency (国税庁長官), online to the computers of the National Tax Agency and customs. The consumption tax on the sale is exempted only once customs confirms, within 90 days of the purchase, that the buyer is exporting the goods; to keep the exemption, the shop keeps the purchase records and the customs confirmations it receives for seven years, counted from two months (one month for a corporation in liquidation whose residual assets have been finalized) after the end of the taxable period of the sale, at its place for tax payment or the office concerned. The buyer shows their passport, or gives its information, to customs at the port of departure when leaving Japan.(Art. 18(3), Art. 18(5), Art. 18(7), Art. 18(10), Consumption Tax Act Art. 8(1) from 1 November 2026, Consumption Tax Act Art. 8(2) from 1 November 2026) (the provisions it rests on)
• A tax-free buyer who, without good reason, does not export without delay goods customs has confirmed is punishable by up to one year's imprisonment (拘禁刑) or a fine of up to 500,000 yen, and where such goods are not to be exported, customs collects at once from the buyer the consumption tax the exemption spared. The district tax office director (税務署長) may revoke a tax-free shop's permission where the business breaks the consumption tax laws, where its tax-free sales procedures are found especially unsuitable, or where defects or false entries in the purchase records it sent hinder customs' confirmation. The director may also revoke the approval of a business running a tax-free procedure counter (免税手続カウンター) or sending purchase records for shops where it breaks the consumption tax laws or its handling of that work is found especially unsuitable, and gives written notice of each revocation.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 8(5) from 1 November 2026, Consumption Tax Act Art. 8(6) from 1 November 2026, Consumption Tax Act Art. 65(1)(i) from 1 November 2026, Consumption Tax Act Art. 8(8) from 1 November 2026, Art. 18-2(3), Art. 18-3(5), Art. 18-3(6), Art. 18-4(5), Art. 18-4(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a final return shows tax on purchases exceeding the tax on sales, or interim payments exceeding the tax due, the district tax office director (税務署長) refunds the difference, or sets it against unpaid national tax, without delay unless there is reason to think it overstated. A refund of excess tax on purchases goes first against consumption tax for that period still owed after a corrected return or reassessment, and then against other unpaid national taxes.(Art. 64(1), Art. 65(1), Art. 67(1)) (the provisions it rests on)