In 2026, the rules governing accommodation tax in Hokkaido changed significantly. The subject concerns both owners who let out property and guests who stay, so this article traces how the system has developed.
What is Japan’s accommodation tax?
Accommodation tax is a local tax established by prefectural or municipal ordinance. It is borne by guests and funds tourism infrastructure and measures against overtourism. Tokyo introduced it in 2002; Kyoto City, Osaka Prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture and others followed, and with the post-COVID recovery in tourism, the number of municipalities adopting it continues to grow.
Most municipalities use a flat-amount (bracket) system: the room rate per person per night is divided into brackets — for example, ¥100 where the rate is under ¥20,000 and ¥500 where it is ¥50,000 or more — with a fixed amount charged for each bracket.
Why Kutchan uses a percentage-based tax
Kutchan Town, by contrast, was the first municipality in Japan to adopt a percentage-based system (2% at the time) when it introduced the tax in November 2019. The background is the sheer range of accommodation prices in the Niseko area. Shared dormitories coexist within the same town as luxury condominiums and whole-hire chalets costing hundreds of thousands of yen a night. Under a flat-amount system, the burden on high-priced stays becomes disproportionately light, and the tax ceases to be fair in proportion to price. A percentage of the room rate is a design matched to the realities of “Niseko,” an international resort with high accommodation prices. Note that ordinances may include exemptions removing certain stays, such as school trips, from the tax.
The 2026 changes across Hokkaido
In April 2026, Hokkaido launched a prefecture-wide accommodation tax (flat-amount, three brackets from ¥100 to ¥500), which made it necessary to address the double burden alongside municipal taxes. Kutchan raised its rate to 3% in the same month and absorbed the prefectural portion within that 3%, so that from the guest’s point of view a single charge of “3% of the room rate” still settles everything. Niseko Town, which had started with a flat-amount system, will move to the same 3% percentage system in November 2026. As an area, Niseko is converging on percentage-based taxation.
The owner’s role as special collection agent
Seen from the owner’s side, accommodation tax is not a tax you bear yourself: it is collected from guests and paid over to the town. A person operating an accommodation business is a special collection agent, obliged to receive the tax together with the room charge and to file and remit it. Where a management company runs the operation, collection and remittance are normally included in its mandate; where you operate the property yourself, these are your own obligations. Rates and brackets can be expected to be reviewed from time to time, so we recommend checking the latest position together with your operating arrangements.
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