🎁 Furusato Nozei Eligible Towns Updated (From Oct 2026)

❓ What's changing?

On September 25, 2026, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) announced the list of local governments designated as eligible for furusato nozei (hometown tax donations). The designation is made under Article 37-2, Paragraph 2 and Article 314-7, Paragraph 2 of the Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950), and it covers the one-year period from October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. The full list of designated municipalities is published as an attachment to the MIC press release. Furusato nozei lets you donate to a local government where you do not live, and deduct the amount above ¥2,000 from your resident tax and income tax. Since the 2019 amendment to the Local Tax Act, however, this generous special deduction applies only to donations made to local governments designated by the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. Before the designation system, every municipality in Japan qualified automatically; now only those meeting the statutory standards do. In practice, if you donate to a municipality that is not on the list, you cannot claim the furusato nozei special deduction — including the One-Stop Exception filing. Because the designation is renewed annually, a town that qualified last year may not appear this time. Check the list before you donate.

👥 Who is affected?

• ●Foreign residents registered in Japan who pay resident tax (any residence status)
• ●Anyone earning salary or business income in Japan and paying income tax
• ●Anyone planning to make a furusato nozei donation on or after October 1, 2026
• ●Salaried workers who want to use the One-Stop Exception instead of filing a tax return
• ●Anyone choosing a donation destination mainly for the thank-you gift — no designation means no deduction

🌏 Impact on foreign residents

Furusato nozei has no nationality requirement. If you are registered as a resident in Japan and pay resident tax and income tax, you can use it on exactly the same terms as Japanese nationals. Even a student can qualify if part-time earnings make them liable for resident tax. The key risk is how you pick the recipient. If you are not comfortable reading Japanese, it is easy to choose a town simply because it appears on a donation portal — but what ultimately determines whether you get the deduction is the Minister's designation. Donate to a non-designated municipality and the donation still happens (you may even receive the thank-you gift), yet your resident tax next year will not go down. The second point is deadlines. The deduction covers donations paid between January 1 and December 31 of a given year, and a One-Stop Exception form must reach the recipient municipality by January 10 of the following year. If you plan to leave Japan around year-end, factor in that resident tax is assessed in the following fiscal year.