News Tax-free shopping rules for foreign tourists in Japan to be revised

In Japan, travelers are exempted from paying the consumption tax when purchasing goods totaling 5,000 yen ($36) or more as long as they intend to use the items in their home countries. But there have been cases where travelers purchased massive amounts of tax-free items for resale purposes, the sources said. Last year, Apple Inc.'s Japan branch was slapped with 14 billion yen in additional taxes after authorities found it sold iPhones and other items in bulk without charging the consumption tax to foreign visitors suspected of purchasing the products for resale purposes. Purchasing records at tax-free stores are shared with customs, and the consumption tax is collected from travelers who do not carry tax-free items they bought with them at the time of departure.

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