--- title: "Japan Tax-Free 2026: Do Airport Shops Before Immigration Follow the Same Rules?" description: "A shop on the landside of an airport — the arrival lobby, the departure lobby, the floors attached to the terminal — is read by the permission it holds, not by its address. If it is a permitted tax-free shop, the purchase runs on the same route as a purchase made in a city." lang: en canonical: https://refund-japan.com/articles/bought-at-airport-landside published: 2026-09-07 updated: 2026-09-07 publisher: "Refund Japan" --- # Japan Tax-Free 2026: Do Airport Shops Before Immigration Follow the Same Rules? > A shop on the landside of an airport — the arrival lobby, the departure lobby, the floors attached to the terminal — is read by the permission it holds, not by its address. If it is a permitted tax-free shop, the purchase runs on the same route as a purchase made in a city. Last checked: 2026-09-07 A permitted tax-free shop on the landside of an airport is counted the same way as a permitted shop in a city, and a purchase qualifies at ¥5,000 before tax at one shop on one day — [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) (checked August 19, 2026). From November 1, 2026 that purchase follows the same three steps as any other: the tax-included price is paid at the register, customs confirms the goods at departure, and the tax comes back after that confirmation. ## Does a shop before immigration follow the same rules? It does, when that shop holds a tax-free shop permission. The published conditions describe a permitted shop, a passport registered at the till, a qualifying amount and goods that leave Japan with the buyer. None of them asks what kind of building the shop stands in. So the arrival lobby, the departure lobby before passport control and the shopping floors attached to a terminal or to the station under it are all landside, and a permitted shop standing there records a purchase the way a department store or a drugstore in a city records one. What decides the question is the permission, not the address. Whether one particular shop holds that permission is something to check at that shop, and this page does not name shops or say how many of them stand in a terminal. ## Are the shops after immigration part of this? No. The shops past passport control run under a separate system with its own rules, and this site covers the consumption tax refund for non-residents. Nothing on this page describes how those other shops work. The practical effect is a line drawn through the terminal building. On the landside of that line, a purchase at a permitted shop joins the route described here. On the far side of it, a purchase belongs to something else, and the two should not be reasoned about as if they were one thing. ## What does the system actually read? Five things, and an airport address is not among them. - **Whether the shop holds a tax-free shop permission.** - **The passport registered at the till, when the purchase is recorded.** - **¥5,000 before tax, counted per buyer, per shop, per day.** - **Whether the buyer is a non-resident**, a foreign traveller staying under six months. - **Whether the goods leave Japan with that buyer**, confirmed at departure within 90 days of the purchase date. The amount that comes back is one eleventh of the tax-included price. At departure a terminal reads the passport, and a Green result means passing through while a Red result means the goods are shown — [Japan Customs](https://www.customs.go.jp/) (checked August 19, 2026). Standing in an airport neither adds a condition to that list nor removes one. The list is short enough that a purchase made just before check-in and a purchase made on the first afternoon of the trip are answered by the same five lines. ## What changes on November 1, 2026? - **The tax-included price is what is paid at the register**, and the tax comes back after the customs confirmation rather than at the till. - **The general goods and consumables split is abolished**, so one shop on one day becomes one total for each buyer. - **The sealed bag is gone**, so a purchase can be opened and used during the trip. - **The confirmation is a terminal reading of the passport**, with Green meaning passing through and Red meaning the goods are shown. - **The former daily ceiling on consumables is abolished.** None of these changes is written for one kind of location, so a permitted shop inside an airport building moves onto the new footing on the same date as every other permitted shop, without a version of its own. Purchases up to October 31, 2026 stay under the old system and purchases from November 1, 2026 fall under the new one. There is no transition period between them. ## What has not changed? - **The minimum is ¥5,000 before tax** — ¥5,500 on a tax-included tag. - **It is counted per buyer, per shop, per day**, and receipts from different shops never combine, including two shops standing in the same building. - **The passport is shown at the till, when the purchase is recorded.** - **The goods leave Japan with the buyer.** - **The system is for non-residents**, foreign travellers staying under six months. - **Separate shipment was abolished** at the end of March 2025. - **A purchase of ¥1,000,000 or more** needs a serial number or something similar registered at the shop. ## When does this come up? ### The last shopping of the trip, in the departure lobby A permitted shop there records the purchase like any other permitted shop, so the passport goes in at the till and the goods travel with the buyer to the confirmation. Buying late in the trip does not remove either step. ### Shopping at the airport on the day of arrival The clock runs from the purchase date, and departure has to happen within 90 days of it. A purchase made in the arrival lobby on the first hour of the trip sits inside that window in exactly the way a purchase made downtown on the same afternoon does. ### The shopping floors attached to the terminal or the station Those floors are landside, so a permitted shop there is on the route described on this page. Whether a given shop holds the permission is a question for that shop rather than for the building. ### You want to know which shops in the terminal are permitted This page does not list them and does not say how many there are. The permission is held by shops, one by one, and the sign or the staff at that shop is where it is confirmed. ### You bought something after passing the terminal What is published is that the confirmation happens when leaving Japan. Where the terminals stand and what order they come in is unannounced as of August 19, 2026, so this page does not describe a purchase as being before or after them. ### You thought the shops past immigration were the same thing They are a separate system, and a receipt from one of them is not a receipt on this route. Mixing the two is the most common source of confusion inside an airport, because both are described in ordinary speech as buying without the tax. ### Two different shops inside the same terminal Receipts from different shops never combine, so two shops under one roof are two separate counts on the same passport, on the same day. ### A small purchase that does not reach the line The qualifying line is ¥5,000 before tax at one shop on one day, and a purchase under it stays a normal purchase. Adding a snack from one shop to a souvenir from another does not lift either of them over the line. ### The goods are going into checked baggage What the published steps describe is a terminal reading the passport, with a Red result meaning the goods are shown. Whether an item can be produced at that moment is therefore part of the picture, and the placement of the terminals is unannounced as of August 19, 2026. ### An airport receipt and a city receipt from the same day They are counted separately, because the count is per buyer, per shop, per day. Both can sit on the same passport, and neither borrows the other's total. ### The price tag at the airport shop is a tax-included price From November 1, 2026 that is the amount handed over at the register, and one eleventh of it is the amount the confirmation leads back to. On a tag of ¥11,000 that eleventh is ¥1,000. ### An expensive purchase made at an airport shop A purchase of ¥1,000,000 or more needs a serial number or something similar registered at the shop, and that registration is the shop's step wherever the shop stands. ### You want the item posted home instead of carried Separate shipment was abolished at the end of March 2025, so there is no route that lets a registered purchase leave Japan without the buyer, whether it was bought in a terminal or in a city. ### Someone tells you the airport hands the money back at the till From November 1, 2026 the tax-included price is paid at the register and the tax comes back after the customs confirmation. The place of the shop does not change the order of those two. ## What is unannounced as of August 19, 2026? Whether a handling fee is deducted, where the terminals are placed and how many there are, whether cash remains available, how many days the refund takes, how a mismatch between a card name and a passport is treated, and how the reduced rate is handled are all unannounced as of August 19, 2026. Answers would appear via [the Japan Tax-free Shop Association](https://zenmenkyo.jp/refund/) (checked August 19, 2026) or [the Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) (checked August 19, 2026). Two of the six are the ones people ask about airports in particular — the placement of the terminals and whether cash remains available — and both of them are unannounced as of August 19, 2026, which is why this page describes the confirmation as happening at departure and stops there. ## Questions people ask ### Is a shop in the departure lobby treated the same as a shop in the city? Yes, if it holds a tax-free shop permission. The conditions read the permission and the passport, not the address. ### Are the shops after immigration covered by this? No. They run under a separate system that this page does not describe. ### Can I buy at the airport on the day I arrive? The 90 days run from the purchase date, so an arrival-day purchase is inside the window if departure happens within it. ### How do I know whether an airport shop is a tax-free shop? By checking at that shop. This page does not list shops or say how many stand in a terminal. ### Do two shops in the same terminal add up? No. Receipts from different shops never combine, even under one roof. ### What is the minimum? ¥5,000 before tax, per buyer, per shop, per day. ### Do I still pay the tax at an airport shop? From November 1, 2026 the tax-included price is paid at the register, and the tax comes back after the customs confirmation. ### How much comes back? One eleventh of the tax-included price, before any deduction that may exist. ### What happens at departure? A terminal reads the passport, and a Green result means passing through while a Red result means the goods are shown. ### Where are the terminals in the airport? That is unannounced as of August 19, 2026, and this page does not place them. ### What if I buy after going through the terminal? The confirmation happens when leaving Japan. The order in which those steps sit is unannounced as of August 19, 2026. ### Can an airport purchase be posted home from Japan? No. Separate shipment was abolished at the end of March 2025. ### Can the item be opened before the flight? From November 1, 2026 the sealed bag is abolished, so it can be used during the trip. ### Does a purchase of ¥1,000,000 or more need anything extra? A serial number or something similar is registered at the shop. ### Where are the rules published? The Japan Tourism Agency and Japan Customs. ## Sources - [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) — checked August 19, 2026 - [Japan Customs](https://www.customs.go.jp/) — checked August 19, 2026 - [the Japan Tax-free Shop Association](https://zenmenkyo.jp/refund/) — checked August 19, 2026