Furusato Nozei: One-Stop Exception vs Tax Return — Which to Use

Quick answer (30 seconds): Furusato nozei lets you donate to Japanese municipalities and get almost all of it back (minus a flat 2,000 yen) as a tax break — but you have to claim it. There are two ways. The One-Stop Exception (wanstoppu tokurei) is the no-paperwork route: it works only if you are a salary earner who otherwise does not need to file a tax return and you donated to 5 or fewer municipalities. You mail a short form to each town by January 10 of the next year, and the whole break comes off your residence tax (juminzei). The other route is filing a final tax return (kakutei shinkoku): use it if you donated to 6+ towns, or you already have to file for another reason (medical-expense deduction, first-year mortgage credit, side income). Filing gives part of the break as an income-tax refund and the rest as a residence-tax credit. Same total money — different paperwork.

Disclaimer: This is general information, not tax advice. Furusato nozei interacts with your residence status and total income. Confirm your own case with the National Tax Agency (NTA / Kokuzeicho), your city tax office, or a licensed tax accountant (zeirishi) before relying on it.

First, why you have to choose at all

When you make a furusato nozei donation, the town sends you a donation receipt (kifukin juryosho) and usually a gift (henreihin). That receipt is not the tax break. The break only happens once you tell the tax system about your donations through one of two channels:

1. One-Stop Exception — a per-municipality form, no tax return.
2. Final tax return — you list all donations on your annual return.

You pick one channel for the whole year. You cannot do half-and-half: if you end up filing a tax return, every One-Stop form you sent is automatically cancelled, and you must re-declare all your donations on the return (more on this below).

The One-Stop Exception (wanstoppu tokurei)

Who qualifies — two conditions, both required

Per the Soumusho (Ministry of Internal Affairs) rules, you can use One-Stop only if both are true:

• You are a salary earner who does not otherwise need to file a tax return (kakutei shinkoku no fuyo na kyuyo shotokusha). This is the typical company employee whose tax is settled by year-end adjustment (nenmatsu chosei).
• You donated to 5 or fewer municipalities in the calendar year.

A few traps inside that "5 municipalities" rule:

Situation	Counts as
3 separate donations to the same town	1 municipality
1 donation each to 5 different towns	5 — still OK
1 donation each to 6 different towns	6 — One-Stop not allowed, you must file

So it's 5 towns, not 5 donations. Donate ten times to one town and you're fine.

Who is NOT eligible (even with ≤5 towns)

If you have to file a tax return for any other reason, One-Stop is off the table and you declare furusato nozei on the return instead. Common triggers:

• Claiming a medical-expense deduction (iryohi kojo).
• The first year of a mortgage tax credit (jutaku loan kojo) — year one needs a return.
• Annual salary over 20 million yen, or side income that requires filing.
• You are a sole proprietor / freelancer who files anyway.

How and by when you apply

For each town you donated to, you send the One-Stop application form (wanstoppu tokurei shinseisho) plus ID documents. Towns usually include the form with your receipt, or you can submit online via the Jichitai Mado app / e-application many portals now support.

• Deadline: it must arrive at each municipality by January 10 of the year after you donated (the rule reads yokunen 1-gatsu 10-ka hitchaku — "must arrive by Jan 10," not just postmarked).
• Donate in December and you have only days to get the forms in — don't leave it.
• If January 10 falls on a weekend or holiday, some municipalities apply the local-tax filing-deadline rule and accept the next business day, but do not rely on it — treat Jan 10 as hard. (Verify the exact date with each town in the editor note year.)

Where the deduction shows up

With One-Stop there is no income-tax refund. Instead, the entire break — the part you'd normally get from income tax plus the residence-tax part — is bundled into your residence tax for the following fiscal year. You'll see it as a reduction on your residence-tax decision notice (juminzei kettei tsuchisho), the slip your employer hands you (or your city mails) around May–June. The total you get back is the same as filing; it just all lands on residence tax.

Filing a final tax return (kakutei shinkoku)

When you must (or should) file instead

Use the tax-return route if any apply:

• You donated to 6 or more municipalities.
• You already have to file for another reason (medical, year-one mortgage, side income, high salary).
• You missed the January 10 One-Stop deadline — filing a return is the rescue path.
• A One-Stop form was rejected or you simply prefer one consolidated declaration.

How the deduction splits when you file

Per NTA guidance (No.1155), furusato nozei is treated as a donation deduction (kifukin kojo). When you file:

• Income tax: (total donations − 2,000 yen) is taken as an income deduction; your refund depends on your marginal rate. This usually arrives as a bank refund weeks after filing.
• Residence tax: the remainder is applied as a credit against next fiscal year's residence tax (a "basic" 10% portion plus a "special" portion), shown on the same May–June residence-tax notice.

So filing gives you two touchpoints (an income-tax refund now + lower residence tax later), while One-Stop gives you one (all on residence tax). The bottom-line amount is designed to be the same.

Deadlines for the return

• The main filing window for FY2025 income is February 16 – March 16, 2026 (the regular period; dates shift year to year).
• Because furusato nozei is a refund-style claim (kanpu shinkoku), you can actually file from January 1 and, if you forgot a past year, you generally have up to 5 years to claim it retroactively.

Once you file a tax return that includes the year's furusato nozei, all One-Stop forms you sent for that year are void. You must list every donation on the return, even ones you'd already One-Stopped — otherwise that part of the deduction is simply lost.

Quick decision table

Your situation	Use this
Company employee, ≤5 towns, no other reason to file	One-Stop (mail forms by Jan 10)
Donated to 6+ towns	Tax return
Claiming medical deduction or year-one mortgage credit	Tax return (declare furusato there too)
Freelancer / sole proprietor who files anyway	Tax return
Missed the Jan 10 One-Stop deadline	Tax return (the rescue route)

Special notes for foreign residents

Furusato nozei is not about nationality — it's about tax residency and the January 1 snapshot. A few points that matter specifically if you're a foreign resident:

• You must be a Japan tax resident with taxable income here. If you pay Japanese income tax and residence tax, you can use furusato nozei like anyone else — the gift catalog and rules are identical.
• One-Stop forms are in Japanese and ask for your name, address, and My Number (kojin bango). Online submission via the Jichitai Mado app can be easier than mailing paper.
• Residence tax is decided by where you lived on January 1. This creates the single biggest trap for people who leave Japan.

Leaving Japan mid-year — read this carefully

The deduction works only if you actually owe the tax it offsets. Two scenarios:

• You donate in 2026 and then leave Japan before the end of 2026 (so you are a non-resident on January 1, 2027): you will not owe FY2027 residence tax — and with no residence tax to reduce, the residence-tax part of your deduction disappears. One-Stop, which puts everything on residence tax, would give you nothing in this case. You can still recover the income-tax portion by filing a final tax return before you go (often via a tax representative, nozei kanrinin). Because of this, donating in the same year you leave Japan is usually not worth it unless you file a return.
• You donate in one year and leave the next: you were a resident on the relevant January 1, so the residence-tax credit still applies as normal.

If you might leave Japan, talk to your city tax office and consider appointing a tax representative before departure. State no assumption about your own dates without confirming.

2025 rule change: no more portal "points" on donations

A major change took effect on October 1, 2025. Under a 2024 Soumusho notice, furusato nozei portal sites can no longer give you site loyalty "points" (the campaign points portals used to pile on top of the gift) for soliciting donations. Practical effects:

• Donation-linked portal point campaigns ended. On Rakuten Furusato Nozei, for example, the operator announced that donation points were awarded only for donations completed by September 30, 2025.
• Ordinary payment points are not banned. "Points that come from a normal commercial transaction" — e.g. the standard credit-card points you'd earn on any purchase — are explicitly excluded from the ban and still apply.
• The tax mechanism is unchanged. Your 2,000-yen floor, the deduction, and the One-Stop-vs-return choice all work exactly as before. The change only removed the extra portal points sweetener.

If a site still advertises big "furusato points" today, read the fine print carefully and verify against the portal's own current notice.

Where to donate

Major portals include Rakuten Furusato Nozei and Amazon Furusato Nozei, alongside the big standalone sites. They list the same municipalities and gifts; pick on usability and your existing account.

Sources / last updated

Last updated 2026-06-25. Primary sources: Soumusho (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) furusato nozei procedure and tax-deduction pages; National Tax Agency (NTA / Kokuzeicho) "No.1155 Furusato Nozei" and the Reiwa-7 furusato filing special. Portal-point ban based on the 2024 Soumusho notice (effective Oct 1, 2025) and Rakuten Furusato Nozei's own point-rule notice. Deadlines and the leaving-Japan treatment are time-sensitive — confirm the current year's dates and your own residency with the NTA or your city tax office before acting.