How to Write a Receipt in Japan (Ryōshūsho): Numbered Sample, Qualified Invoice and Revenue Stamp

Write the company name or personal name of the payer. On a qualified invoice, the name of the business receiving the document is a required item^[3].

Add 御中 (onchū) after a company or department and 様 (sama) after a person’s name. In Japanese practice you use only one of the two on a single addressee^[7]. When the addressee can be left out is explained under “Simplified qualified invoices” below.

• 株式会社サンプル 御中
• 株式会社サンプル 経理部 御中
• 株式会社サンプル 経理部 山田 太郎 様
• 山田 太郎 様

The receipt number is a reference for reissuing and matching payments. It is not one of the qualified invoice items^[3]. If you correct a receipt and hand it over again, see Correcting or reissuing a Japanese invoice.

In practice the date is the day you received payment, written with the full year — not shortened to “26年” or “R8年”^[8].

The qualified invoice item “transaction date” (取引年月日) is the day the goods were delivered or the service was provided^[3]. If that differs from the payment date, put the period in the purpose line — for example “10月分” (for October) — so the transaction date can be read from the receipt. Listing a period’s transactions together is allowed^[9].

Write the total you received. In the sample it is 65,800 yen including tax, the same as the sum of the breakdown in block 5.

Japanese practice is to put “¥” or “金” before the figure, separate thousands with commas, and end it with “-”, “※” or “也”. This stops anyone from adding digits later^[8].

• ¥65,800-
• ¥65,800※
• 金65,800円也

State what the payment was for, usually in the form “〇〇代として” (as payment for …). A vague line such as “お品代” (for goods) does not say what was bought, so avoid it^[8].

• Webサイト保守料（10月分）として
• ロゴデザイン制作費として
• 書籍代として
• セミナー参加費として

On a qualified invoice, a description of what was supplied is a required item, and if it includes reduced-rate items you must say so^[3]. The sample’s “食品（軽減税率対象）” (food, reduced rate) does this. You can also mark items with “※” and add a note such as “※は軽減税率対象”^[9].

Show the consideration for each tax rate (excluding or including tax), the applicable rate, and the consumption tax for each rate. All three are qualified invoice items^[3]. The sample uses tax-exclusive amounts: 50,000 yen at 10% with 5,000 yen of tax, and 10,000 yen at 8% with 800 yen of tax.

If you issue the receipt as a qualified invoice, round fractions of a yen in the consumption tax once per rate on each receipt. You may round down, round up or round to the nearest yen^[10].

As of October 2026, the reduced 8% rate applies to food and beverages (excluding alcoholic beverages and dining out) and to newspapers published at least twice a week and sold by subscription^[11]. A government plan approved by the Cabinet on September 15, 2026 would lower the consumption tax rate on food and beverages to 1% (national and local combined) for two years, from April 1, 2027 to March 31, 2029. It takes effect only if the bill passes, and as of October 22, 2026 it has not^[12].

Write your name or business name, and add your registration number (登録番号) if you are registered. Together they make up the first qualified invoice item^[3]. The number is “T + corporate number” for a business with a corporate number, and “T + 13 digits” for any other business^[15].

Address, phone number and seal impression are not qualified invoice items^[3]. Adding an address and phone number as contact details is common practice^[8].

If a business that is a consumption taxpayer (課税事業者) shows the consumption tax separately, or writes both the tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive amounts so the tax is clear, the tax is left out of the stated amount^[22]. In the National Tax Agency’s example, “商品販売代金48,000円、消費税額等4,800円、合計52,800円” has a stated amount of 48,000 yen, so no duty applies^[22].

Writing only “税込” (tax included) or “消費税10%を含む” (includes 10% tax) does not make the tax clear, so the tax-inclusive total is the stated amount. A tax-exempt business (免税事業者) must include the tax in the stated amount even if it shows it separately^[22].

The sample shows the tax separately in its breakdown, so if the issuer is a consumption taxpayer the stated amount is the tax-exclusive 60,000 yen^[22]. Handed over on paper in Japan, it would need a 200-yen stamp^[4].

• Receipts sent as a PDF or by email — electronic data is not a taxable document^[5]. But if you email it and then also hand over the same receipt on paper, the paper copy can become a taxable document^[23].
• Receipts stating under 50,000 yen — not taxable^[4].
• Receipts not issued in the course of trade (営業に関しない受取書) — “trade” (営業) here means repeating the same kind of activity for profit. Activities of for-profit companies and of individuals who are merchants count as trade; activities of public-interest corporations and of individuals who are not merchants do not^[4]. The work of individual doctors, dentists, lawyers, certified public accountants and the like is generally not treated as trade either^[24].
• Receipts for credit card payments — no money changes hands, so they are not Category 17-1 documents. But if the receipt does not state that the payment was made by credit card, it is taxable^[25].

The person who makes the receipt — the issuer — affixes the stamp, then cancels it with a seal or signature placed across both the receipt and the stamp’s pattern^[26].

If you fail to affix the stamp, a penalty tax (過怠税) of three times the original duty applies. It drops to 1.1 times if you report the omission on your own, before you learn that a tax audit will lead to the duty being assessed. If you affix the stamp but do not cancel it, the penalty is the stamp’s face value. For the threefold penalty and the uncanceled-stamp penalty, if the total comes to less than 1,000 yen, it is 1,000 yen; this minimum does not apply to the self-reported 1.1× case^[27][28].