Furusato Nozei for Foreigners in Japan

Last updated: 16 October 2026 · the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ furusato nozei pages · figures for the 2026 tax year

Furusato nozei (ふるさと納税, hometown tax donation) lets you donate to a city, town or prefecture of your choice and have most of the donation come back as lower income tax and resident tax: everything except ¥2,000, as long as you stay under a limit that depends on your resident tax. Foreign residents use it on exactly the same terms as anybody else; what decides whether it works is not your nationality but whether you pay resident tax in Japan, and in particular whether you will still be living here on 1 January after the year you donate.

This is a general explanation for somebody paid a salary in Japan. Your city office and the tax office are the authority on your own tax.

How the money comes back

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications sets out three parts, each worked out on the donation less ¥2,000:

• Income tax: the donation less ¥2,000, times your income tax rate. It comes back as a refund when you file a tax return.
• Resident tax, basic part (基本分): the donation less ¥2,000, times 10%.
• Resident tax, special part (特例分): the rest, so that only ¥2,000 is left for you to pay — but this part may not be more than 20% of the income-based part of your resident tax (所得割).

That cap on the special part is what sets the limit. Donate more and the excess still gets the income tax and basic resident-tax parts, but not the special part, so you pay more than ¥2,000 yourself.

Your limit

Because the cap is a share of your resident tax, the limit rises with your income and falls with every deduction: a dependent spouse, children, iDeCo, a home-loan credit. As a rough guide, the resident tax calculator gives these limits for somebody employed in Tokyo, under 40, with no other income or deductions:

The limit belongs to the year you donate in: it is worked out on that year’s income, and the resident tax it comes off is the bill for the next year. Leave a margin: these are estimates, and a raise, a bonus or a new deduction during the year moves the line.

The one-stop exception (ワンストップ特例)

Normally you claim the donation on a tax return. The one-stop exception lets you skip that, but only if both of these are true:

• you would not file a tax return for the year anyway — an employee whose year is settled by the year-end adjustment; and
• you donated to five or fewer municipalities in the year.

You send each municipality its application form, and it has to reach them by 10 January of the next year: a form posted on that day is too late. If you move or your name changes after applying, each of those municipalities also needs a change notification (変更届出書) by the same 10 January; without it the application may not count, and you claim the donation on a tax return instead. With the one-stop exception there is no income tax refund: the whole amount, the income tax part included, comes off your resident tax instead.

If you file a return for any reason — medical expenses, side income, the first year of a home loan, or donations to six or more places — the one-stop applications no longer count, and every donation of the year has to go on the return.

When you see it

• With a tax return: the income tax part comes back as a refund after you file; the resident tax part comes off the bill that starts in June of the next year.
• With the one-stop exception: nothing comes back in cash. Your resident tax from June of the next year is lower, spread over the monthly deductions if your employer collects it from your pay.

The resident tax notice your employer hands you in May or June shows the credit; if a donation is missing from it, ask the city office that sent the notice.

If you plan to leave Japan

Resident tax is charged by the city you live in on 1 January, on the previous year’s income. If you leave Japan before the 1 January after the year you donate, there is usually no resident tax bill for that income, so the resident tax parts — most of the relief, and all of it with the one-stop exception — have nothing to come off. Only the income tax part can still come back, through a tax return. So donate in a year after which you will still be living here on 1 January. The guide to resident tax when you leave explains the rest of the bill.

Questions people ask

Can foreigners use furusato nozei?

Yes. It depends on paying income tax and resident tax in Japan, not on nationality or visa type. If you live and work here and pay both, it works the same way as for anyone else.

Can I donate in my first year in Japan?

Yes. The limit is worked out on this year’s income, and the relief comes off next year’s resident tax, which you will pay as long as you still live in Japan on 1 January. Your first-year income is often lower, so the limit usually is too.

What happens if I donate more than my limit?

The part over the limit still gets the income tax and basic resident-tax parts, but not the special part, so it costs you more than ¥2,000 in total. It is not a penalty, just less relief.

Sources

• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — 税金の控除について (the three parts; the special part is capped at 20% of the income-based part of resident tax; above the cap you pay more than ¥2,000; with the one-stop exception the whole credit comes off the next year’s resident tax). Japanese, opened 16 October 2026.
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — 制度改正について（2015年4月1日） (the one-stop exception: employees who do not otherwise file, five or fewer municipalities, an application to each, a change notification by 10 January after a move; filing a return means claiming every donation on it). Japanese.
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — 個人住民税 (charged by the city where you live on 1 January). Japanese.
• National Tax Agency — No.1155 ふるさと納税（寄附金控除） (the income tax side of the donation). Japanese.