Hi guys
I’m in Japan on a 3 year working visa and my work rotation is 3 months in Japan, 1 month in my native country
Can I buy things without the consumption tax / tax free if I buy it 30 days before I go home?
Or does having a residence card prevent that happening?
For context I want to buy my son a watch for his 18th,
So I’d be buying it and taking it out of Japan, before returning for work, 4 weeks later
Any advice is appreciated and as always, thanks in advance x
3 comments
No.
It was possible before : BIC Camera for example you could buy tax free on the first 90 days if you had a long term VISA.
It’s explicitly written on the counters that it is not possible anymore.
Only tourist VISA can buy tax free.
Maybe other places ?
Technically residents must pay consumption tax. So you’d be on the hook for the tax unfortunately.
However, in practice it is solely up to the retailer’s understanding of the tax rules. If they are stamping your passport with a visa, you will be SOL.
Ironically there are exemptions for citizens if they live overseas for 2 years, but I don’t think that applies to non-citizens — I’m required to pay consumption tax, but my wife isn’t — go figure.
If you are buying it as a gift for your son, then your visa and time in Japan doesn’t matter as Japan has a totally different system for Japan resident sending gift overseas. It’s much more complicated and require more paperwork but it’s totally by the book.
[https://taxfree.jp/announce/topic20160304/](https://taxfree.jp/announce/topic20160304/)
I did this before when I was buying some jewellery for my mom for about 1M JPY. Getting that 100,000 tax back felt good. (I actually did not know this procedure exists by the shop I was buying told me about it)