Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

• A business that is not exempt from consumption tax must keep books (帳簿), as Article 71(1) of the Cabinet Order requires. For each sale or service in Japan they record the customer's name, the date, what was supplied (marking reduced-rate items as such, and, under the simplified method, the business type) and the price for each tax rate, including the consumption tax and local consumption tax on it. Returns, discounts and rebates it gives on its sales, refunds it receives on purchases, refunds of tax on imported goods, and bad debts each go in with their own particulars.(Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 71(1), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Besides the public transport fares under 30,000 yen, the sales through wholesale markets and the sales by agricultural, fishery and forestry cooperatives that Article 70-9(2) of the Cabinet Order itself lists, a qualified invoice issuer need not issue a qualified invoice (適格請求書) for a sale made through a vending machine or automatic service machine at a tax-inclusive price under 30,000 yen. Nor does it for postal services and carriage of goods paid only with postage stamps, for items put in a post box.(Art. 26-6(1), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 70-9(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 57-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business may deduct the tax on some taxable purchases (課税仕入れ) by keeping only its books, without an invoice. Besides the cases Article 49(1)(i) of the Cabinet Order lists — among them public transport fares under 30,000 yen, tickets the seller collects, and, where they are the buyer's inventory (棚卸資産) other than consumables, second-hand goods, buildings, metal scrap and recyclables that a dealer in them buys from someone who is not an issuer, and forfeited pledges a pawnbroker takes ownership of — this Order adds purchases through vending or automatic service machines under 30,000 yen including tax, postal services paid only with stamps, travel money for business trips or moves paid to officers, employees, people taking up or leaving a job or the family of an employee who died, and commuting allowances, the last two so far as normally needed. The books must record which of these cases applies and the other party's address, except for parties the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency has designated.(Art. 15-4(1), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 49(1)(i), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 49(1)(i)(c), Consumption Tax Act Art. 30(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The export exemption applies only where the exporter proves the export by keeping the documents this Order lists. For an ordinary export of goods made on or after 1 October 2026, these are the customs export permit or loading approval (積込みの承認), or a customs certificate of the export, showing the exporter's name and address, the date, the goods with quantity and value, and the destination — and, if paid in cash or in a way that does not show the buyer paid, also a document of the import at the destination that the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency designates. The exporter keeps them at its place for tax payment (納税地) or the office handling the transaction for seven years, counted from two months after the end of the taxable period (one month for a corporation in liquidation whose remaining assets are settled), or from the day after the return deadline where that deadline is extended under Article 45-2(1) of the Act or Article 76(2) of the Cabinet Order.This is the rule until 31 March 2028.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 7(2), Art. 5(1), Art. 5(1)(i), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Art. 23-3(1), Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The export exemption applies only where the exporter proves the export by keeping the documents this Order lists, electronic records included. For an ordinary export of goods made on or after 1 October 2026, these are the customs export permit or loading approval (積込みの承認), or a customs certificate of the export, showing the exporter's name and address, the date, the goods with quantity and value, and the destination — and, if paid in cash or in a way that does not show the buyer paid, also a document of the import at the destination that the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency designates. The exporter keeps them for seven years from the day after the deadline for the final return (確定申告書) for that taxable period, at its place for tax payment (納税地) or the office handling the transaction.This is the rule from 1 April 2028.(Consumption Tax Act Art. 7(2), Art. 5(1), Art. 5(1)(i), Art. 1(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A tax-free shop (輸出物品販売場) must explain to each buyer that the buyer is to show the passport, or give its details, to customs at the port of departure on leaving Japan within 90 days of the purchase, and be ready to show the goods if customs asks. The shop sends the purchase record information (購入記録情報) — among other things the buyer's passport details, the shop and its identification code, the date of sale, each item with its quantity and tax-exclusive price, and for goods priced at 1,000,000 yen or more per unit of sale (a set counted as one) the details that identify them — to the National Tax Agency and customs by computer link. It keeps that information, and the customs confirmation information (税関確認情報) it receives, with one of the electronic-transaction measures of Article 4(1) of Ministry of Finance Order No. 43 of 1998 and under requirements like those it sets, or as a clear, orderly printout, in the place and for the period the Cabinet Order sets.(Art. 6-3(1)(i), Art. 6-4(1), Art. 6-4(1)(v), Art. 6-4(2), Art. 6-4(5), Art. 6-4(6), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 18(3), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 18(10)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business that must file its returns online under Article 46-2 of the Act — a specified corporation (特定法人), which includes a corporation whose capital exceeds 100 million yen and the national government and local governments — files the advance notice of online filing with the tax office director (税務署長) within one month of the day it comes under that rule, or within two months of founding for a newly founded one. Where online filing is difficult through a line failure, a disaster or a similar reason and it can file the return without it, the director of the district tax office for its place for tax payment (納税地) may approve filing on paper for a period the director designates, on an application stating the day the difficulty arose and attaching a document that shows it. The application is due 15 days before that period starts — or by its start, where the difficulty arose within 15 days before the return deadline and that deadline falls in the period — and one not decided by then is treated as approved.This is the rule until 31 March 2028.(Art. 23-4(2), Art. 23-5(1), Art. 23-5(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business that must file its returns online under Article 46-2 of the Act — a specified corporation (特定法人), which includes a corporation whose capital exceeds 100 million yen and the national government and local governments — files the advance notice of online filing with the tax office director (税務署長) within one month of the day it comes under that rule, or within two months of founding for a newly founded one. Where online filing is difficult through a line failure, a disaster or a similar reason and it can file the return without it, the director of the district tax office for its place for tax payment (納税地) may approve filing on paper for a period the director designates, on an application stating the day the difficulty arose and attaching a document that shows it. The application is due 15 days before that period starts — or by its start, where the difficulty arose within 15 days before the return deadline and that deadline falls in the period — and one not decided by then is treated as approved.This is the rule from 1 April 2028.(Art. 23-3(2), Art. 23-4(1), Art. 23-4(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 46-3(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business deducting the tax on a bad debt keeps the documents proving the event that made it uncollectable for seven years, counted from two months after the end of the taxable period in which it became uncollectable (one month for a corporation in liquidation whose remaining assets are settled), or from the day after the return deadline where that deadline is extended under Article 45-2(1) of the Act or Article 76(2) of the Cabinet Order. It keeps them at its place for tax payment or the office handling the transaction.This is the rule until 31 March 2028.(Art. 19(1), Art. 23-3(1), Art. 29(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 39(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business deducting the tax on a bad debt keeps the documents proving the event that made it uncollectable for seven years from the day after the deadline for the final return (確定申告書) for the taxable period in which it became uncollectable, at its place for tax payment or the office handling the transaction.This is the rule from 1 April 2028.(Art. 19(1), Art. 1(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 39(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• To deduct the tax on gold or platinum bullion bought, a business keeps the seller's identity document (本人確認書類) showing their name and address, a copy or an electronic record included — for an individual living in Japan, for example an Individual Number Card, driving licence or passport valid on the day of purchase, or a copy of the resident record made within the year before it; a qualified invoice (適格請求書) the seller issued also counts. Without it the tax on that purchase cannot be deducted, unless the business proves that a disaster or other unavoidable circumstance prevented keeping it. Where the purchase goes through an agent or broker, the identity documents of both the seller and the agent are kept, or only the agent's for a trade on a commodity market (商品市場) or a financial instruments exchange.(Art. 15-7(1), Art. 15-7(1)(i), Art. 15-7(2), Art. 15-7(3), Consumption Tax Act Art. 30(11)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 November 2026

  The text on this site

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行規則の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 22 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

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

  消費税法施行規則等の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 19 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 September 2026

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

  消費税法施行規則等の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 19 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行規則の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 19 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Ministerial Order on the Arrangement of Ministerial Orders Related to the Ministry of Finance upon the Partial Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Basic Act on the Formation of a Digital Society, etc. to Improve Convenience for Persons Concerned in Administrative Procedures, etc. and to Simplify and Streamline Administrative Operations through the Use of Information and Communications Technology

  情報通信技術の活用による行政手続等に係る関係者の利便性の向上並びに行政運営の簡素化及び効率化を図るためのデジタル社会形成基本法等の一部を改正する法律の一部の施行に伴う財務省関係省令の整理に関する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 34 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行規則の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 22 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 24 March 2025

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation, etc.

  租税特別措置法施行規則等の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 9 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 2 December 2024

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation, etc.

  租税特別措置法施行規則等の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 66 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2024

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

  消費税法施行規則の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 19 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 July 2024

  Ministerial Order Partially Amending the Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation, etc.

  租税特別措置法施行規則等の一部を改正する省令

  Ministry of Finance Order No. 46 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 40 amendments already in force

• A retailer or similar business selling to many unspecified customers may record its cash sales as daily totals, split into standard-rate taxable sales, reduced-rate sales and other sales, instead of sale by sale.(Art. 27(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Retail, restaurant, photography and travel businesses, certain taxi businesses, public car parks and similar businesses selling to many unspecified customers may leave the customer's name out of their books.(Art. 27(2), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 70-11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business under the simplified method of deducting purchase tax may leave out of its books the records of refunds received on purchases and of refunds of tax on imported goods, for the periods it uses that method.(Art. 27(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Books for the purchase tax deduction need be kept only five years, instead of seven, where the invoices for their entries are kept for the full period, and invoices only five years where the books for them are.(Art. 15-6(1), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 50(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business that receives or sends an invoice as an electronic record (電磁的記録) keeps it with one of the measures that Article 4(1) of a separate Ministry of Finance Order on keeping national tax books and documents electronically (Ministry of Finance Order No. 43 of 1998) sets for electronic transactions, under requirements like those it sets. It may instead keep a clear, orderly printout of it, in the same place and for the same period.(Art. 15-5(1), Art. 15-5(2), Art. 26-8(1), Art. 26-8(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The higher heavy additional tax for electronic records under Article 59-2(1) of the Act does not apply to matters in an electronic record that the business keeps, as this Order allows, as a printout.This is the rule until 31 December 2026.(Art. 27-2(2), Consumption Tax Act Art. 59-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The higher heavy additional tax for electronic records under Article 59-2(1) of the Act does not apply to matters in an electronic record that the business keeps, as this Order allows, as a printout. Nor does it apply, for tax whose statutory filing deadline (法定申告期限) falls on or after 1 January 2027, to a specified electronic record (特定電磁的記録) — an electronic record of a kind the Cabinet Order sets, such as purchase record information, kept as the consumption-tax laws require — that is kept throughout under requirements like those of Article 5(5) of Ministry of Finance Order No. 43 of 1998, where the business has filed in advance with the district tax office director a notice choosing this. A business that wants to give the choice up files a further notice in advance, and the first notice then lapses from the taxable period in which it is filed.This is the rule from 1 January 2027.(Art. 27-2(2), Art. 27-2(3), Art. 27-2(4), Art. 27-2(5), 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)
• Public bodies and other recipients of specified income may leave out who it came from where it comes from many unspecified people.(Art. 31(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Gold and platinum bullion, and gold and platinum coins, cannot be sold tax-free at a tax-free shop.(Art. 6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• A tax-free shop must also tell each buyer that goods confirmed by customs must be exported without delay, and that if they are not, an amount equal to the consumption tax exempted, with the matching local consumption tax, will be collected. It must also tell them that a buyer who fails to export them without a justifiable reason may be punished under Article 65(1)(i) of the Act, which sets imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 6-3(1)(ii), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 18(3), Consumption Tax Act Art. 65(1) from 1 November 2026, Consumption Tax Act Art. 65(1)(i) from 1 November 2026) (the provisions it rests on)
• When the district tax office director (税務署長) grants a tax-free shop permit, approves a business to send purchase records on shops' behalf, or approves a business to set up temporary sales outlets, the director notifies the business of an identification code (識別符号). A business sending purchase records on a shop's behalf must send its code with them.(Art. 7(3), Art. 9(3), Art. 9(4), Art. 10(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A business running a tax-free shop must notify the district tax office director for its place for tax payment when a particular of its permit application changes: without delay, or by the day before the move if it moves the shop. To stop selling tax-free at a shop it files a notice naming the day it will stop, and once the notice is filed the shop's permit ends on that day.(Art. 7(4), Art. 7(5), Order for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act Art. 18-2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where heavy additional tax (重加算税) is raised under Article 59-2(1) of the Act — by 10% of the tax concerned, for concealed or disguised facts in electronic records the business keeps — the assessment notice (賦課決定通知書) must state that this rule applies.(Art. 27-3(1), Consumption Tax Act Art. 59-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)