Customs at two major international airports in Japan failed to collect roughly ¥339 million ($2.2 million) in consumption taxes from foreign visitors who bought duty-free items in the country in fiscal 2022, it was learned Thursday.
The Board of Audit of Japan checked ¥64.7 billion of duty-free purchases by foreign visitors in fiscal 2022 and 2023 and found that consumption taxes should have been collected on about ¥3.39 billion of the purchases.
However, customs authorities at Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture failed to collect a total of ¥339 million in taxes from nine foreigner nationals in fiscal 2022 because the authorities were unable to notify the nine of the taxes by their boarding times due to insufficient time to prepare documents and other reasons.
Customs authorities collect consumption taxes on duty-free items if their buyers do not have them at the time of departure or if the buyers have not taken export procedures.
In cases where the amount of duty-free purchases exceeds ¥100 million, the authorities notify travelers of such taxation orally or in a document.
In response to the survey results, the Finance Ministry, which oversees customs, has revised the implementation guidelines for tax notification.
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