If you’re researching Japan’s tax-free shopping rules for a 2026 trip, you’ve probably run into both the old system and the new one, sometimes on the same page. Here’s exactly what changed on November 1, 2026, and which set of rules applies to your purchase.
What changed at a glance
| Old system (until Oct 31, 2026) | Refund system (from Nov 1, 2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| At the register | Paid the tax-free price — consumption tax was deducted at checkout | Pay full price including tax; the refund comes later |
| Passport | Showed your physical passport; the store registered the sale | Same — show your physical passport; the store registers your purchase electronically before you leave |
| Item categories | Goods were split into “general items” and “consumables”; consumables were sealed in special packaging | No split, no sealed bags — buy anything except gold or platinum bullion and coins |
| Purchase minimum / cap | At least ¥5,000 before tax per store per day; consumables were capped at ¥500,000 | At least ¥5,000 before tax per store per day; no upper cap |
| At departure | Nothing to claim — the discount had already happened at the register | Stop at the customs kiosk in the departure lobby before checking in bags; green result = done, red = show goods at the customs counter |
| Getting the tax back | Instant, at purchase | Refunded to your card typically in 1-2 weeks or your bank account in 2-4 weeks after departure (typical operator processing times, not an official rule) |
Which rules apply to your purchase
Which system applies to a purchase comes down to when you bought it, not when you fly home. Anything bought on or before October 31, 2026, falls under the old at-register system — the tax was never collected in the first place, so there’s nothing to refund later, even if your flight home leaves in November or later.
Anything bought on or after November 1, 2026, goes through the refund process instead, no matter when the rest of your trip started. If your trip spans both sides of that date, don’t expect one rule to cover the whole trip — each purchase follows the rules that were in effect on the day you made it.
Why Japan switched
The old system let travelers walk out of a store tax-free the moment they paid, with no check on what happened to the goods afterward. That created an opening: items bought tax-free for export could just as easily be resold inside Japan instead, and once the sale was done, there was no practical way to catch it.
Paying tax upfront and refunding it only after customs confirms the goods actually left the country closes that loophole. It’s the same logic behind refund-style systems used across Europe, where you also pay tax at the register and claim it back at the airport.
A couple of things didn’t change, though. Airport shops past security are duty-free, not tax-free, and they still sell tax-free instantly, exactly as before — see duty-free vs tax-free for how the two differ. And the ¥5,000-per-store-per-day purchase threshold carries over unchanged, applying under both the old system and the new one.
For the full step-by-step under the refund system, see the 2026 overview; for the underlying rules straight from the source, check the official pages below.