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Japan's new tax refund system from November 1, 2026
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Bringing purchases home to the UK from Japan

Travellers arriving in Great Britain from Japan can bring in goods for their own use or as gifts up to a set personal allowance without paying UK tax or duty. Alcohol and tobacco have separate limits, and meat and dairy from Japan cannot be brought in at all. This guide follows the GOV.UK and HMRC pages as of 28 October 2026.

By Mikako Yoshida ·Published 28 October 2026

Bringing purchases home to the UK from Japan
Haneda Airport Terminal 3 · Photo: MaedaAkihiko (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Personal allowances when arriving in Great Britain

GoodsAllowance per personNotes
Other goods (electronics, cosmetics, clothes, souvenirs)Up to £390£270 if you arrive by private plane or private boat
Beer and cider42 litres—
Wine (still or sparkling)18 litres—
Spirits over 22% ABV, or other alcoholic products up to 22% ABV (not beer, cider or wine)4 litres of spirits, or 9 litres up to 22% ABVYou can split this allowance, for example 2 litres of spirits and 4.5 litres of fortified wine such as port or sherry
Tobacco (one of these)200 cigarettes, or 100 cigarillos, or 50 cigars, or 250g tobacco, or 200 sticks for heated tobacco devicesCan be split, for example 100 cigarettes and 25 cigars
Vaping liquid50ml—
Travellers under 17No allowance for alcohol, tobacco or vaping productsThey can bring these for their own use but must declare them before arriving
CashDeclare £10,000 or moreApplies to the total carried by a family or group
Arrivals hall, Heathrow Terminal 5
Arrivals hall, Heathrow Terminal 5 · Photo: Mr Ignavy (CC BY-SA 2.0)

How the allowance is counted

The allowance applies to goods bought overseas, wherever you bought them, including duty-free or tax-free shops and ordinary high-street stores. You must carry the goods yourself and use them yourself or give them away as gifts. Goods to sell or use in a business have no allowance and must always be declared.

You cannot combine your personal allowance with anyone else’s. Each traveller has their own £390, and a couple cannot pool £780 towards one expensive item.

If you go over the £390 allowance, you pay tax and duty on the total value of the goods, not just the part above £390. For alcohol, tobacco and vaping products, going over a category means paying on everything in that category: 19 litres of wine means duty on all 19 litres, not on 1 litre.

Import VAT is charged at the current UK VAT rate on the value of the goods plus any duty. Japan’s tax-free shopping removes only Japanese consumption tax; the UK allowance is a separate system, and UK VAT and duty are worked out on the goods you bring in.

Simplified customs duty rates used by the online service

Type of goodsSimplified customs duty rate
Computers, tablets, mobile phones0%
Perfume and cosmetics0%
Watches and clocks2%
Jewellery2%
Clothing (adult and children)12%
Footwear16%
Glassware10%
Tableware and kitchenware8%
All other goods2%

What you pay above the allowance

When you declare online, HMRC calculates customs duty with simplified rates. If the other goods you declare total £630 or less, the service uses a flat 2.5% rate for clothing, televisions, carpets, fabrics, table and kitchenware, glassware and footwear, and the lower simplified rate for categories below 2.5%. Above £630 it uses the category rates in the table. Import VAT is added on top.

Alcohol and tobacco above the allowance also carry excise duty. For example, the simplified excise rate is £12.75 per litre for spirits and £3.52 per litre for still or sparkling wine, and from 1 October 2026 £518.75 per 1,000 cigarettes. The online service accepts alcohol and tobacco only up to upper thresholds, such as 10 litres of spirits, 90 litres of wine or 800 cigarettes; above that you declare everything to Border Force on arrival.

You can also choose an oral declaration to Border Force using the full customs tariff and the main duty rates instead of the simplified rates. If you do, those rates apply to all the goods you declare.

Food, plants and other restricted items from Japan

  • Meat and meat products from countries outside the EU cannot be brought in. This includes wagyu, beef jerky, sausages and other products made from meat.
  • Milk and milk-based products from outside the EU are banned, except powdered infant milk, infant food or special food needed for medical reasons (up to 2kg, unopened branded packaging, no refrigeration needed).
  • Most fresh fruit and vegetables from outside the EU need a phytosanitary certificate from the plant health authority of the country you are leaving. Without one you can bring only pineapple, kiwi, coconut, citrus fruits, kumquat, persimmon, durian, curry leaves, banana and plantain, mango, dates, passion fruit and guava. Melons, strawberries, peaches and grapes are not on that list.
  • All plants for planting, cut flowers and foliage, parts of trees used as decoration and natural wood from outside the EU need a phytosanitary certificate. Over 2kg of plants for planting must also be inspected on arrival.
  • Fish is limited to 20kg per person (fresh fish must be gutted) and honey to 2kg. Caviar needs a CITES permit.
  • Pet food from outside the EU is not allowed unless your pet needs it for health reasons.
  • Self-defence sprays, flick knives and other offensive weapons, controlled drugs and counterfeit goods are banned or may be seized.

Useful before you fly

eSIM for Japan, installed before you leave home

Airalo Saily Yesim

JR Pass and Shinkansen tickets

Klook KKday

Airport transfer when you have a lot of shopping bags

Klook Trip.com Welcome Pickups

Luggage storage in Tokyo for the hours before an evening flight

Radical Storage

Hotels in Japan

Klook Trip.com

Coupons

Food you can bring from Japan

  • Bread (but not sandwiches filled with meat or dairy), biscuits and cakes without fresh cream
  • Chocolate and confectionery, unless made with a lot of unprocessed dairy ingredients
  • Pasta and noodles, unless mixed or filled with meat
  • Packaged soup, stocks and flavourings
  • Processed and packaged plant products, peeled and processed nuts, and certain grains such as rice
  • Food supplements containing small amounts of animal product, such as fish oil capsules

Arriving in Great Britain

  1. Add up your purchases

    Before you fly, total the price of everything bought in Japan except alcohol, tobacco and vaping products, and check each alcohol and tobacco category against its own limit.

  2. Declare online if you are over

    From 5 days (120 hours) before arrival you can declare goods and pay any tax and duty online. You need the exact price in the currency you paid, quantities, your passport number, your arrival date and time, and a card for payment. Keep the email receipt or reference number.

  3. Use the right channel

    With an online receipt, or with nothing to declare, use the green ‘nothing to declare’ channel. Otherwise go to the red channel or use the red-point phone and declare to Border Force.

  4. Declare cash of £10,000 or more

    Declare online or by phone before you travel (up to 72 hours ahead), or follow the ‘goods to declare’ or red channel signs on arrival and tell a Border Force officer.

  5. Hand over banned food

    If you have meat, dairy or other banned food, declare it in the red channel. Declared banned food is taken away and destroyed; undeclared food can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 in England or prosecution.

Wagyu and other meat from Japan

Meat and meat products from outside the EU cannot be brought into Great Britain, including vacuum-packed wagyu and beef jerky bought at a Japanese airport. Border Force can seize the products and destroy bags or clothing contaminated by them, and not declaring them can lead to a fine of up to £5,000 in England.

Raw wagyu beef from Shimane
Raw wagyu beef from Shimane · Photo: Nesnad (CC BY 4.0)

Questions about UK customs after Japan

Does the Japanese tax refund change what I owe in the UK?
No. Japan’s tax-free shopping only removes Japanese consumption tax. UK customs applies its own allowance and charges UK VAT and duty on goods above it, whether or not you received a refund in Japan.
I bought a camera for £450. Do I pay only on the £60 above £390?
No. If you go over the £390 allowance, tax and duty are due on the total value of the goods, not just the part above the allowance. Each traveller has their own allowance and you cannot combine it with someone else’s.
Can I bring Japanese fruit such as melon or strawberries?
Not without a phytosanitary certificate from the plant health authority in Japan. Only a short list of fruit, including persimmon and citrus fruits, can be brought from outside the EU without one.
Can my 16-year-old carry a bottle of sake for us?
Travellers under 17 have no allowance for alcohol, tobacco or vaping products. They can only bring them for their own use and must declare them before arriving, so put alcohol in an adult’s allowance.
What about medicine bought or prescribed in Japan?
GOV.UK says UK residents who were prescribed medicine while abroad need to contact the Home Office Drug and Firearms Licensing Unit. Check whether the medicine contains a controlled drug before you travel.
Are the rules different for Northern Ireland?
Yes. Arriving in Northern Ireland from outside the EU, the alcohol allowance is lower: 16 litres of beer and cider, 4 litres of wine, and 1 litre of spirits or 2 litres of alcohol up to 22%. The £390 allowance for other goods also covers vaping products there.

Before you leave Japan

Tax refund kiosks at Japanese airportsWhere to have your tax-free purchases checked before you fly home.How the Japanese tax refund is paidCard, cash and other refund options under the new system.Common tax-free mistakesErrors that cost travellers their Japanese refund.

Read this next

Claiming your tax refund at the airportWhere to find the tax-free kiosk at Japanese airports, what green and red results mean, using Visit Japan Web, and what to do on connecting flights and cruises.What you can and cannot buy tax-free in JapanWhat qualifies for Japan’s tax refund from 1 November 2026: gold bullion and coins no, jewellery and iPhones yes, meals and hotels no, business use now allowed.Airport duty-free in Japan and how it differs from tax-free shoppingNarita, Haneda and Kansai duty-free shops are not part of the new refund system. What each removes, who can buy, pre-orders, arrival shops and allowances.

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