Tax-free shopping calculator

1How the refund is worked out

Japanese price tags already include the consumption tax, so the refund is not tax added on the top — it is the tax sitting inside the figure you paid. Divide what you paid by 1.10 for general goods, or 1.08 for food and drink, and what is left is the tax-excluded price. The difference between the two is what comes back.

A ¥11,000 purchase is ¥10,000 of goods and ¥1,000 of consumption tax. A ¥5,400 food purchase is ¥5,000 of goods and ¥400 of tax. The calculator does that division, because the number that decides whether a purchase qualifies is the tax-excluded one, not the one on the tag.

2The ¥5,000 minimum is per shop, per day, tax excluded

Tax-free shopping only begins at ¥5,000 of goods, and that figure is measured without the tax: at 10% the cheapest qualifying purchase is ¥5,500 on the tag, and at 8% it is ¥5,400. Purchases made in the same shop on the same day can be added together, so a ¥3,000 and a ¥3,000 purchase in one shop on one day qualifies. Split the same ¥6,000 across two shops and neither purchase does.

That is the rule most often got wrong at the counter, and the one the calculator is built around: it tells you how far short a purchase is, and what it would take to clear the line.

3Which rate applies

10% is the standard rate and covers most of what a visitor buys: clothing, bags, electronics, cosmetics, medicine, and alcohol. 8% is the reduced rate and covers food and drink — but not alcohol, and not a meal eaten in a restaurant, which is taxed at the standard rate. Takeaway and groceries are at 8%.

The rate is printed on the receipt. If a receipt carries both, each line is refunded at its own rate, so run the two figures separately.

4What changes on 1 November 2026

Japan switches tax-free shopping from an exemption at the till to a refund claimed at the airport. The arithmetic above does not change; who holds the money and for how long does.

	Until 31 October 2026	From 1 November 2026
Price at the till	Tax taken off at purchase	Tax-inclusive; refunded later
Where the refund happens	At the shop	At customs, before security and before check-in
Deadline to leave Japan	30 days	90 days
Consumables	Must stay sealed	Sealing abolished — but consume it in Japan and the refund is lost
Categories	General goods vs consumables	Split abolished
Minimum spend	¥5,000 per shop per day, tax excluded	Unchanged

Until 31 October 2026 the figure this calculator shows is simply money you do not pay at the till. From 1 November 2026 you pay it and claim it back — so a big shop at the start of a three-week trip is a loan to the Japanese government for the length of the stay. The tax-free shopping guide walks through the counter, the receipts and the customs queue in full.

Last updated 11 October 2026