Correcting or Reissuing a Japanese Invoice: Corrected Qualified Invoices, Return Invoices and Reissues

A qualified invoice issuer that has issued a qualified invoice, a simplified qualified invoice or a qualified return invoice must issue a corrected one to the business that received the original if an item turns out to be wrong. This is Article 57-4, paragraph 4 of the Consumption Tax Act. For electronic records, the latter part of paragraph 5 applies paragraph 4 in the same way^[1].

• The duty covers documents you issued. The article is about mistakes in documents already issued. A document you have not yet handed over can simply be fixed^[1].
• The duty falls on a qualified invoice issuer. That business is the subject of the article^[1].
• The corrected document goes to the business you issued the original to^[1][4].

How to register and what a qualified invoice must show are in Japan’s qualified invoice system. What to write on an invoice is in How to write an invoice in Japan.

NTA Q&A 33 gives two examples of how to issue a corrected qualified invoice. It words them as "for example" and "and so on", so it does not forbid other ways^[2].

2026年11月30日付の11月分請求書（請求書番号 20261130-001）に下記の誤りがありましたので、修正いたします。お手数ですが、本書は当初お送りした請求書と併せて保存してください。

Either way, the issuer keeps a copy of the original qualified invoice and a copy of the corrected document^[2].

• A copy of the original qualified invoice and a copy of the corrected document, both^[2].
• Retention period: copies of qualified invoices you issued, and electronic records you provided, are kept for 7 years. For an individual this holds whether you file a blue or white return^[7][8]. For a company, the corporate tax retention period for books and documents is generally 7 years, and 10 years where, for example, a blue-return business year produced a loss carryforward^[9].

How to keep electronically issued data is in Japan’s Electronic Bookkeeping Act.

A taxable business that received a qualified invoice with a mistake asks the seller for a corrected one. As a rule, the buyer cannot add to or fix it on its own^[3].

• The purchase detail statement route: the buyer can prepare a purchase detail statement (仕入明細書) with the prescribed items and the mistake fixed, get the seller’s confirmation and keep it. A statement confirmed this way counts as a document kept for the input tax credit^[3][4].
• What the seller does: when this route is used, the seller does not have to issue a corrected qualified invoice^[4]. The seller must still keep a copy of the original one^[3].

When a client says "this part is wrong", you either issue a corrected qualified invoice or confirm the purchase detail statement the client prepares.

In a monthly billing relationship, a unit price or quantity mistake changes the amount billed, and the seller may adjust by adding or subtracting the previous month’s under- or over-billing in the next invoice. NTA Q&A 34 addresses sellers who do this on an ongoing basis^[10].

• How to write it: in the next invoice, show the amount obtained by directly adding or subtracting the under- or over-billed amount from the consideration for taxable supplies, and the consumption tax computed on that amount. This is treated as issuing a corrected qualified invoice^[10].
• Premise: the case in Q&A 34 is one where adding a registration number and similar items makes the invoice meet the qualified invoice requirements^[10].
• What the current invoice shows: the total by tax rate and the consumption tax are the adjusted figures^[10].
• The part that is a refund: if the adjustment includes a return of sales proceeds, that part calls for a qualified return invoice. A qualified invoice and a qualified return invoice can be issued in one document^[10][11].

Q&A 34 answers for sellers who adjust on an ongoing basis. It does not say you can always use this method for a one-off mistake^[10].

There are three situations in which you might issue a document again: correcting a mistake, a refund or discount, and reissuing a lost copy. Correcting a mistake requires a corrected qualified invoice, and a refund or discount calls for a return invoice. Reissuing a document that has no mistake is not required once you have issued it.

Fixing a mistake is a correction even if the amount billed changes. The part that refunds sales proceeds, such as a discount, return or rebate, needs a return invoice. Q&A 34 treats the two parts separately when an adjustment mixes them^[10].

The items on a return invoice and the ¥10,000 waiver are covered in Japan’s qualified invoice system.

A receipt is a qualified invoice too if it shows the required items^[15]. If such a receipt has a mistake, the same duty to issue a corrected one applies.

If you hand over the corrected receipt on paper, check the revenue stamp (収入印紙). Even if you make several paper documents for one payment, each one made to prove that the money was received is a receipt for money. A reissued receipt is also a Category 17 document, and the person liable for the duty is the person who made the receipt, not the client who asked for the reissue^[16][17].

• A paper receipt for sales proceeds issued in the course of trade, with a stated amount of ¥50,000 or more: a stamp is needed. From ¥50,000 up to ¥1 million the duty is ¥200^[18].
• A receipt under ¥50,000, and a receipt not issued in the course of trade: exempt^[18].
• Resending as a PDF: an electronic record is not a "document" subject to stamp duty, so no stamp is needed^[19].

The amount used for the ¥50,000 test, the duty table and how to affix a stamp are in Revenue stamps on Japanese receipts. The test uses the stated amount on the corrected paper receipt.