Paying Property Taxes in Japan as a Foreigner

It would be hard to find anyone that enjoys paying their annual property taxes. For foreigners paying property taxes in Japan, it is even less fun, and more difficult, than it is for Japanese locals.

It is a fact that it can be easier to buy property in Japan than to pay the local taxes each year.
— Graham Hill, from FinTechNews.com (Singapore edition)

There are at least three challenges that foreigners that own property in Japan face regarding property taxes for Japan-based property: 1.) knowing how and when to receive the property tax statements from the local government, 2.) reading and understanding property taxes printed in Japanese, and 3.) paying those bills remotely or without a Japanese bank account.

As part of our series on taxes in Japan, we present this post about how to pay property taxes in Japan, including local details about Hokkaido, Sapporo, and more.

Table of Contents

— Property Taxes in Japan are Called Fixed Asset Taxes
— What is a City Planning Tax in Japan
— How Much are Property Taxes in Japan?
— Property Tax in Japan is Based on the Assessed Value of the Property
— When are Property Taxes Due in Japan?
— Examples of Quarterly Property Tax Payment Due Dates in Japan
— Receiving the Property Tax Bill for Property in Japan
— What to Do if You Do Not Receive a Tax Bill for Property in Japan
— Property Tax Statements in Japan
— Paying Property Taxes in Japan
— Tax Administrators in Japan
— Using a Property Manager to Pay Your Taxes in Japan
— Working With a Certified Tax Specialist in Japan as a Tax Agent
— Fines for Late Payment of Property Tax in Japan
— Get Local Help Paying Japanese Property Taxes

Property Taxes in Japan are Called Fixed Asset Taxes

In Japan, property taxes are called “fixed asset” taxes. The bills received by property owners for fixed asset tax in Japan also include a separate tax called the city planning tax; it comes bundled together with the fixed asset tax. Collectively, that tax bill functions as the property tax bill for property owners in Japan.

What is a City Planning Tax in Japan

The city planning tax is technically a separate tax that comes with the fixed asset tax each year.

The city planning tax is a local tax imposed by municipalities to cover part of the cost for city planning projects and land development projects. It is built together with the fixed asset tax and paid concurrently.
— From the book Real Estate Transaction in Japan

The cost is bundled together, and paid as one payment.

How Much are Property Taxes in Japan?

Property taxes are a local tax, and the exact amount varies by location. In Hokkakido, property tax can be estimated to be under 2% of the assessed value of the property.

In Sapporo, the fixed asset tax is 1.4% of the assessed value, and the city planning tax is 0.3% of the assessed value.

Property Tax in Japan is Based on the Assessed Value of the Property

The “assessed” values for property in Japan are determined by the local government in that area. The assessed value for property in Japan is not the same as the “purchase price”; the assessed value is usually much lower than the price that was paid for the property. For property in Niseko, the assessed value can be as much as 50% lower than the purchase price.

Assessed values in Japan are recalculated periodically, typically every three years.

When are Property Taxes Due in Japan?

The exact dates when property taxes are due in Japan can vary from year to year, but are basically due at approximately the same time(s) each year.

While property taxes can be paid in four installments (and thus, there can be four separate due dates for the fixed asset tax bills), paying the entire property tax bill before the first due date is the simplest way to ensure taxes are paid on time. That first due date for property taxes is different from city to city. In Sapporo, the first due date is typically before the end of April. For Niseko Town, however, property taxes are not issued until some time in May.

For foreigners that own property in Sapporo that live outside of Japan, it is possible to receive the bill in mid-April and then pay the bill for the whole year before the end of April (before the first payment is due). That due date for the first tax payment in Sapporo is typically on or before April 30 for each year.

In other cities in Japan, such as property taxes in Osaka, due dates are in April, July, December, and February. Knowing that due dates may differ by city can help you to not miss any of these payments.

Examples of Quarterly Property Tax Payment Due Dates in Japan

For a recent example of property tax deadlines in Japan, and the quarterly due dates for paying those taxes, here are some specific deadlines from a property located in Sapporo (for tax year 2024):

— Payment #1: April 17 – May 01
— Payment #2: July 18 – July 31
— Payment #3: September 19 – October 02
— Payment #4: December 18 – January 04

Note that for each tax payment for property in Sapporo, the due date is expressed as a date range. The second date listed for each payment is the actual deadline.

Speaking with local Sapporo tax consultants, we are told that the range applies to owners that apply to have their property taxes automatically deducted from their local Japanese bank accounts. In those cases, Sapporo city will deduct the local property tax from the owners bank account sometime within that date range. For anyone else, the first date in the date range for a given tax payment can be ignored, and only the last date for each payment is meaningful. In the example of payment #1 above, as long as the tax is paid by May 01, there will be no penalty.

NOTE: For the most accurate deadline to pay property taxes in Japan, always refer to the actual due date on the property tax statement for your property. The due dates for Japanese property taxes can change slightly from year to year.

Taxes that are paid after the due date are assessed a late fee (see more about late fees for taxes in Japan below).

Receiving the Property Tax Bill for Property in Japan

Japanese property tax bills are typically issued to the address that was recorded during the transfer of ownership when the property was purchased. That address may be the actual address of the property, or whichever address you and your agent gave the judicial scrivener as the property was purchased, and the sales details were recorded. To receive property tax notices in Japan, an address in Japan is preferred, and may be required.

In our conversations with local tax departments in Hokkaido, it is our understanding that property tax payments can sometimes be mailed to addresses outside of Japan, but that this process is discouraged. It may not be possible to have a property tax bill from Japan mailed internationally, in which case a local Japanese address will be required.

Even if you could receive your bill to an address outside of Japan, local tax authorities in Hokkaido also tell us that you cannot use an international wire transfer to pay for Japanese property taxes. If you want to pay your property taxes in Japan, they are generally paid from within Japan, at a local convenience store or a local bank.

We have more details on how to pay your property taxes in Japan below.

What to Do if You Do Not Receive a Tax Bill for Property in Japan

Your tax bill should be mailed to the address that you or your real estate agent provided when you purchased the property. That address should be on the title for the property, at the local Legal Affairs Bureau, in the region of Japan where your property is located.

If you do not receive a property tax notification for property in Japan, you can contact the local government and ask for a reissue of the current tax statement for the property.

As all real estate is local, and property taxes are local, you should contact the local authority. In Hokkaido, that local authority is often a division of the local city government. For Sapporo, there are multiple offices where tax questions can be asked, and duplicate property tax statements in Japan can be issued (see our list of Sapporo Tax Offices).

These local tax offices typically conduct business in Japanese only. Employees of these offices sometimes use devices for simple translation. You will certainly need to provide identification, and IDs from foreign countries may be difficult to verify. For these kinds of transactions, if you can (along with ID, and the physical documents you received when you purchased the property) bring a native speaker with you, you are more likely to understand and complete the transaction. If you have a native speaker that can call that office in advance, you can ask what documents and identification are required for reprints of Japanese property tax bills.

If you have a local Japanese tax administrator, that person may be able to request these details on your behalf.

Property Tax Statements in Japan

Property tax statements in Japan are issued in the spring of each year, usually April (but in some cases, May). The combined fixed asset tax and city planning tax bill for property owners in Japan are issued together as a combined total cost, in one statement. The property tax bills for property in Japan are delivered to the address on the title for that property that is recorded at the Legal Affair Bureau by the judicial scrivener at the time the property is purchased.

A Japanese property tax bill arrives as a packet of several statements; approximately eight pages. There is a horizontal “booklet” that contains three pages, summarizing the taxes. There is a separate bill that covers the entire year. And then there are four additional bills, that enable the homeowner to pay the property tax in Japan in quarterly installments throughout the year. These bills have due dates that commonly correspond to late-April, -July, -September, and -December of each year. However, for cities like Tokyo, the due dates are at the end of April, July, December, and February.

Region by region, the dates vary. For the best information, see the actual property tax statement for your own property.

The property tax bills are issued entirely in Japanese. Reading and understanding the materials is one challenge foreigners face as they work on paying property taxes in Japan. For example; While you are able to pay your property tax payments at a local bank, and the list of banks that will accept payment is listed on the back of you property tax bill, foreigners are unlikely to read Japanese, and will not understand that information.

For these reasons (and more), hiring someone to help you pay your local taxes is a common solution.

Paying Property Taxes in Japan

Typical property taxes in Japan come with four separate bills with due dates in April, July, December, and February, and a separate bill that covers the entire year. You have the option to pay the entire bill before the end of April, or to pay before the due date in each period. Paying installments is allowed, but is not required; you can pay it all at once. For many foreigners that are not in Japan year-round, that is probably the simplest option.

Payment for property taxes in Japan can be made in a variety of ways. The Japanese commonly pay bills via bank transfer, often as an automatic payment that the payee can draft from the payer’s account. If you do not have a Japanese bank account, bank transfer is not an option (international wire transfers are not acceptable for property taxes).

Alternately, property taxes in Japan can be paid in person, at most banks. Even if you do not have an account at a local bank that accepts tax payments, you can enter one of those banks in person, present the tax bill, and pay in cash. These payments can also be made at convenience stores (which is a common way to pay bills in Japan); just present the property tax statement to the cashier, the bill is scanned, and you can pay cash (credit cards are not accepted for property tax payments in Japan at convenience stores).

For foreigners that are in Japan after the property tax bills are issued, but before they are due, paying in person via cash is a viable way to pay property taxes. Banks can be a little more difficult, but paying at a convenience store is actually quite easy.

If you are not in Japan when the bill is due, then paying the local property tax payment for your property in Japan is much more difficult. As mentioned earlier, it may be difficult or impossible to have the property tax bill for your property in Japan mailed to an address in your home country. And even if you can receive the bill, the payment must come from within Japan; the local Japanese governments do not accept international wire transfers.

For foreigners that cannot reliably be present in Japan after the tax bills are generated in April, and before the due date at the end of April, hiring a local tax administrator in Japan is a common solution. We present more details about Japanese tax administrators below.

Tax Administrators in Japan

For foreigners that cannot easily pay local property tax bills in Japan, one common solution is to hire a Japanese tax administrator.

Instead of making the above tax payments directly, one has to appoint the tax administrator to facilitate both the national and local tax payments… The tax administrator does not have to be a tax accountant.
— From the book Winning Strategies for Japan Real Estate Investment

A tax administrator is not a formal title, but simply refers to someone you designate to be your fiscal representative, for money matters including paying your property taxes in Japan for you. The payment and tax representatives in Japan are called nouzeikanrinin (納税管理人 in kanji, or のうぜいかんりにん in hiragana). The main benefits of tax administrators for foreigners in Japan are that they have an address in Japan that can receive mail, and that they are available locally to make payments.

Depending on the source, a tax administrator in Japan may also be called a tax representative, a fiscal representative, or a tax agent.

For an official example of this designation from a Japanese authority, here is the Tokyo Metropolitan Government describing the function of a tax agent or administrator:

The taxpayers who do not hold an address within the Metropolitan area shall designate a tax agent who handles all matters related to taxation on behalf of the taxpayers. This system applies to the following metropolitan taxes: metropolitan inhabitant tax on individuals, enterprise tax on individuals, metropolitan inhabitant tax on corporations, enterprise tax on corporations, real estate acquisition tax, golf facilities tax, motor vehicle tax category base, mine tax, fixed assets tax, city planning tax, special land ownership tax and business establishment tax.
— Bureau of Taxation, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

You can see how the country of Japan, regardless of location, is working to find a way to enable foreigners to conduct real estate transactions in Japan, and to provide foreigners with a method of paying local taxes related to ongoing ownership of property in Japan even when they do not live in Japan.

While the term “certified” (as in “certified tax agent”) requires training and licensing, basic tax representation in Japan can be performed by any adult of legal age that resides in Japan.

As the quote from Winning Strategies indicates, that person does not need to be a tax specialist. Additionally, your tax administrator can also pay other local bills for you, including your local electricity bill, internet service, snow removal, etc. Your tax representative in Hokkaido can also receive money for you in Japan, including rental income, and money issued to you from the Japanese government including Japanese pension payments, tax returns or refunds, and other remittances. In addition to paying your local bills, your tax representative in Japan may also be able to wire money to you from an account in Japan to your bank account in your home country.

The Japanese government requests that you complete a Notification Form of Appointment of Tax Agent. If you are working with a professional tax agent in Japan, that person or company can help you complete any necessary paperwork. We have more on the notification process in our article about tax agents in Japan.

We have helped clients find local tax administrators in Sapporo and other cities. For referrals to qualified real estate professionals in Hokkaido, contact us anytime.

Using a Property Manager to Pay Your Taxes in Japan

Foreigners that own property in Sapporo or other cities in Hokkaido can often resolve difficulties with paying local property asset taxes in Hokkaido by hiring a Hokkaido property management company.

A local Japanese property manager can potentially solve all the problems non-residents face related to paying fixed asset taxes and other bills. Local property managers in Japan can serve as a tax administrator for a foreign property owner, can receive local bills, and can be responsible for sending you (digital) copies of your property tax bill, and for paying those fees on your behalf. If you own rental property in Hokkaido, your tax administrator can send your rental income back to your home country. There are property management companies in Sapporo that offer these services, as well as in other cities that are popular with foreigners including Niseko, Otaru, Hakodate, and Asahikawa.

For help finding a local property management company, contact us, we can make an introduction.

Working With a Certified Tax Specialist in Japan as a Tax Agent

As stated earlier, your tax administrator in Japan does not need to hold any formal title or licensing. For simple tax payments, any legal adult in Japan can in principle submit payments for Japanese taxes (and other bills) on your behalf.

However, if you are receiving income from rental property or some other business in Japan, you will likely be required to submit income tax returns to the Japanese government. If you hire a local Japanese tax specialist in Hokkaido for tax services, that person may also potentially serve as your tax agent or fiscal representative.

Paying property tax in Japan is not the same as earning income in Japan. Most foreign owners of second homes in Japan will not need to file Japanese income tax. But if you otherwise have the need for a licensed tax accountant in Japan, you might also inquire about their ability to make local payments on your behalf; many foreigner-friendly tax services in Japan offer these payment remittance services.

For help finding a local tax accountant in Hokkaido, contact us for a free referral.

Fines for Late Payment of Property Tax in Japan

The timing of tax payments in Japan is important for foreign property owners; if Japanese property taxes are not paid on time, the local government will assess fees.

If you pay your property taxes on time, there is no fee.

If you pay after the due date on your property tax statement, there is a fee. As soon as the government receives payment for the late property taxes in Japan, they can issue a bill for the late fee – they cannot assess the late fee until after the property tax is paid.

If the local Japanese tax authority does not receive payment on time, they send a notice to the property owner reminding them of the payment due, noting that late fees are required when property taxes are not paid by the due date(s).

Late fees for past-due property taxes in Japan are based on the number of days that the payment is past-due. If a tax payment is less than a month overdue, the penalty is 2.4% (pro-rated by the number of late days) of the taxable amount that is late. If the taxes are more than a month overdue, the penalty is 8.7% (pro-rated by the number of late days) of the taxable amount that is late. If the total amount of the late fee is less than 1,000 JPY, the penalty is dismissed.

Get Local Help Paying Japanese Property Taxes

For help paying Japanese property taxes as a non-resident of Japan, contact us. We can connect you with experienced tax administrators in Japan or local Japanese property management companies that can help you pay local bills like the fixed asset tax, as well as essential services like local electricity bills in Hokkaido, internet service and more.

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For More Information:

— See our piece about various Taxes in Japan
— More info on how Japanese Tax Administrators help foreigners
— We provide a list of Sapporo Tax Offices
— Our review of the role of Property Management Companies in Sapporo
— Buying Property in Hokkaido as a Foreigner
— Our list of Tax Accountants for Expats Living in Japan
— Our complete guide for Buying a House in Sapporo
— Our report on How to Rent an Apartment in Sapporo and Move-In Costs for Sapporo Apartments
— Find Lawyers in Hokkaido