Furusato nozei for foreigners

Furusato nozei deadline for 2026

Pay for the donation by 31 December 2026 for it to count for 2026, and get the One-Stop form to the city by 10 January 2027.

• On donation portals, a payment that completes after midnight on 31 December counts as next year's donation. Rakuten's deadline for the year is 23:59 on 31 December.
• Bank transfer, convenience-store and Pay-easy payments count on the day the payment completes, and banks close at year end.
• 10 January 2027 is a Sunday, and city offices close over the New Year: Yamanashi Prefecture's office is closed from 29 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. Post the form in December if you can.

Sources: Yamanashi Prefecture, Rakuten Furusato Nozei FAQ, Ministry of Internal Affairs. The cutoff differs by payment method, so check the page of the city or portal you donate through.

Can foreigners do furusato nozei?

• Anyone who pays income tax or resident tax in Japan can use it; the donation must be in your own name
• Nationality does not matter: Kyotango City's English page says anyone with a Japanese salary who pays income and resident tax can use it
• You can donate to any prefecture or municipality, with no connection needed
• Everything above ¥2,000 comes back as income tax and resident tax deductions, up to a limit. The ¥2,000 is once a year in total, not per donation.

Sources: Ministry of Internal Affairs FAQ, Kyotango City.

Furusato nozei limit by salary

The Ministry's limit table is no longer on its site, and copies still online predate the 2025 tax changes. These figures come from our own tax model, the same one behind the take-home pay calculator, using the Ministry's formula.

Single, age 30, living in Tokyo, salary only, no dependents and no other deductions such as medical expenses or a housing loan. Dependents lower the limit. If you worked only part of the year, use what you earned in Japan that year. Rounded down to the nearest ¥1,000. As a check: Ministry figures (March 2026): salary ¥10 million, single: limit ¥180,000; ¥20 million: ¥570,000 (Ministry briefing, PDF). For an exact limit, ask your city office; some cannot answer.

Furusato nozei in your first year in Japan

You can donate in the year you arrive, but the limit follows only the salary you earn in Japan that calendar year, so it is small.

• Whether you owe resident tax is decided by your address on 1 January of that year (Hiroshima City). If you arrived after 1 January 2026, you get no resident tax bill for fiscal 2026 (June 2026 to May 2027).
• The income tax part of the deduction is refunded for the donation year; the resident tax part comes off the next fiscal year's resident tax.
• Resident tax is charged on the previous year's income (Hiroshima City). A 2026 donation therefore comes off the resident tax you are billed from June 2027, which is based on your 2026 salary, if you still live in Japan on 1 January 2027.
• Example: arriving in July on ¥250,000 a month is about ¥1,500,000 of salary in 2026. Our table gives a limit of ¥3,000. You pay ¥2,000 of it yourself, so the donation saves very little.
• In Hiroshima City, no resident tax is charged on a salary of ¥1,100,000 or less, or ¥1,190,000 or less on income earned in 2026. Where no resident tax is charged, that part of the deduction has nothing to come off.
• In a year when you work all 12 months, the full-year rows of the table apply.

Sources: Hiroshima City, Ministry of Internal Affairs. The salary example is our calculation. Your city sets the exact figures, so ask its resident tax office before you donate.

One-Stop form or tax return

1. One-Stop. Employees who don't otherwise file a tax return, donating to 5 or fewer places, can skip the tax return. Ticking the box to receive the One-Stop form is not the application; you must send the form back.
2. Deadline. See the 2026 dates. The form needs your My Number, plus a photo My Number Card or a My Number document with ID. Some municipalities accept One-Stop online with a My Number Card.
3. Tax return instead. File a tax return instead if you give to 6 or more places, or file one for any other reason. Filing a tax return cancels One-Stop, so list every donation on the return. The tax return is due by 15 March of the following year.

With One-Stop, the deduction shows as lower resident tax from June of the following year. Sources: Ministry of Internal Affairs, National Tax Agency, Yamagata City.

If you leave Japan

Resident tax is set by where you live on 1 January; leaving Japan does not cancel that year's bill (Ichinomiya City). The deduction comes off the resident tax charged the year after you donate, from June. If you will not live in Japan on 1 January next year, you will not owe that resident tax, and a One-Stop deduction has nothing to come off. No official page covers this case directly, so ask your city office before donating.

Which portals take foreign cards?

None of the main portals has an English version. What their payment pages say:

• Furusato Choice does not accept credit cards issued outside Japan. The card must be in the donor's name, or the donation gets no deduction.
• Rakuten Ichiba accepts foreign-issued cards with the five major brand logos; on Rakuten's furusato pages each town sets which brands it accepts.
• au PAY Furusato Nozei takes Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Diners and AMEX, plus au PAY; its payment guide and FAQ do not say whether cards issued outside Japan work.
• d Shopping Furusato: non-docomo customers can pay by credit card or d points.
• Furunavi also takes postal and bank transfer, for people without a card.

au PAY Furusato Nozei: donation site (in Japanese)

au PAY ふるさと納税

Opens au PAY Furusato Nozei's site (Japanese)

Since 1 October 2025, municipalities may not recruit donations through sites that give points for donating (Ministry notice). Thank-you gifts count as occasional income, taxed only above ¥500,000 a year with other occasional income.

No Japanese card yet? See credit cards that accept foreign residents.