Costs
Buying-Cost Calculator
The numbers agents and tax offices rarely volunteer first: what the law lets them charge, and what the law taxes. Three legally fixed formulas so far — the agent-commission cap, registration & license tax and acquisition tax — and it refuses to guess the rest. verified
Registration & license tax and acquisition tax below are not based on the price above — by law they use the property’s fixed-asset tax assessed value (固定資産税評価額), which is usually lower than what you pay and has no fixed conversion ratio from price, so we don’t guess one. It’s on the seller’s fixed-asset tax notice (固定資産税・都市計画税課税明細書), shown separately for land and building — enter what you have; leave either blank if you don’t know it yet.
price × 3% + ¥60,000, + 10% consumption tax
Enter a purchase price above ¥4,000,000 to see the cap.
This is the legal maximum under the Real Estate Brokerage Act fee notification — many agents charge exactly this cap. It is a ceiling, not a required fee. Verified as of 2026-07.
land assessed value × 1.5% + building assessed value × 2%
Enter the land and/or building assessed value above to see this tax.
Tax base is the fixed-asset tax assessed value, not the purchase price. The 1.5% land rate is a reduction from the standard 2.0%, legislated through 2029-03-31 (extended 3 years by the FY2026 tax reform). The 0.3% home rate needs self-occupied use, ≥50㎡ floor area, a municipal 住宅用家屋証明書, and registration within a year of acquisition — and is legislated through a different, earlier date, 2027-03-31, untouched by the FY2026 reform. Verified as of 2026-07.
(land assessed value ÷ 2) × 3% + building assessed value × 3%
Enter the land and/or building assessed value above to see this tax.
Tax base is the fixed-asset tax assessed value, not the purchase price, and this figure is before deductions — the actual bill is often lower or zero. A qualifying new-build home (40–240㎡) gets ¥12,000,000 deducted from the building value before this rate (¥13,000,000 for a certified long-life home); a qualifying used home gets ¥100,000–¥1,200,000 deducted depending on its construction date. Below ¥160,000 taxable land value, or ¥340,000 (existing building) / ¥660,000 (new-build), no tax is charged at all. This v1 doesn’t collect floor area or construction date yet, so none of that is applied here — see our guides for whether you qualify. The 3% land/residential-building rate and the land-value halving are both reductions from the 4% statutory base, legislated through 2027-03-31, untouched by the FY2026 tax reform. Verified as of 2026-07.
Not yet computed here — the amount depends on the property and current tax rules. See our guides / official sources.
Not yet computed here — the amount depends on the property and current tax rules. See our guides / official sources.
What this calculator does — and deliberately doesn’t
For purchases above ¥4,000,000, the agent commission on a sale is capped by law using the simplified formula price × 3% + ¥60,000, plus consumption tax (10%) on that commission. That cap is set by the fee notification under the Real Estate Brokerage Act — many agents charge exactly this cap, but it is a maximum, not a fixed price.
Registration & license tax and real-estate acquisition tax are also legally fixed formulas, but on a different base: the property’s fixed-asset tax assessed value, not the price you pay. Enter that assessed value (from the seller’s fixed-asset tax notice) into the two lower fields to see them — we don’t apply these rates to the purchase price, because assessed value is commonly 30% or more below market price with no fixed official conversion ratio, and guessing one would silently overstate what you owe.
Official sources: Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省) — https://www.mlit.go.jp/ for the commission cap; the National Tax Agency, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Taxation for the two taxes — full list below. Verified as of 2026-07.
The remaining closing costs — judicial-scrivener fees and stamp duty — depend on the property, the professional and the current tax year, so we don’t compute them yet. Each will be added only once it can be verified against an official source with an as-of date. Until then, read the Money & Tax guides and check the official pages they cite.
This tool is general information, not legal or tax advice. Amounts in your own purchase are set by your contracts and current law — confirm with a licensed professional (judicial scrivener, tax accountant or licensed agent) before relying on any figure.
FAQ
- Is registration & license tax (登録免許税) based on the purchase price?
- No. By law it's based on the property's fixed-asset tax assessed value (固定資産税評価額), which is usually lower than what you pay and has no fixed conversion ratio from price — so this calculator asks for the assessed value directly instead of guessing one from your purchase price.
- What's the current registration tax rate on a land purchase?
- 1.5% of the assessed value, a reduction from the standard 2.0% rate — 租税特別措置法第72条第1項, currently legislated through 2029-03-31 after a 3-year extension in the FY2026 tax reform. It applies to any sale-based ownership-transfer registration on land.
- How much is real-estate acquisition tax (不動産取得税) in Japan?
- 3% of the assessed value for land (with the land value halved first) and for a residential building, or 4% for a non-residential building — the 3% is a reduction from the 4% statutory base rate, currently legislated through 2027-03-31. New-build and used-home purchases can also qualify for a separate value deduction this v1 doesn't compute yet.
- Why does the calculator ask for an assessed value instead of just using the price I paid?
- Because Japanese law bases both taxes on the fixed-asset tax assessed value, not the purchase price — the two commonly differ by 30% or more, and the exact ratio varies by municipality, property age and land-price zone. Applying these rates to your purchase price directly would give a wrong, usually inflated, number, so we ask for the real tax base rather than guess a conversion.
Official sources
- MLIT (国土交通省) — official ministry site — checked 2026-07
- 国税庁 (NTA) — 登録免許税の軽減措置（土地の売買）に関するお知らせ — checked 2026-07
- 国税庁 (NTA) — 住宅用家屋の登録免許税の軽減措置に関するお知らせ — checked 2026-07
- 財務省 (Ministry of Finance) — 登録免許税に関する資料 — checked 2026-07
- 総務省 (MIC) — やさしい地方税：不動産取得税 — checked 2026-07
- 東京都主税局 — 不動産取得税Ｑ＆Ａ — checked 2026-07
We cite primary and official pages so you can verify every claim yourself. Rules change — the linked page is always the live truth.