How to Report Furusato Nozei on Your Japanese Tax Return (確定申告)

Most salaried employees use the simple ワンストップ特例 to claim their furusato nozei benefit. But if one-stop isn't available to you, you claim the deduction on a 確定申告 (tax return) instead. It sounds intimidating, but the donation portion is one of the easier parts of a return — and recent changes have made it even simpler. This guide walks through it.

Not sure whether you even need a return? Read ワンストップ特例 vs 確定申告 first.

When a 確定申告 is required for furusato nozei

You must report your donations on a tax return (rather than via one-stop) if any of these apply:

• You donated to 6 or more municipalities in the calendar year.
• You're already filing a return for another reason — medical expense deduction (医療費控除), side income, first-year housing loan deduction, etc.
• You're self-employed or otherwise required to file.
• You missed the one-stop deadline (forms must reach municipalities by January 10).

What you need: your 寄附金受領証明書

For each donation you need proof. Traditionally that's the 寄附金受領証明書 (donation receipt certificate) mailed by each municipality — keep all of them. Since a 2021 change, many portals also issue a single consolidated annual statement (寄附金控除に関する証明書) covering all your donations through that portal, which you can use instead of the individual paper certificates.

The 2024 change: 特定事業者 XML single-file upload

Here's the big time-saver. Qualified portals (特定事業者, "specified businesses") can issue your annual donation statement as an electronic XML file. When you file via e-Tax, you upload that one XML file and your donation totals are imported automatically — no need to type in each municipality and amount by hand. Major portals such as さとふる participate; check your portal's mypage for the electronic 寄附金控除に関する証明書 (often available as an XMLデータ download or via the "マイナポータル連携" route).

This is a genuine upgrade for anyone who donated to many municipalities: instead of entering ten lines manually, you attach one file.

Step-by-step on e-Tax (確定申告書等作成コーナー)

1. Open the 作成コーナー. Go to the National Tax Agency's 確定申告 guide and launch the e-Tax / 確定申告書等作成コーナー. Log in with your My Number card and the マイナポータル app, or with an ID/password issued by your tax office.
2. Enter your income. Input your salary from your 源泉徴収票 (withholding slip), or import it automatically if linked. Add any other income.
3. Go to deductions (所得控除). Find the section for 寄附金控除 (donation deduction).
4. Enter your donations. Either (a) upload the XML file from your portal's 寄附金控除に関する証明書 to import everything at once, or (b) enter each donation manually: donation date, municipality, and amount, repeating for each one.
5. Let it auto-calculate. The system applies the donation deduction and computes your income-tax refund and the resident-tax reduction automatically. You don't calculate the furusato nozei formula yourself.
6. Review and submit. Confirm the figures, then submit electronically via e-Tax. Keep your receipts/XML for your records.

The filing window is generally mid-February to mid-March for the previous calendar year.

Prefer paper?

You can still file on paper: complete the donation-deduction section of the 確定申告書 by hand, attach the original 寄附金受領証明書 (or the consolidated statement), and submit to your tax office by mail or in person. e-Tax is faster and avoids mailing originals, but paper remains a valid alternative.

The math: how the benefit arrives

This is the key difference between the two methods:

• 確定申告: part of your benefit comes back as an income-tax refund (所得税の還付) shortly after filing, and the rest as a reduced resident tax (住民税) starting from the following June.
• ワンストップ特例: the entire benefit comes through reduced resident tax only — there's no separate income-tax refund.

The total benefit is the same either way; only the split and timing differ. Want to know your ceiling before donating? Use the furusato nozei calculator.

Where to donate (and get your XML statement)

Next steps

Decide your method with ワンストップ特例 vs 確定申告, avoid the common pitfalls in 5 mistakes foreigners make, and confirm your limit with the calculator.