Furusato Nozei Limit Calculator
Calculate the maximum deductible donation amount for Japan's furusato nozei (hometown tax donation) system based on your annual salary and family structure.
| Annual Income |
万円 (JPY ×10,000)
|
|---|---|
| Family Structure |
Show calculation details
| Resident Tax (income portion) | [[ fmt(result.residentTaxIncomeCharge) ]] JPY |
|---|---|
| Income Tax Rate | [[ result.incomeTaxRatePercent ]]% |
Results are estimates only. Social insurance is approximated, so actual limits may differ by a few thousand yen. Consult a tax professional or an official furusato nozei simulator for precise figures.
Donation Limit Reference Table by Income & Family Structure
| Annual Income | Single / Dual Income | Married (non-working spouse) | Married + 1 HS student | Married + 1 college student |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000,000JPY | 15,475JPY | 6,822JPY | — | — |
| 3,000,000JPY | 28,515JPY | 20,151JPY | 11,233JPY | 7,122JPY |
| 4,000,000JPY | 42,497JPY | 34,133JPY | 25,770JPY | 21,412JPY |
| 5,000,000JPY | 62,095JPY | 50,324JPY | 41,166JPY | 36,807JPY |
| 6,000,000JPY | 78,475JPY | 70,204JPY | 61,932JPY | 55,395JPY |
| 7,000,000JPY | 109,631JPY | 87,587JPY | 79,315JPY | 76,307JPY |
| 8,000,000JPY | 132,762JPY | 123,277JPY | 113,791JPY | 110,342JPY |
| 10,000,000JPY | 185,651JPY | 176,166JPY | 166,680JPY | 163,231JPY |
| 12,000,000JPY | 250,936JPY | 241,013JPY | 231,091JPY | 227,483JPY |
* Social insurance estimated at approx. 14.4% of annual income. Actual limits vary by employer, municipality, and insurance rate.
What the furusato nozei limit calculator does
Furusato nozei (ふるさと納税), literally "hometown tax payment", lets you donate to any local authority in Japan and have almost all of it come back as an income tax refund and a resident tax deduction. Everything above a flat 2,000 yen of your own money is returned, so in practice you pay 2,000 yen and still receive the thank-you gift the municipality sends. That combination — choosing where part of your tax goes, and getting local produce or crafts in return — is why the scheme is so widely used.
The catch is that the deduction has a ceiling, set by your income and your family situation. Anything you donate above that ceiling is simply not deductible and comes straight out of your pocket. Enter your annual income and household details and this calculator works out the maximum donation that still costs you only 2,000 yen, an indication of the gift value that corresponds to it, and how the deduction splits between resident tax and income tax.
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.
- Employees' pension insurance rate — Japan Pension Service (日本年金機構) Effective from 2017-09 ／ Last checked 2026-09-03
- Employment insurance rate — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省) Effective 2026-04 to 2027-03 ／ Last checked 2026-09-03
- Basic deduction and employment income deduction — National Tax Agency (国税庁) Effective from 2025-01 ／ Last checked 2026-09-05
- Resident tax (income-based and per-capita portions) — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省) Effective from 2024-01 ／ Last checked 2026-09-03
How to use the calculator
- Enter your annual income Use the gross employment income shown as the "payment amount" on your withholding tax certificate, entered in units of 10,000 yen.
- Choose your household situation Select the option that matches whether you have a spouse and how they are taxed, plus the number of dependants of high-school and university age.
- Check the deduction ceiling The main figure is the largest donation that still leaves your own cost at 2,000 yen.
- Look at the breakdown Opening the breakdown shows the resident tax income levy and the reference income tax rate used in the calculation.
- Check the indicative gift value Thank-you gifts are capped at 30 per cent of the donation, so the figure shown alongside the ceiling tells you roughly what you can expect to receive.
Tips for getting more out of it
- Furusato nozei (ふるさと納税) is Japan's hometown tax donation system. When you donate to a municipality, the donation minus ¥2,000 is refunded via income-tax rebate and resident-tax deduction. In practice, you receive regional return gifts at just ¥2,000 net cost.
- Return gifts are legally capped at 30% of the donated amount. For example, with a ¥60,000 limit, return gifts can be worth up to ¥18,000.
- To receive the tax deduction you must either file a 確定申告 (kakutei shinkoku) tax return, or use the one-stop special exception (ワンストップ特例 – for salaried workers donating to 5 or fewer municipalities).
- The resident-tax deduction takes effect from the following year's resident tax. You can confirm the deduction on your June resident-tax notice.
- Results are estimates. Health insurance rates use the national Kyokai Kenpo average, and both pension and health insurance cap out at their respective standard monthly remuneration limits, so actual limits may differ by a few thousand yen.
When this calculator is useful
Before a last-minute donation in December
The deduction covers donations made between 1 January and 31 December. Checking how much room you have left before rushing in at year end avoids paying more than the intended 2,000 yen.
Planning how many municipalities to give to
The one-stop exception only works if you donate to five local authorities or fewer. Knowing your ceiling first makes it much easier to plan how to split the amount.
Estimating a limit with side income
If you have income beyond your main salary, the ceiling depends on your total income. Start with the salary-based figure here, then recalculate from your actual income at tax return time.
Recalculating after a job change or a new dependant
The ceiling moves every year with your income and household. In a year when you changed jobs, had a raise, or a child moved into a different dependant category, do not reuse last year’s number.
Weighing donations against your take-home pay
The ceiling comes from gross income, but what you can comfortably give depends on what actually reaches your account. Checking it alongside a take-home pay calculation keeps the donation within your means.
Terms used in this scheme
- One-stop exception (ワンストップ特例制度)
- A route that lets you claim the deduction without filing a tax return. It is open to salaried employees who do not otherwise need to file and who donate to no more than five local authorities in the year. The deduction comes entirely from resident tax, with no income tax refund.
- Tax return (確定申告)
- The procedure for declaring your own income and tax to the tax office. You take this route if you donated to six or more local authorities, or if you had to file anyway.
- Resident tax income levy (住民税所得割)
- The part of resident tax that varies with the previous year’s income. Most of the furusato nozei deduction is applied here, reducing the resident tax billed in the following fiscal year.
- Donation deduction (寄付金控除)
- The tax relief available when you make a qualifying donation. In legal terms furusato nozei is treated as a donation, and the refund and deduction flow through this mechanism.
- Employment income deduction (給与所得控除)
- A deduction from salary that stands in for an employee’s expenses. Its size is set in bands according to income; subtracting it from gross salary gives employment income.
- Dependant deduction (扶養控除)
- Relief available when you support family members. Ages 16 to 18 attract the ordinary deduction, while ages 19 to 22 attract a larger "specified" deduction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Side Note — Why Is It Called "Hometown Tax"?
Furusato nozei is technically a donation (寄付), not a tax — it is treated as a charitable deduction (寄付金控除) under Japan's tax law. The "tax" in the name comes from the founding concept in 2008: redirecting a portion of your residential tax to the municipality of your choice (often a hometown or region you want to support).
Total donations under the scheme were about ¥7.2 billion when it launched and grew to roughly ¥965 billion (≈ US$6.5 billion) by fiscal 2022 — a 134-fold increase in 14 years. The rapid growth prompted the government to codify rules in 2019 limiting return gifts to local specialty products worth no more than 30% of the donation.
The most popular return-gift categories are food items (beef, seafood, rice), accounting for roughly 60% of all donations, followed by travel vouchers and household goods. For municipalities — especially rural ones — furusato nozei has become an important revenue source funding childcare, disaster preparedness, and regional tourism.