Brokerage fee

Property price less than JPY 2,000,000: 5% + consumption tax

Property price from JPY 2,000,000 to JPY 4,000,000: 4% + JPY 20,000 + consumption tax

Property price JPY 4,000,000 or greater: 3% + JPY 60,000 + consumption tax

There is no need to pay a brokerage fee when the property is purchased directly from the seller.

Acquisition tax

From 3.0 - 4.0% of the fixed asset value.

Land: 3.0%

Building (residence): 3.0%

Building (non-residence): 4.0%

A tax relief deduction is applicable for acquisition of residential Land Use Zones. The estimated value of the fixed asset is halved.

Stamp duty

The amount of stamp tax payable is dependent on the property price listed on the Purchase & Sales Agreement.

There are tax relief measures in effect for contracts signed between 31 March, 2013 and 31 March, 2014.

The tax relief reduction was expanded from 1 April 2014. Current stamp tax ranges from JPY 15,000 to JPY 540,000, and from 1 April 2014, from JPY 10,000 to JPY 480,000.

Consumption tax

From 1 April, 2017, the consumption tax will rise from 8.0% to 10.0%.

Building: 8.0%

Land: 0.0%

Please note that all of the prices listed on this website include consumption tax where applicable.

Registration tax

Registration tax is payable upon acquisition of either a piece of land or a building. The tax is calculated against the taxable fixed asset value, which is valued by the Japanese government once every 3 years

Registration of land ownership: 2.0% (1.5% with tax relief)

(tax relief deduction of 0.5% in effect until 31 March, 2015)

Registration of building ownership: 2.0% (0.3% with tax relief)

(tax relief deduction for own-occupancy of 1.7% in effect until 31 March, 2015)

Registration of Mortgage: 0.4% (0.1% with tax relief)

(tax relief deduction for own-occupancy of 0.3% in effect until 31 March, 2015)

* The tax rates above are not dependent on the Land Use Zone and are flat rates that apply across all Land Use Zone categories.

Fixed Asset Tax

This type of property tax is 1.4% of the estimated fixed asset value on average, though the upper limit of the tax rate is 2.1% as enacted by respective municipalities.

Fixed Asset Value:

One-sixth of the fixed asset value is taxable for land areas less than 200 sqm.

One-third of the fixed asset value is taxable for land areas greater than 200 sqm.

One-half of the value of the estimated fixed asset value is deducted from the taxable amount for a period of 5 years following acquisition of a building constructed within the past year and greater than 50 sqm, but less than 280 sqm in area.

City Planning tax

The upper limit of the tax rate is 0.3% as enacted by the respective municipalities. The standard taxable value of the city planning tax is calculated based on the tax valuation of fixed assets.

Residential property less than 200 sqm: One-third of the standard taxable value.

Residential property greater than 200 sqm: Two-thirds of the standard taxable value.

Resident tax

Need to pay if you are registered citizen in Japan.

Income tax

Income Per Annum

Less than JPY 1,950,000 =

JPY 1,950,001 - JPY 3,300,000 =

JPY 3,300,001 - JPY 6,950,000 =

JPY 6,950,001 - JPY 9,000,000 =

Capital Gains tax

When a capital gain is generated on the disposal of a fixed asset, the following capital gains tax is applied.

a) Short-term capital gains (less than 5 years): 39% (income tax: 30%, resident’s tax 9%).

b) Long-term capital gains (equal to or greater than 5 years): 20% (income tax: 15%, resident’s tax: 5%).

* The holding period is calculated from 1 January.

Withholding tax

10% of sales price (fully credited after tax returns filed)