How is crypto taxed in Japan?
If you live in Japan, profit from crypto is normally classed as miscellaneous incomeA catch-all income category (雑所得, zatsu shotoku) for income that is not salary, business, property or capital gains. Crypto profit lands here by default. (雑所得, zatsu shotoku). That is the position the National Tax Agency (NTA) sets out in its crypto FAQ, last revised in December 2025. It surprises a lot of newcomers: there is no special capital gains rate for crypto the way there is for listed shares or FX, at least not yet.
Miscellaneous income goes into comprehensive taxation総合課税 (sogo kazei): your different kinds of income are added together and the total is taxed at progressive rates.. Your crypto profit is stacked on top of your salary and any other income, and the total is taxed at progressive national income tax rates from 5% to 45%. On top of that comes a flat 10% resident tax (住民税, juminzei) paid to your prefecture and city, plus a 2.1% surtax on the national tax. In the top bracket the combined marginal rate is 55.945%, which is where the often-quoted "55%" comes from.
The practical consequence is that two people with the same ¥1 million crypto profit can pay very different amounts. Someone on a modest salary may pay around 15–20% of the gain; a senior manager may pay over 40%. The resident tax part is the same for both, so the difference comes entirely from where the profit lands in the national brackets.
The profit itself is simple to define: proceeds (or the value of what you received) minus the cost basisWhat the coins you disposed of cost you, worked out per coin with the total-average or moving-average method, including purchase fees. of the coins you gave up, minus fees and other directly related expenses. If you are a Japanese tax resident and not a non-permanent resident, this applies to your worldwide income, so crypto on a foreign exchange or in a self-custody wallet counts just as much as coins on a Japanese platform. If you arrived recently, read our guide to moving to or leaving Japan with crypto, because your residency category changes the picture.
Japan crypto tax rates by bracket
National income tax is calculated with the NTA's quick-calculation table. Take your taxable income (rounded down to the nearest ¥1,000), multiply by the rate for its bracket, and subtract the deduction amount in the same row. The NTA's own example: taxable income of ¥7,000,000 × 23% − ¥636,000 = ¥974,000 of income tax.
| Taxable income | Income tax rate | Subtract | Combined marginal rate with surtax and resident tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¥1,000 – ¥1,949,000 | 5% | ¥0 | 15.105% |
| ¥1,950,000 – ¥3,299,000 | 10% | ¥97,500 | 20.21% |
| ¥3,300,000 – ¥6,949,000 | 20% | ¥427,500 | 30.42% |
| ¥6,950,000 – ¥8,999,000 | 23% | ¥636,000 | 33.483% |
| ¥9,000,000 – ¥17,999,000 | 33% | ¥1,536,000 | 43.693% |
| ¥18,000,000 – ¥39,999,000 | 40% | ¥2,796,000 | 50.84% |
| ¥40,000,000 and over | 45% | ¥4,796,000 | 55.945% |
The right-hand column is a marginal rate: it applies only to the slice of income inside that bracket. Crypto profit sits on top of your salary, so what matters is how much of the profit falls into each bracket.
Taxable income is your total income after deductions. For an employee that means salary minus the employment income deduction, plus crypto profit, minus social insurance premiums, the basic deduction and any other deductions. For 2026 and 2027, the national basic deduction (基礎控除) depends on your total income: ¥1.04 million if total income is ¥4.89 million or less, ¥670,000 up to ¥6.55 million, ¥620,000 up to ¥23.5 million, then tapering to zero above ¥25 million. Those amounts come from the FY2026 tax reform, took legal effect on December 1, 2026 and apply to the whole of 2026 through year-end adjustment or the tax return. A big crypto year can push you over one of those lines and shrink your deduction, as the examples below show.
A new defense surtax from 2027
From the 2027 tax year the reconstruction surtax rate is cut and a new defense special income tax is added. The NTA says the combined rate does not change, so multiplying national tax by 1.021, as this page does, still works as an estimate.
Worked examples: how much tax on ¥1 million of crypto profit?
Let's run a full example for the 2026 tax year. Assumptions: a single employee with a ¥5 million salary, social insurance premiums of about 15% of salary (¥750,000), and no other deductions. Your premiums will differ, so swap in the figure from your year-end withholding slip (源泉徴収票, gensen choshu hyo).
- Employment income. The 2026 employment income deduction for a salary between ¥3.6 million and ¥6.6 million is 20% of salary plus ¥440,000, so ¥1.44 million. Employment income is ¥5,000,000 − ¥1,440,000 = ¥3,560,000.
- Total income and the basic deduction. Adding ¥1 million of crypto profit makes total income ¥4.56 million. That is under ¥4.89 million, so the basic deduction stays at ¥1.04 million.
- Taxable income. ¥4,560,000 − ¥750,000 − ¥1,040,000 = ¥2,770,000, against ¥1,770,000 without the crypto.
- National tax. ¥2,770,000 × 10% − ¥97,500 = ¥179,500, against ¥88,500 without crypto. The extra ¥91,000 becomes about ¥92,900 with the 2.1% surtax. ¥180,000 of the profit was taxed at 5% and ¥820,000 at 10%.
- Resident tax. Roughly 10% of the profit, so about ¥100,000.
Total: about ¥193,000, or 19.3% of the profit. Now raise the profit to ¥1.5 million. Total income becomes ¥5.06 million, crossing the ¥4.89 million line, so the basic deduction drops from ¥1.04 million to ¥670,000. Taxable income jumps to ¥3.64 million, into the 20% bracket, and the tax bill rises to about ¥366,000 (24.4%). An extra ¥500,000 of profit costs over ¥170,000 in tax. That cliff is specific to the 2026–2027 deduction table, so check where your total income sits before you take a large profit late in the year.
| Scenario (2026, deductions held constant) | Extra national tax incl. surtax | Resident tax | Total and share of profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxable income ¥1m, crypto profit ¥0.5m | ≈ ¥25,500 | ¥50,000 | ≈ ¥76,000 (15.1%) |
| Salary ¥5m (taxable ¥1.77m), profit ¥1m | ≈ ¥92,900 | ¥100,000 | ≈ ¥193,000 (19.3%) |
| Taxable income ¥7m, profit ¥3m | ≈ ¥807,000 | ¥300,000 | ≈ ¥1.107m (36.9%) |
| Taxable income ¥15m, profit ¥30m | ≈ ¥12.29m | ¥3,000,000 | ≈ ¥15.29m (51.0%) |
The estimator below does the same maths. Enter your taxable income from everything except crypto, and your crypto profit. It shows today's tax next to what the same profit would cost at the planned 20.315% flat rate. It starts with the ¥5 million salary example above.
↑ The calculator is at the top of this page. Plug in your own numbers.
Because rates are progressive, selling everything in one year can push profit into the top brackets. Spreading sales over two calendar years sometimes keeps more of the gain in lower brackets. That has to be weighed against price risk, and it is a tax-timing decision you may want to run past an adviser. For the mechanics of selling and withdrawing yen, see how to cash out crypto in Japan.
What counts as a taxable event?
The NTA treats almost any time you give up crypto and get something back as a disposal. Cashing out to yen is only one of them, and many expats used to other systems get caught by the rest.
| Transaction | Taxed? | How profit is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Selling for yen | Yes, when you sell | Proceeds minus the average cost of the coins sold and fees (FAQ 1-1) |
| Swapping one coin for another | Yes, at the swap | Market value of the coin received minus the cost of the coin given up (FAQ 1-3) |
| Paying for goods or services | Yes, when you pay | Price of the goods minus the cost of the crypto spent (FAQ 1-2) |
| Staking, lending and mining rewards | Yes, when received | Market value on receipt is income; related costs are deductible (FAQ 1-7) |
| Coins from a hard fork | Not on receipt | Cost basis is zero; the whole amount is taxed when you sell or spend (FAQ 1-6) |
| Gifts and donations of crypto | Yes, when given | Market value at the time is counted as your income (FAQ 1-4) |
| Buying and holding, moving coins between your own wallets | No | — |
Crypto-to-crypto swaps are the big one. Buying ETH with BTC counts as selling the BTC at that moment, and any gain on it is realised even though you never touched yen. The ETH you receive takes its market value at the time as its cost basis. Active traders who rotate between coins can build up a large taxable profit while their yen balance stays at zero.
Spending crypto works the same way. Each payment is a small disposal at the value of what you bought, which includes every swipe of a card that spends crypto. Our pages on where to spend crypto in Japan and crypto cards cover the record-keeping that follows.
Rewards from stakingLocking or delegating coins to help run a proof-of-stake network in return for new coins as a reward., lending and mining are income when you receive them, at their market value then (FAQ 1-7). That value also becomes their cost basis, so when you later sell, only the change since receipt is taxed again. Free coins handed out by an exchange in a campaign show up on the Japanese annual transaction report as income at their market value.
Airdrops have no dedicated entry in the NTA FAQ. One view treats tokens with a market price as income at that value when received, like rewards; tokens with no market when received may be closer to the hard-fork treatment (zero cost basis, taxed on sale). It is genuinely a judgement call, so get advice if the amounts matter.
Cost basis: total-average vs moving-average
If you bought the same coin several times, Japan does not let you pick which lot you sold (no FIFO or specific identification for individuals). You use one of two averaging methods, chosen coin by coin.
Total-average (総平均法)
Add up the cost of everything you held at January 1 and bought during the year, divide by the total quantity, and use that single average for every sale in the year. One calculation a year, and it matches the NTA's free spreadsheet. If you never file a notice, this is your method by default.
Moving-average (移動平均法)
Recalculate the average cost every time you buy, and use the average current at the moment of each sale. Closer to economic reality, harder to do by hand. You must notify the tax office to use it, so it suits people who rely on tax software.
The methods give different yearly results. In the NTA's own worked example, the same trades produce a cost of sales of ¥3,106,000 under total-average and ¥3,080,200 under moving-average. Neither always wins; differences tend to even out over time.
To choose moving-average, file the 所得税の暗号資産の評価方法の届出書 (notification of valuation method) by the return deadline for the year you first acquired crypto, or first acquired a new coin. Switching later requires an application by March 15 of the year you want to change, and the tax office expects you to stick with a method for about three years. Purchase fees are part of the cost (FAQ 1-5). If you genuinely cannot reconstruct what old coins cost, the NTA allows you to use 5% of the sale price as the cost (FAQ 2-7), which taxes 95% of the proceeds, so bank statements and old exchange exports are usually worth digging out.
The ¥200,000 rule is not a tax-free allowance
English-language forums often describe ¥200,000 as a tax-free amount. It isn't. According to NTA Tax Answer No.1900, an employee who is paid by one employer, with all salary taxed at source, does not have to file a national income tax return if all their income other than salary and retirement income adds up to ¥200,000 or less. Anyone earning over ¥20 million in salary has to file regardless.
Three details catch people out. The test is on profit, not on the amount you sold. It covers all non-salary income combined, including side-job income. And it only exists for employees; the self-employed and pensioners have different thresholds.
Resident tax still applies below ¥200,000
The rule only waives the national return. There is no equivalent waiver for resident tax, so if you don't file a national return you should declare the income to your city or ward office. On ¥150,000 of profit that is about ¥15,000 of resident tax. And if you file a return anyway, for example to claim medical expenses or furusato nozei donations outside the one-stop scheme, the crypto income has to be included.
Can you deduct crypto losses in Japan?
This is where Japan is harsh. Under NTA FAQ 2-11, a loss on miscellaneous income cannot be set against salary or any other type of income, and there is no carryforward to future years. Unlike shares or FX, a bad year simply disappears. You can, however, net gains and losses across your crypto within the same calendar year: a ¥500,000 gain on BTC and a ¥300,000 loss on ETH leave ¥200,000 of taxable profit.
Crypto margin trading is also taxed under comprehensive taxation, not under the 20% regime that applies to FX (FAQ 2-12). The annual transaction report shows margin profit and loss in a separate line.
One exception is worth knowing. The December 2025 FAQ says that if your crypto revenue in a year exceeds ¥3 million, the income is in principle business income if you keep proper books, or "business-related" miscellaneous income if you don't (FAQ 2-2). Revenue here means proceeds, not profit, so active traders cross the line easily. Business income losses can be offset against other income (FAQ 2-11 lists business income among the categories that can), but the NTA says each case is judged individually, for example where the activity lacks a profit motive. If this might apply to you, talk to a tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi) before you file.
Foreign exchanges, foreign currency and missing records
Many residents of Japan still hold coins on exchanges they used before moving here. Those holdings are in scope: the NTA FAQ states plainly that people who live in Japan are taxed on income earned anywhere in the world (non-permanent residents are the exception; see our residency guide). Japanese exchanges issue an annual transaction report (年間取引報告書) every year. Foreign platforms generally don't, so you build the numbers yourself from their CSV exports and, where needed, published market prices (FAQ 2-7).
Trades in dollars, euros or stablecoins need converting into yen. The annual reports issued in Japan use the bank telegraphic mid-rate (TTM) on the trade date for foreign-currency trades, and that is the approach to follow for your own calculations.
Two reporting points are useful to know. For the foreign-assets report (国外財産調書), the NTA treats crypto as located where its owner lives, so a resident's coins on a foreign exchange are not "foreign assets" for that form (FAQ 7-3). People who must file the statement of assets and liabilities (財産債務調書) do list crypto there, wherever it is held (FAQ 7-1). Also note that several offshore exchanges have pulled out of Japan or been warned by the FSA; see offshore exchanges and Japan, and download your history before any account is closed.
How to file crypto taxes in Japan
The filing season normally runs from February 16 to March 15 of the following year. If the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day: for 2025 income, March 15 was a Sunday, so the deadline was Monday, March 16, 2026. For 2026 income, the usual calendar gives February 16 to Monday, March 15, 2027. National income tax is due on the same day.
Collect a full year of records
Download the annual transaction report年間取引報告書: a yearly summary every registered Japanese exchange sends, listing quantities and yen amounts bought and sold, transfers in and out, and fees. from each Japanese exchange, plus CSV histories from foreign exchanges and wallets.
Calculate gains coin by coin
Use the NTA's free crypto calculation spreadsheet (暗号資産の計算書) or tax software that supports the total-average and moving-average methods.
Prepare the return
The NTA return-preparation site (確定申告書等作成コーナー) walks you through salary slip figures and miscellaneous income. It is built for Japanese users, so allow extra time or get help with the screens.
Submit through e-Tax
With a My Number Card you can submit from a smartphone or computer. You can also print the return and post it or take it to your tax office.
Pay on time
Pay national tax by the deadline. Your filed return is passed to your municipality, which sends the resident tax bill later in the year.
Two practical tips. On the second page of the return (第二表) employees can choose whether resident tax on non-salary income is collected through payroll or paid by yourself (自分で納付). And if you are short of time, file what you can by the deadline and correct it later; late filing can add penalty tax and interest. The return-preparation site is at keisan.nta.go.jp.
Crypto tax calculators and record keeping
If you only trade on Japanese exchanges, copying the annual report figures into the NTA's free crypto calculation spreadsheet is enough. Once you add foreign exchanges, frequent wallet transfers, DeFi or NFTs, a calculator is close to essential. Cryptact, run by pafin, is widely used in Japan; pafin announced that the rival Gtax service would be merged into Cryptact on October 5, 2026, with Gtax users moving across without re-registering. Global tools can work too, but check they support Japan's averaging methods rather than FIFO.
Whatever you use, keep the raw data. Download every exchange's history at the end of each year and keep the files somewhere you control, along with records of transfers to your own wallets. Exchanges close, merge and leave countries, and the tax office can ask about earlier years.
Why your exchange is asking for your tax residence and foreign TIN
Since January 1, 2026, anyone dealing with a Japanese crypto exchange must give it a CARFCrypto-Asset Reporting Framework: an OECD standard under which tax authorities collect crypto transaction data on foreign residents from local platforms and swap it with each other. self-certification: name, address, date of birth, and every jurisdiction where you are tax resident, with the foreign tax identification number for any country other than Japan. New customers give it when they start trading; people who already had accounts at the end of 2025 must submit it by December 31, 2026.
If you live in Japan you enter "Japan", and the NTA says My Number is not required on this form. The NTA's leaflet also counts nationality-based taxation as a basis for residence in another country, which matters for US citizens, who are taxed by the US wherever they live. From 2027, exchanges report the transactions of customers resident in participating foreign jurisdictions to the NTA by April 30 each year, and the data is passed on to those countries. It works in reverse too: Japan receives data about its residents' accounts abroad. If your tax residence changes, for example because you leave Japan, you must file an updated self-certification within three months.
For account opening as a foreigner, including residence cards and My Number, see crypto for foreigners in Japan.
Where to get free help with crypto tax in Japan
The NTA website has a chatbot and the Tax Answer pages, both in Japanese, which cover most general questions. For a person on the phone, the NTA's telephone consultation centre takes calls on 0570-00-5901 (select 1 for income tax) on weekdays from 8:30 to 17:00. Callers who cannot use that number can ring their local tax office and choose 1 to be connected. We could not confirm whether English-language support is available on that line, so have a Japanese speaker on hand if possible.
For a face-to-face meeting at your tax office (税務署, zeimusho), the NTA asks you to book by phone first. Questions about resident tax go to your city or ward office. Local tax accountant associations (税理士会) also run free consultation days; dates and eligibility vary, and you can find your regional association through the Japan Federation of Certified Public Tax Accountants' Associations. For anything complex, such as DeFi, large offshore histories, business-income questions or arriving and leaving mid-year, a paid zeirishi who knows crypto is the safer route.
What changes when the 20% rate arrives?
Japan has legislated a 20.315% flat rate (15% national, 5% resident, plus surtax) for gains on "specified crypto assets" sold through registered exchanges, with a three-year loss carryforward. The law was promulgated on March 31, 2026, but it only applies from January 1 of the year after the new crypto rules in the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act take effect. That makes 2028 the earliest realistic start. Your 2026 and 2027 gains are taxed under the progressive system described on this page. The timeline, which coins qualify and how to think about selling now or later are covered in Japan's 20% crypto tax reform.
Japan crypto tax: FAQ
What is the crypto tax rate in Japan?
Crypto profit is miscellaneous income, added to your salary and other income and taxed at progressive national rates of 5–45%, plus a 2.1% surtax on that tax and a flat 10% resident tax. Depending on your other income, the combined marginal rate runs from 15.105% to 55.945%.
Is crypto under ¥200,000 tax-free in Japan?
No. The ¥200,000 rule only means that an employee paid by one employer, with all salary taxed at source, does not have to file a national income tax return if their non-salary income is ¥200,000 or less. Resident tax of about 10% still applies and needs a declaration to your municipality, and if you file a return for another reason you must include the crypto income.
Do I pay tax on crypto held on a foreign exchange?
If you are a Japanese tax resident who is not a non-permanent resident, yes: Japan taxes your worldwide income, wherever the exchange is. Foreign exchanges usually do not issue the Japanese annual transaction report, so you calculate gains yourself, converting foreign-currency trades into yen at the bank mid-rate (TTM) on the trade date.
Can I deduct crypto losses from my salary?
Not under the current rules. Losses on crypto taxed as miscellaneous income cannot offset salary or other income and cannot be carried forward. They can offset other crypto gains in the same year. A three-year carryforward is planned under the 20% reform, which is not expected to apply before 2028.
When is the deadline for filing crypto taxes in Japan?
The filing window normally runs from February 16 to March 15 of the following year, moving to the next business day if March 15 falls on a weekend. For the 2026 tax year that means March 15, 2027, a Monday, unless the National Tax Agency announces otherwise.
Is the 20% crypto tax already in force?
No. The law creating a 20.315% flat rate was promulgated on March 31, 2026, but it applies from January 1 of the year after the new financial-instruments rules for crypto take effect. That points to 2028 at the earliest. Gains in 2026 and 2027 are taxed at the progressive rates.
This page is general information, not tax advice. For your own return, check with your tax office or a licensed tax accountant. Unfamiliar terms are explained in our crypto glossary.
Sources
- NTA: Tax treatment of crypto-assets (FAQ), revised December 2025 (Japanese)
- NTA Tax Answer No.2260: Income tax rates (Japanese)
- NTA Tax Answer No.1900: Employees who must file a return (Japanese)
- NTA Tax Answer No.1199: Basic deduction (Japanese)
- NTA: CARF self-certification leaflet for individuals (English)
- NTA: Telephone consultation and tax office appointments (Japanese)
- cryptact (pafin): Gtax integration press release
Keep reading
The 20% crypto tax reform
What changes, for whom, and when it can start
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Moving to or leaving Japan with crypto
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Crypto for foreigners in Japan
Visas, residence cards, US persons and tourists
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Cash out crypto to yen
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Offshore exchanges and Japan
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Where to spend crypto in Japan
Real merchants, online options and the tax catch
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