Japan Furusato Nozei: December Deadline Checklist

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ and the National Tax Agency’s pages · figures for the 2026 tax year

A furusato nozei (ふるさと納税, hometown tax donation) counts for 2026 only if it is paid by 31 December 2026, and if you use the one-stop exception (ワンストップ特例) instead of a tax return, each municipality’s application has to reach it by 10 January 2027. December is when you know most of your year’s income, so it is a good time to check your limit, and a poor time to leave anything to the last day. This page is the checklist; how the relief works and where the limit comes from are in the furusato nozei guide.

This is a general explanation for somebody paid a salary in Japan. The municipalities you donate to, your city office and the tax office are the authority on your own donations.

1. Check your limit on the year you actually had

Your limit is worked out on this year’s income and comes off next year’s resident tax, so a limit you looked up in spring was a guess. By December you know your salary to date and whether the bonuses came. Work the limit out again on the year you actually had, with anything that lowers it:

• a bonus smaller than you expected, or a job change that left a month or two unpaid;
• a spouse or relative you now support;
• iDeCo or other deductions you will claim at the year-end adjustment;
• medical expenses or a first-year home-loan credit you will claim on a tax return.

If you worked for more than one employer this year, use the total from all of them. Then donate a little under the figure, not exactly at it: above the limit the extra still costs you more than ¥2,000 in all.

2. Pay by 31 December, not just order

The National Tax Agency counts a donation in the year it is paid (その年に支出した), and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications runs the relief from January to December. A donation ordered on 31 December and paid in January — by bank transfer or at a convenience store, say — is a 2027 donation, and it counts against 2027’s limit.

• Read the year-end note. How each payment method is dated is up to the municipality and the portal you use, and many publish their own cut-off for the last days of the year. Read it in early December, not on the 31st.
• Donate in your own name. The ministry says the donation has to be made by, and in the name of, the taxpayer who claims it. A donation in your partner’s name is theirs, even if it is for the whole household.

3. Decide now: the one-stop exception or a tax return

The one-stop exception lets an employee skip the tax return. It applies only if both are true:

• you would not file a tax return or a resident tax declaration (住民税申告) for 2026 anyway — your year is settled by your employer’s year-end adjustment and nothing else needs declaring; and
• you gave to five or fewer municipalities in the year. Two donations to the same town are one of the five.

If you will file a return for any reason — medical expenses, the first year of a home-loan credit, side income that needs one, or a sixth municipality — the one-stop applications no longer count, and every donation of the year goes on the return. The same goes for a resident tax declaration, which side income too small to need a tax return can still call for. But a resident tax declaration brings back only the resident tax part of the relief: the income tax part needs a final tax return (確定申告), and that return then has to include the small side income as well. Without it the donations cost you more than ¥2,000 even under the limit, so weigh the two before you decide. Decide which route you are on before you post anything.

4. The one-stop forms: in by 10 January 2027

• One application for every donation. The five-municipality limit counts places, but the application goes with each donation: give the same town twice and it needs two, and a donation with no application gets no credit that way. Ticking the box on a payment slip that asks for the form is not an application, the ministry warns: you fill in the form the municipality sends and return it, with the copies it asks for.
• It has to arrive by 10 January 2027. A form posted on that day is too late, and the post is slow around the New Year, so send it in December.
• If you move first. A move or a change of name after you apply needs a change notification (変更届出書) to each of those municipalities by the same 10 January.

5. Will you still live in Japan on 1 January?

Resident tax is charged by the city you live in on 1 January. If you leave Japan before then, there is usually no resident tax for this year’s income for a donation to come off, and with the one-stop exception nothing comes back at all. If you might leave, read resident tax when you leave Japan before you donate.

6. Keep the receipts

Each municipality sends a receipt for the donation (寄附金受領証明書), and when it arrives is up to the municipality. A tax return needs it, or a yearly statement from a portal approved for the purpose (寄附金控除に関する証明書). With the one-stop exception you send nothing more, but keep the receipts: they are how you show a donation that is missing later.

After the New Year

• An application missed 10 January. Then that year’s donations go on a final tax return (確定申告) instead, in the February to March season, with the receipts. Nothing is lost but the convenience.
• The notice in May or June. Your resident tax notice (住民税決定通知書), handed over by your employer, shows the credit. If a donation is missing, ask the city office that sent it, with the receipt.

Questions people ask

Does a donation on 31 December still count for this year?

Only if it is paid that day. What counts is the year the money is paid, not the day you ordered. How each payment method is dated is up to the municipality and the portal, so read their own note on the year-end before you rely on the last day.

My one-stop application will arrive after 10 January. What now?

Then it does not count, and you claim that year’s donations on a tax return instead, with the municipalities’ receipts. The relief is the same; only the route is different.

I donated twice to the same town. Is that two of my five?

No. The limit for the one-stop exception counts municipalities, not donations, so two donations to one town are one of the five. Each of the two donations still needs its own application.

Sources

• National Tax Agency — No.1150 一定の寄附金を支払ったとき（寄附金控除） (the deduction is on donations paid in the year, その年に支出した; the receipt, or a portal’s yearly statement for furusato nozei, goes with the return). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1155 ふるさと納税（寄附金控除） (the one-stop exception for employees who do not otherwise file, five or fewer municipalities; anybody who files a tax return or a resident tax declaration, for medical expenses or otherwise, puts the donations on it). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — よくある質問 (relief runs January to December; a final tax return brings back both the income tax and the resident tax parts; the limit counts municipalities; the donor and the name must be the taxpayer’s own; ticking the box on a payment slip is not an application; receipts arrive when each municipality sends them). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — 制度改正について（2015年4月1日） (an application with each donation, to the municipality that receives it; a change notification by 10 January after a move). Japanese.