--- title: "Japan Tax Free Same Store Rule 2026: Do 2 Floors Count as 1?" description: "The ¥5,000 minimum is counted at one shop on one day, and what counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026. Here is the question to ask before you start buying under the November 1, 2026 system." lang: en canonical: https://refund-japan.com/articles/same-store-definition published: 2026-09-20 updated: 2026-09-20 publisher: "Refund Japan" --- # Japan Tax Free Same Store Rule 2026: Do 2 Floors Count as 1? > The ¥5,000 minimum is counted at one shop on one day, and what counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026. Here is the question to ask before you start buying under the November 1, 2026 system. Last checked: 2026-09-20 The minimum is ¥5,000 before tax and it is counted at one shop on one day, so whether 2 floors count as 1 shop decides whether your receipts add up. From November 1, 2026 you pay the tax-included price first and the money comes back after the customs confirmation, which makes that arithmetic worth settling before you queue. What counts as one shop inside a single building has not been published as of August 19, 2026. That is why this page ends at a question you ask in the shop rather than at a rule you can memorise — [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) (checked August 19, 2026). ## How do I tell whether my receipts combine? Ask one thing before you start: where does the tax-free process happen for this purchase? - One counter serves the building and asks for receipts from several floors — the shop is telling you those sales are handled together. - The till handles its own sale and sends you nowhere — that sale stands on its own. - Two doors carrying the same name, in one station or on one street — two sales, whatever the sign says. Ask before you start, not after. Once a sale has been recorded against your passport, it cannot be moved into a different total, and no amount of explaining at the counter will re-group it. ## Why is one shop not the same as one building? Because the tax-free procedure belongs to whoever is registered to run it, and a building is not a registration. A tower can hold a single registered operator on every floor, or a different operator behind every door, and from the escalator the two look identical. That is also why staff at a till in a large building are the wrong people to ask. They know their own sale; the counter that runs the procedure knows how the building is set up — [Japan Tax-free Shop Association](https://zenmenkyo.jp/refund/) (checked August 19, 2026). ## What changed about the same-shop line on November 1, 2026? How shops are counted did not move. What moved is what counts inside one of them. - General goods and consumables are no longer counted apart, so cosmetics and a shirt bought at one shop reach the line together. - You pay the tax-included price at the till, and the money returns after the customs confirmation at departure. - The sealed bag is gone, so what you buy can be opened and used while you are still in Japan. Only the first of those changes the arithmetic inside a shop. The other two change what happens after you have paid — [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) (checked August 19, 2026). ## What did not change about how shops are counted? - Receipts from two different shops never combine, in any building and on any day. - The minimum stays at ¥5,000 before tax, which reads as ¥5,500 on a Japanese price tag. - The answer comes from where the procedure is run, not from the address on the door. None of those depend on the date you buy. ## When does the same-shop line decide the outcome? ### You are shopping across two floors of one department store Two floors run by one operator and two floors run by two operators look the same from the escalator. Settle it on the floor where you start, because once you have paid on the fourth floor you cannot fold that receipt into a total built on the seventh. ### You are in a mall where every tenant has its own till The walk between two units here is shorter than the walk between two floors of a department store, and it still separates the receipts. Distance is not what joins purchases together; the procedure is. ### Two branches of the same chain sit inside one station The sign is identical, the layout is identical, and the two sales still stand apart. If you are collecting several items from that chain, finish the list at the first branch instead of splitting it across the concourse. ### You are in an underground arcade attached to the station An arcade feels like one place because it has one name and one roof, and the units beneath it are normally let one by one. Treat the name of the arcade as a name, not as an answer to your question. ### You have a single shopping day on a short trip With one day you cannot repair a short total tomorrow, so the choice of shop carries the whole result. Pick the shop that stocks most of your list and finish there before you move on. ### Your basket is a few hundred yen short at this shop The shop next door cannot lend you the difference. One more item here is worth more than three items elsewhere, because only what is bought here belongs to this total. ### One item sits just under the line on its own An item whose tag stops short of ¥5,500 does not reach the pre-tax minimum by itself. Being a single purchase does not help — anything else from the same shop, rung up at the same time, does. ### A brand counter sits inside a department store Some counters inside a store are run by the store and some are run by the brand, and the fittings rarely tell you which. Since what counts as one shop inside a building has not been published as of August 19, 2026, this is the case to put to the counter rather than to reason out on the shop floor. ### An outlet park spread over separate buildings An outlet park has one entrance, one car park and one name, and its units are physically separate buildings. The shared name is the part most likely to mislead you here, because nothing about the site plan answers the question. ### Two shops of one drugstore chain on the same street Drugstore chains often stand within sight of each other, and travellers move between them hunting for stock. Each visit is its own sale, so a search for one missing item can leave you holding two totals instead of one. ### An electronics store with many floors and one service desk A large electronics store may send you to a desk on one specific floor with the receipts from that day. Keep those receipts together and in order, because that desk is where the question of one shop is actually answered for you. ### You are travelling with someone and paying together A purchase is recorded against the passport presented at the till, so two people spending on one card do not produce one total. What happens when the card name and the passport name differ has not been published as of August 19, 2026. ### You paid, and then found the shop you really wanted Nothing can be re-grouped once the sale is recorded. The order in which you visit shops therefore matters more than the order in which you find things you like. ### You are leaving the city tomorrow A shop you will not walk past again cannot be topped up later, and a total left short in that shop stays short. Finish each shop as though you are not coming back, because here you are not. ## What is unpublished about counting shops? The line itself is published. The way buildings map onto it is not. - What counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026. - Whether a handling fee is taken out of the refund has not been published as of August 19, 2026. - What happens when the card name and the passport name differ has not been published as of August 19, 2026. The first of those would appear on the pages of the [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) (checked August 19, 2026). The other two would appear first through the [Japan Tax-free Shop Association](https://zenmenkyo.jp/refund/) (checked August 19, 2026). Until any of them is published, "not published as of August 19, 2026" is the accurate answer, and the useful one is the question you put to the counter before you buy. ## Questions people ask ### Do two floors of one department store count as one shop? Sometimes, and the floors are not what decides it. If one counter runs the procedure for the building and asks for the receipts from both floors, the shop is treating those sales together. If each till finishes its own sale, they stand apart. Ask on the floor where you start. ### Can I combine receipts from two shops in the same building? Only where one counter runs the procedure for both of them. Sharing a roof, a lift and an address does not join two sales. The question to ask is not how close the shops are but where the tax-free process happens. ### Do two branches of the same chain combine? Treat them as separate sales. Each branch rings up and records its own purchase against your passport, so the second visit starts a fresh total. This holds inside one station as much as it does across a city. ### Is a brand counter inside a department store the same shop? That is exactly the case that is not settled in public. What counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026. Put it to the counter before you buy, because afterwards there is nothing to adjust. ### What exactly should I ask before I buy? Ask where the tax-free process happens for this purchase. If the answer is a counter that also takes other receipts from the building, your sales are being handled together. If the answer is this till, this sale stands alone. ### Should I ask the till staff or the tax-free counter? The counter, in any building with more than one unit. Till staff answer for their own sale, which is the part you already know. The counter is the place that knows how the procedure is arranged for the building. ### If one counter serves the building, do I bring every receipt from that day? Bring them all and let the counter sort them. Receipts it cannot use cost you nothing, while a receipt left in your pocket can be the one that would have carried the total over the line. Keep them flat and in order to save time in the queue. ### Is the definition of one shop written down anywhere I can check? Not in the published conditions. What counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026, so no page can give you a rule that covers every layout. The counter in front of you can answer for that building. ### Can the shop merge my receipts after I have paid? No. The sale is recorded against your passport at the moment it is rung up, and that record is what the customs terminal reads later. Nothing is re-grouped afterwards, which is why the question belongs before the first purchase. ### If I am short at this shop, can I top up next door? Not unless the same counter runs the procedure for both. Otherwise you finish with two totals, each measured on its own against ¥5,000 before tax. Adding the item here is the move that changes the outcome. ### Does the line apply to each shop separately, or to my whole trip? To each shop, on each day. A trip total means nothing; five shops with modest baskets stay five separate sales. This is the reason concentrating a list in one shop changes results more than spending more overall. ### Does the day matter as well as the shop? Yes, both conditions apply at once. The minimum is ¥5,000 before tax at one shop on one day, so yesterday at the same shop does not help today. Shop and day have to line up together. ### Do cosmetics and clothing at one shop add up now? From November 1, 2026 they do. General goods and consumables are no longer counted apart, so a basket that mixes them reaches the line as one total at that shop. The shop still has to be one shop. ### If the answer is not published, what should I actually do? Ask at the counter and buy on what it tells you. What counts as one shop inside one building has not been published as of August 19, 2026, so the shop in front of you is a better source than any general rule. Build your list around the answer you get there. ## Sources - [Japan Tourism Agency](https://www.mlit.go.jp/kankocho/tax-free/page01_000001_00019.html) — checked August 19, 2026 - [Japan Tax-free Shop Association](https://zenmenkyo.jp/refund/) — checked August 19, 2026