Annual Auto Tax (Jidosha-zei)

Annual auto tax Japan bills every car owner each May for the year starting April 1.¹² The amount follows engine size for standard cars and a flat municipal rate for kei-cars, so knowing which tax applies tells you what the notice will say.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your prefectural tax office for standard cars or your municipal tax office for kei-cars.

Overview

This guide covers the yearly ownership tax on cars kept in Japan: who pays, when the bill arrives, the engine-size bands, the kei-car flat rate, payment channels, green-car reductions, older-car surcharges, and refunds on deregistration.¹²³ It treats taxes as procedures and amounts only; it does not advise on any individual filing position.

The system has two parallel taxes. Standard cars pay the 自動車税 (jidōsha-zei, "automobile tax") to the prefecture.¹² Kei-cars pay the 軽自動車税 (kei jidōsha-zei, "light-vehicle tax") to the municipality.³ The bills look similar but come from different authorities.

How the tax works: who pays and when

Liability keys to the registered owner on April 1, and the tax year runs April to the following March.¹² Rates are set in national statute schedules, while the prefecture (standard cars) or the municipality (kei-cars) issues and collects the bill, so confirm notice timing with your own issuing office.¹²³

The April 1 rule and the tax year

The owner on record on April 1 (the 賦課期日 (fuka kijitsu, "levy date")) owes the full-year bill for a standard car.¹² Under hire-purchase with retention of title, the buyer or user counts as the owner for this purpose.¹²

A mid-year newly registered car is taxed monthly from the month after its registration month through March (as of 2026-05-01; confirm current figures with your prefectural tax office).¹² The name changed from 自動車税種別割 to 自動車税 on 2026-04-01, and the separate acquisition-time environmental performance levy ended in March 2026.¹²

Standard cars vs kei-cars: two taxes, two collectors

Standard-car automobile tax is a prefectural tax collected by the prefecture where the car's principal place of garaging is registered.¹ Kei-car light-vehicle tax is a municipal tax handled by the city, town, village, or special ward office.³

The structure is uniform nationwide, but the collector differs. A standard-car notice arrives from the prefecture; a kei-car notice arrives from the municipality.¹³

Annual bands by engine size

Bands are set by 排気量 (haikiryō, "engine displacement") for private passenger cars, and larger engines pay more.² The table below reflects the statutory schedule current in mid-2026 (as of 2026-06-30; confirm current figures with your prefectural tax office).²

Displacement (private passenger)	New rate (first registered on/after 2019-10-01)	Legacy rate (first registered on/before 2019-09-30)	As of	Notes
Up to 1000cc (incl. EVs)	¥25,000	¥29,500	2026-06-302	Electric cars sit in the bottom band
1000-1500cc	¥30,500	¥34,500	2026-06-302	Typical compact class
1500-2000cc	¥36,000	¥39,500	2026-06-302	Common family-car class
2000-2500cc	¥43,500	¥45,000	2026-06-302	Mid-size and minivan class
2500-3000cc	¥50,000	¥51,000	2026-06-302	Large sedan class
3000-3500cc	¥57,000	¥58,000	2026-06-302	Large and luxury class
3500-4000cc	¥65,500	¥66,500	2026-06-302	Luxury class
4000-4500cc	¥75,500	¥76,500	2026-06-302	High-displacement class
4500-6000cc	¥87,000	¥88,000	2026-06-302	High-displacement class
Over 6000cc	¥110,000	¥111,000	2026-06-302	Top band

Commercial-use passenger rates run far lower than the private bands above (as of 2026-06-30).²

Reading the table: new vs old registration split

Cars first newly registered on or after 2019-10-01 use the reduced rates, roughly ¥1,000 to ¥4,500 lower per band (as of 2026-06-30).² Cars first registered on or before 2019-09-30 stay on the legacy rates indefinitely, which is why two columns remain in use while older cars stay on the road.²

Check the first-registration date on the inspection certificate before budgeting. A 1500cc compact on the new rate costs ¥30,500 while the same class on the legacy rate costs ¥34,500 (as of 2026-06-30).²

The kei-car distinction

Kei-cars (660cc or less, yellow plates) ignore displacement entirely. Tax is flat by vehicle class, and the private passenger standard rate is ¥10,800 per year for cars first inspected on or after 2015-04-01 (as of 2026-01-05; confirm current figures with your municipal tax office).³

Kei class (4-wheel, 660cc or less)	Old rate (first inspection on/before 2015-03-31)	Standard rate (on/after 2015-04-01)	Heavy rate (13+ years)	As of
Passenger, private use	¥7,200	¥10,800	¥12,900	2026-01-053
Passenger, commercial use	¥6,600	¥6,900	¥8,200	2026-01-053
Freight, private use	¥4,800	¥5,000	¥6,000	2026-01-053
Freight, commercial use	¥3,600	¥3,800	¥4,500	2026-01-053

Unlike standard cars, kei-cars have no monthly pro-rating (as of 2026-01-05).³ A kei-car acquired mid-year is not taxed that year at all, and a kei-car disposed of mid-year earns no refund; the April 1 owner simply pays the full year.³

The gap explains much of kei popularity. A 1500cc compact at ¥30,500 versus a kei passenger car at ¥10,800 is roughly a ¥20,000 annual difference on this tax alone (as of 2026-06-30 for the compact band; as of 2026-01-05 for the kei band).²³

Paying the May bill

The prefecture sends the standard-car notice in early May; Kanagawa dispatched FY2026 notices on May 1 (as of 2026-05-01; confirm current figures with your prefectural tax office).¹ The statutory deadline is May 31, shifting to the next weekday when it lands on a weekend, which put the FY2026 deadline on June 1 in Kanagawa and Shizuoka (as of 2026-05-01).¹²

The yearly cycle runs as one loop with an exit for deregistered cars.

Where and how to pay

Pay at financial-institution counters, Japan Post, or major konbini, or use the cashless options your prefecture accepts.¹² Shizuoka lists smartphone payment apps, credit cards, internet banking, konbini, and financial institutions among its accepted channels.²

Bank auto-pay (口座振替 (kōza furikae, "bank auto-pay")) is available for hands-free payment.¹ The mailed slip carries a barcode for konbini payment, and the receipt serves as proof, so keep it with the inspection documents (as of 2026-05-01).¹⁴

Pay at a konbini the day the notice arrives

Konbini payment takes minutes with the barcode slip and clears the deadline risk immediately. Store the receipt with the inspection certificate so the shop performing the 車検 (shaken, "mandatory vehicle inspection") can confirm status without a search.¹⁴

Missing the deadline

Late payment draws a delinquency surcharge and can complicate the tax-status check tied to inspection renewal.¹⁴ Persistent non-payment exposes the vehicle itself to seizure procedure, so treat May 31 as fixed.⁴

Update the registered address before May

The notice follows the registration address, not a forwarding guess. A move without a registry update sends the bill to the old address while liability stays with the owner.¹²

Green-car reductions and older-car surcharges

Newly registered low-emission vehicles earn a next-fiscal-year-only reduction of about 75 percent (as of 2026-03-31; confirm current figures with your prefectural tax office).⁵ Qualifying types are electric cars, fuel-cell cars, qualifying natural-gas cars, plug-in hybrids, and qualifying commercial passenger gasoline, LPG, and diesel cars meeting combined emission plus FY2030 and FY2020 efficiency marks.⁵

The reduction covers only the fiscal year after the new-registration year.⁵ Kei-cars mirror the pattern at their own scale, with the 75 percent tier cutting a private passenger kei to ¥2,700 for the qualifying year (as of 2026-01-05).³

Older cars carry the opposite adjustment. Gasoline and LPG cars first registered on or before 2013-03-31, and diesel cars first registered on or before 2015-03-31, pay about 10 percent more for buses and trucks or about 15 percent more for other vehicles including passenger cars (as of 2026-03-31).⁵ Electric, hybrid, methanol, and natural-gas cars, general-route buses, and towed vehicles are excluded from the surcharge.⁵

Mid-year disposal and refunds

Deregistration (抹消登録 (masshō tōroku, "deregistration")) at the Land Transport Bureau (運輸支局 (un'yu shikyoku, "Land Transport Bureau branch")) mid-year cuts the standard-car bill to April through the deregistration month.¹² Prepaid full-year amounts come back for the months after deregistration through March via a later refund notice.²

A mere ownership transfer (移転登録 (iten tōroku, "ownership-transfer registration")) mid-year produces no refund; the April 1 owner bears the whole year.² Even with the car gone, the April 1 owner must still pay by the deadline first and await the refund notice afterward.²

Finish the deregistration paperwork, not just the handover

Until the bureau records the deregistration, the registered name keeps the liability. Confirm the deregistration record or the transfer record exists rather than trusting a handshake or a buyer promise.¹²

Good to know

Buying in March vs April changes who pays this year

Liability follows the April 1 owner, so timing decides the bill.¹² A car registered to the buyer in March makes the buyer the April 1 owner for the full year. A car first registered in April instead draws monthly taxation from the month after registration.¹²

Selling without transferring registration leaves the bill with you

Until the new owner completes the transfer at the bureau, the seller remains the registered owner and the tax stays with the seller.¹² Prefectural pages warn that forgotten procedures can bill a car no longer in hand, so confirm the transfer record and keep the paperwork.¹²

Kei-cars get no mid-year refund

Standard cars refund unused months after deregistration, but kei-cars have no monthly pro-rating at all.³ Disposing of a kei-car mid-year still costs the full year, which makes a March sale relatively more attractive for kei owners planning a change.³

Do not confuse auto tax with weight tax

Automobile tax is the annual May ownership bill by displacement.¹² Automobile weight tax is a separate levy paid at registration and each shaken renewal, never as an annual mailed bill.⁴ Budget them as two lines, not one.

See also

• Shaken: The Mandatory Biennial Inspection
• Buying a Car in Japan: New vs. Used
• Compulsory and Voluntary Auto Insurance
• The Disposal (Haisha) Procedure

References

Footnotes

1. Kanagawa Prefecture. 「自動車税」. Updated 2026-05-01. https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/zei/kenzei/a001/b014/index.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶

2. Shizuoka Prefecture. 「自動車税」. Updated 2026-06-30. https://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kurashikankyo/zei/kenzeigaiyou/1002344/1011818.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰

3. Tokushima City. "Light Vehicle Tax" (English portal). Updated 2026-01-05. https://www.city.tokushima.tokushima.jp/smph/multilingual/english_portal/everydaylife_proc/municipal_tax/vehicletax.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

4. GaijinBlog (Fernando Damith). "Japan Automobile Tax (自動車税): What You Owe, When, and How to Pay (2026)". Updated 2026-07-12. https://gaijinblog.com/posts/japan-automobile-tax-guide (limitation: tier-4 resident publisher; used only for payment-channel color already consistent with prefectural pages) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Shizuoka Prefecture. 「自動車税のグリーン化」. Updated 2026-03-31. https://www.pref.shizuoka.jp/kurashikankyo/zei/kenzeigaiyou/1002344/1011892.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵