Vehicle Tax Calculator (Japan)
Enter your engine displacement (for regular cars) or vehicle type (for kei cars) along with the first registration date to estimate Japan's annual automobile tax or light vehicle tax, including whether the aged-vehicle surcharge applies.
Checking the annual Japanese vehicle tax
Enter the vehicle class — standard or kei — the engine displacement and the month of first registration, and this tool gives the approximate annual automobile tax or light-vehicle tax. It also tells you whether the vehicle has reached the age at which the surcharge for older vehicles applies.
Two cars of identical displacement can be taxed differently, and the reason is almost always the date of first registration. Private passenger cars first registered on or after 1 October 2019 are taxed at reduced rates, so an otherwise identical car registered before that date carries a different annual figure. Estimating the tax on a used car from displacement alone goes wrong precisely here. Check the first registration date on the vehicle inspection certificate.
The second factor is the surcharge on older vehicles. Petrol cars are taxed more heavily once they pass roughly thirteen years from first registration — eleven for diesels — and kei vehicles likewise once they pass thirteen. Some categories, electric and hybrid vehicles among them, are outside the surcharge. The increase takes effect from the fiscal year after the threshold is crossed, so the year you are weighing a replacement can be the year the bill rises; it is worth checking against the inspection schedule when you budget for running costs.
The tax falls on whoever owns the vehicle on 1 April each year. Disposing of it mid-year does not, in principle, move that year's liability off the person who held it on 1 April, although standard vehicles carry a monthly pro-rata refund. Rates change with reforms and with local practice, so confirm the exact amount with the prefectural tax office or the municipality.
Sources used in this calculation
Statutory figures such as tax and insurance rates come from the public bodies listed below. They change when the law is revised, so please also check the primary source before relying on the result for an important decision.
- Standard automobile tax rates by engine displacement and the older-vehicle surcharge — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省) Effective from 2019-10 ／ Last checked 2026-10-18
How to use it
- Choose the vehicle class Standard vehicles and kei vehicles are taxed under entirely separate arrangements.
- Enter the displacement Standard vehicles are taxed by displacement band. Enter it as the inspection certificate records it.
- Enter the first registration date Rates changed on 1 October 2019, so this is what decides the annual figure.
- Read the surcharge assessment Depending on the years elapsed since registration, the figure rises from the following fiscal year.
Tips for getting more out of it
- Enter the exact displacement (cc) shown on your vehicle inspection certificate (shaken-sho). The tax rate changes in steps at thresholds such as 1,000cc and 1,500cc.
- The first registration date is also printed on your vehicle inspection certificate. For a used car, enter the date it was first registered by its original owner, not your purchase date.
- Regular and compact car tax rates changed on October 1, 2019. Cars registered before that date use the old rate; cars registered on or after that date use the new (generally lower) rate.
- Kei car tax is a flat amount regardless of displacement, but it also has an old rate (7,200 yen) for cars registered before April 1, 2015, and a new rate (10,800 yen) for cars registered on or after that date.
- The aged-vehicle surcharge is an extra amount added once a car passes a certain age. Electric vehicles (EVs) are excluded from this surcharge because of their environmental performance.
When this is useful
Estimating the running cost of a used car
Displacement alone is not enough. The first registration date has to come into it.
Thinking about when to replace a vehicle
Knowing the year the surcharge begins makes the cost of keeping it legible.
Comparing a kei vehicle against a standard one
The annual tax difference can be set beside the purchase price rather than left out of it.
Deciding whether to sell before the fiscal year ends
The assessment date tells you what turns on the timing.
Terms used here
- Automobile tax
- A prefectural tax on standard and compact vehicles. The annual figure follows the displacement band.
- Light-vehicle tax
- A municipal tax on kei vehicles. It has no displacement bands, turning instead on use and on private or commercial status.
- First registration date
- The month the vehicle was first registered. Both the rate and the surcharge assessment are measured from it.
- Surcharge on older vehicles
- A higher rate once a vehicle passes a set age. Roughly thirteen years for petrol and eleven for diesel.
- Assessment date
- 1 April each year. The tax for that fiscal year falls on whoever owns the vehicle on that day.
- Green taxation measure
- A reduction for vehicles with strong environmental performance. Its scope and depth are revised at each reform.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — Why older cars are taxed more
The aged-vehicle surcharge was introduced as part of Japan's "green taxation" policies promoted by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. By making older, less efficient cars more expensive to keep, the system aims to encourage owners to switch to newer vehicles with better emissions and fuel efficiency — reducing CO2 and air pollutant output nationwide. The flip side is that owners who carefully maintain the same car for many years end up paying more purely due to its age, regardless of how well it runs, which has made the policy a subject of ongoing debate.
Kei car tax is a flat amount regardless of displacement, so unlike regular cars there is no step-based rate table. However, since the April 2015 rate change introduced a higher rate (10,800 yen) alongside the older rate (7,200 yen) that still applies to cars registered earlier, two kei cars of the same age and specification can end up paying different amounts simply based on when they were first registered — a quirk that often surprises owners comparing notes with each other.
Electric vehicles (EVs) are excluded from the aged-vehicle surcharge because they produce no tailpipe CO2 emissions, a distinction the tax system rewards directly. EVs also qualify for the green-tax reduction, which cuts the vehicle tax by roughly 75% for the fiscal year after first registration only (¥25,000 to ¥6,500 for a regular car, ¥10,800 to ¥2,700 for a kei car). The environmental performance levy formerly charged at acquisition (from which EVs were exempt) was abolished on March 31, 2026, so no car pays it any more and there is no longer a difference at purchase.