Collect tax in Japan

In Japan, Stripe Tax supports calculation and collection of Consumption Tax.

When to register for tax collection

See Thresholds to get insights about your potential tax registration obligations in Japan. Stripe also notifies you with email and Dashboard alerts when you need to register to collect tax. Learn more about how the monitoring tool works.

Remote sellers must register in Japan in either of the following cases:

• Their taxable sales in Japan exceed the registration threshold of 10 million JPY in the base period.
• Their taxable sales exceed 10 million JPY in the specified period.

The base period refers to:

• The calendar year two years prior to the current one (for example, the base period for the year of 2021 is 2019). This applies to sole proprietors.
• The business year two years prior to the current one. This applies to corporations.

The specified period refers to the first 6 months of the previous calendar year (for sole proprietors) or the first 6 months of a fiscal year (for corporations).

Registered remote sellers must have an office located in Japan or have a tax representative in Japan. Remote sellers that provide electronic services to Japanese consumers can use a simplified registration procedure.

• Threshold: 10 million JPY
• Time frame: Japanese base period and specified period as defined above.
• Included transactions: Any taxable transactions that reverse charge doesn’t apply to.

Register to collect tax

To collect Consumption Tax, any business must either have an office located in Japan or have a tax representative in Japan. This also applies to remote sellers of electronic services, however there is a simplified registration process for these businesses.

Find more information on how to register for Consumption Tax in Japan on the government website:

• General information about Consumption Tax in Japan
• Registration for remote sellers of electronic services

After you’ve registered to collect tax in Japan, go to Registrations to add your registrations to Stripe in the Dashboard. This turns on tax calculation and collection in Stripe for your transactions in Japan.

Learn more about how to add your registration in the Dashboard.

How we calculate taxes

When both your business and your customer are in Japan, Stripe calculates Japanese Consumption Tax unless the sale is exempt or zero-rated.

If you’re a remote seller and sell services to Japanese customers, Consumption Tax is typically collected on sales to individuals. No tax is charged on sales to business customers who provide their tax registration number.

When goods are shipped into Japan from abroad, Stripe treats the sale as an export and doesn’t calculate tax, unless you choose to calculate tax on cross-border sales of goods into Japan through the tax registration settings. Generally, businesses need to collect tax on cross-border sales of goods that occur after the goods have cleared customs. If the sale occurs after the goods arrive in Japan but before customs clearance, no tax is due.

Cross-border sales of goods into Japan might also be subject to import taxes and customs duties in Japan, which Stripe doesn’t calculate.

Report and file your taxes

Stripe provides reports of your completed tax transactions. Go to Registrations to access these reports. Learn more about the different types of reports.

You’re responsible for filing and remitting your taxes to Japan. Stripe doesn’t file taxes on your behalf. However, we do have trusted partners who can help manage your filing and remittance.