Japan’s lower house passes the bill cutting consumption tax on food to 1% from April 2027; not yet law, pending the House of Councillors
This change is proposed and is not law. The rules below describe what would change if it is adopted.
This page records one dated change. For the rules in Japan as they stand today, see the Japan guide →
- Jurisdiction
- Japan
- Tax
- Consumption Tax
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- Proposed
- Impact
- Watch
- Announced
- 6 November 2026
- Effective
- 1 April 2027
- Authority
- 衆議院 (House of Representatives of Japan)
- Systems
- Tax engine, POS, Invoicing
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · medium confidence
Japanese businesses supplying or importing food and beverages currently taxed at the reduced rate, including retailers, restaurants offering takeaway and food wholesalers, and the vendors of their POS and tax systems.
Food retailers and POS/ERP vendors: plan for a 1% combined rate on food from 1 April 2027 if the House of Councillors passes the bill.
Tax enginePOSInvoicing
Japan's House of Representatives passed Cabinet bill No. 1 of the 222nd Diet session on 6 November 2026, and the bill is now before the House of Councillors. It would temporarily cut the national consumption tax rate on food and beverages currently at the reduced rate from 6.24% to 0.78% for supplies made from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029, taking the combined national and local rate on food from 8% to 1%. The same bill creates a cash support payment for low- and middle-income workers. It is not yet law.
What changed in detail
This is a bill, not law. Japan’s House of Representatives passed Cabinet bill No. 1 of the 222nd Diet session, the bill on the temporary reduction of the consumption tax rate on food and beverages and the payment of a worker burden-reduction support payment, on 6 November 2026. Its Finance and Financial Affairs Committee approved the bill the same day. The House of Councillors received the bill on 6 November 2026; it has not yet been referred to a committee there, voted on or promulgated.
As submitted, Article 2 of the bill would set the national consumption tax rate at 0.78 percent, instead of the 6.24 percent reduced rate, for:
- supplies in Japan of food and beverages that currently qualify for the reduced rate, made from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029; and
- such goods withdrawn from bonded areas in the same period.
Only food and beverage supplies within the reduced-rate category are covered; newspaper subscriptions, the other reduced-rate item, are not, and would stay at the reduced rate.
With the local consumption tax, the combined rate on food would fall from 8 percent to 1 percent. The bill sets transitional rules for subscription contracts and mail-order sales arranged before 1 January 2027, and would mostly enter into force on 1 April 2027. Article 1 states its purpose: to cut the food rate temporarily, for two years only, in view of rising prices, and to pay income-linked support to low- and middle-income workers.
What it means
Lower-house passage makes enactment likely but not certain: the House of Councillors still has to pass the bill. If it is enacted this autumn, food sellers will have only a few months before 1 April 2027 to reprice, update POS tax codes, change qualified-invoice templates to show a 1% rate, and handle the transitional rules for subscriptions and mail order. Start the system work now, but switch rates only once the law is promulgated.
Proof
衆議院審議終了年月日／衆議院審議結果 令和 8年11月 6日 ／ 可決Date of conclusion of deliberation in the House of Representatives / result: 6 November Reiwa 8 (2026) / passed
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗令和九年四月一日から令和十一年三月三十一日までの間に保税地域から引き取られるものをいう。以下この章において同じ。）に係る消費税の税率は、同法第二十九条第二号の規定にかかわらず、百分の〇・七八とする。... withdrawn from bonded areas between 1 April Reiwa 9 (2027) and 31 March Reiwa 11 (2029); the same applies below in this chapter) is, notwithstanding Article 29, item 2 of that Act, 0.78 percent.
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗