Furusato nozei sounds too good to be true, which is why people either avoid it or misunderstand it. The mechanism is simple once stated plainly: you pay part of next year's residence tax to a municipality of your choosing instead of your own, and they send you a present. Your total tax barely changes. You are out ¥2,000 and you receive rice, beef, fruit or a bottle of something.
How it works
- Work out your limit.
- Donate to one or more municipalities through one of the portal sites.
- Receive the gift, and a receipt.
- Claim, either through the one-stop exception or on a tax return.
- The donated amount, less ¥2,000, comes off your income and residence tax the following year.
Foreign residents are fully eligible. The only requirement is that you pay Japanese residence tax, which means you were resident on 1 January and had income the previous year.
Your limit
The limit rises with income and falls with your other deductions — dependants, insurance, mortgage relief, the medical expense deduction. Every portal site has a calculator; use one and be conservative rather than exact.
Exceeding the limit is not a disaster, but the excess is a plain donation with no tax effect. Aim slightly under.
The one-stop exception
Normally you would file a tax return to claim this. The one-stop exception (ワンストップ特例) avoids that, if:
- You are an employee whose tax is settled by year-end adjustment, and
- You are not filing a tax return for any other reason, and
- You donated to five municipalities or fewer in the year
You send each municipality a form with a copy of your My Number documentation. Many portals now handle this digitally.
The trap: if you later file a tax return for anything else — the medical expense deduction, for instance, or a second income — every one-stop application you filed is invalidated, and you must declare all the donations on that return instead. People lose the benefit entirely this way. If there is any chance you will file, skip one-stop and plan to declare.
The deadlines
- 31 December — the donation must be completed. Payment timing counts, and card processing at the end of December is not instant.
- 10 January — one-stop forms must have arrived at each municipality. This one is missed constantly because people treat it as a posting date.
- Mid-March — tax return deadline if you are claiming that way.
Practical notes
- Spread donations through the year. Everyone piles into December, popular gifts sell out, and delivery slips into the new year.
- Watch the freezer. A December rush produces four kilos of frozen seafood arriving at once.
- Gifts are capped at 30 per cent of the donation in value, so treat comparisons between portals accordingly.
- Keep every receipt. You need them if you file a return.
- If you leave Japan before the following year's residence tax is assessed, you may get the gift and none of the benefit. Do not donate in your final year.
The phrases
- ふるさと納税をしたいです。 — Furusato nōzei o shitai desu. — I would like to use the hometown tax scheme.
- ワンストップ特例を使えますか。 — Wan sutoppu tokurei o tsukaemasu ka? — Can I use the one-stop exception?
- 寄附金受領証明書をお願いします。 — Kifukin juryō shōmeisho o onegai shimasu. — Please send the donation receipt.
Where to confirm this
- Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, furusato nozei portal
- Our guide to residence tax
- Our guide to the medical expense deduction, which interacts with one-stop
Guides are dated rather than undated: last reviewed 21 August 2026. This is an organisational aid, not legal or immigration advice — always confirm anything consequential with your ward office, the Immigration Services Agency, or a qualified professional.