Tokyo's accommodation tax hits minpaku from April 2027 — what owners need to do

Short answer: Tokyo’s accommodation tax (宿泊税) currently applies only to hotels and ryokan. From 1 April 2027, it also applies to minpaku — both 新法民泊 and 特区民泊 — and 簡易宿所, at 3% of the accommodation charge, with stays under ¥13,000 per person per night exempt. Operators become responsible for collecting and remitting it, and registration as a collecting agent has been open since 1 July 2026.

This is based on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s announcement of 30 June 2026, which confirmed the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications’ consent and the effective date.

What actually changes

Two changes matter more than the headline. First, minpaku is in scope for the first time — if you run a property in Tokyo, this is new work that did not exist before. Second, the flat ¥100/¥200 becomes a percentage, so the amount now scales with your nightly rate.

The new rules apply to stays from 1 April 2027, not bookings made from that date. A reservation taken in late 2026 for an April 2027 stay is taxable.

What it costs, in real numbers

The tax is paid by the guest, but you collect it and remit it. At 3%:

Note the step at the threshold: at ¥12,999 the guest owes nothing, at ¥13,000 they owe ¥390. That discontinuity is worth knowing when you set rates near the line.

The point most owners will miss: it is per person, per night

The ¥13,000 exemption is defined per person, per night — not per booking. For whole-house minpaku, which is most of what we manage, that changes the picture completely.

Take a house listed at ¥49,800 a night. Booked by a couple, that is ¥24,900 per person — taxable. Booked by a family or group of eight, the same night is ¥6,225 per person — below the threshold, and no tax applies at all.

So the properties most exposed are small units at high nightly rates, not large houses at high nightly rates. If your listing sleeps six or more and books to groups, a large share of your nights may fall under the exemption entirely.

One caveat we are not going to paper over: exactly how the per-person figure is derived for a whole-house booking is an operational detail the announcement does not spell out. We are confirming the calculation method with the metropolitan government and will update this post. Do not build a pricing decision on our reading alone.

What you have to do

1. Register as a collecting agent (特別徴収義務者). Registration opened on 1 July 2026 — it is open now, well ahead of the tax itself. Filing is via eLTAX, by post, or in person.
2. Configure your listings so the tax is collected correctly from April 2027 stays, including bookings taken before then.
3. Keep records and file. Collected tax has to be remitted to the metropolitan government on the required cycle.

If BB manages your property, we handle all three: we register, configure the collection, and remit — and it shows up in your monthly report. Nothing lands on you.

What we would do now, not in 2027

Nothing about this is urgent for revenue, but two things are worth doing early. Register while the queue is short rather than in the March 2027 rush. And if you are planning rates for 2027, run your typical booking through the per-person test before assuming the tax applies — for group-sized properties it often will not.

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Based on the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announcement of 30 June 2026. This is general information from an operator, not tax advice — confirm specifics with the metropolitan government or a qualified tax accountant.