# How to Issue Japan's Qualified Invoice on Shopify {#post-title}

[Ori](/blog/#blog-ori)

By [B2B Gold](/about/#how-we-write) Published 15 October 2026

## Can Shopify issue a qualified invoice? {#can-shopify-issue-a-qualified-invoice}

Not by itself. Shopify’s help describes no setting that issues a qualified invoice (適格請求書), and its page on Japanese tax covers tax-inclusive prices, not invoices. To give one from a Shopify order, register as an invoice issuer, then print the National Tax Agency’s listed items with a Shopify Order Printer template you edit, or with an invoice app.

> **Note:** The Shopify settings and labels on this page were checked against Shopify’s help documentation, and the tax rules against the National Tax Agency (国税庁) and the Consumption Tax Act (消費税法) on e-Gov, on 14 October 2026.

Japan’s Invoice System (インボイス制度) started on 1 October 2023. A business that buys from you generally needs a qualified invoice from a registered seller, kept with its books, to deduct the consumption tax it paid you ([NTA: the Invoice System](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_about.htm)). Only a registered qualified invoice issuer (適格請求書発行事業者) can give one. You apply through e-Tax or by post ([NTA: registration](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_shinsei.htm)), and the tax office sends you a registration number (登録番号). From then on you file consumption tax returns, even if your taxable sales are under 10 million yen ([NTA English instructions](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/0024006-039_01.pdf), revised April 2026).

Shopify’s own Japan tax page says you don’t need a registration number to charge tax, and that merchants in Japan must use tax-inclusive prices ([Shopify: taxes in Japan](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/taxes/japan)). Charging the right tax and handing over the right document are separate jobs, and Shopify’s settings cover the first.

## What must a qualified invoice show? {#what-must-a-qualified-invoice-show}

A qualified invoice must show six items: your name and registration number, the transaction date, what you sold with reduced-rate items marked, the totals and rate for each tax rate, the consumption tax for each rate, and the buyer’s name. The National Tax Agency lists them, and the Consumption Tax Act sets them out in Article 57-4(1).

| # | Item | Japanese | On a Shopify order |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Your name or business name, and your registration number | 適格請求書発行事業者の氏名又は名称及び登録番号 | Your business name and “T” followed by 13 digits |
| 2 | The transaction date | 取引年月日 | The date of the sale; an invoice covering a period can state the period |
| 3 | What was sold, marking reduced-rate items | 取引内容（軽減税率の対象品目である旨） | The line items, with food marked |
| 4 | The total for each tax rate, tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive, and the rate | 税率ごとに区分して合計した対価の額及び適用税率 | An 8% total and a 10% total |
| 5 | The consumption tax for each rate | 税率ごとに区分した消費税額等 | The tax on the 8% total and on the 10% total |
| 6 | The buyer’s name or business name | 書類の交付を受ける事業者の氏名又は名称 | The recipient (宛名) |

Source: [NTA, the Invoice System](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_about.htm) and [Consumption Tax Act, Article 57-4](https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/363AC0000000108) (checked 14 October 2026).

The document’s name doesn’t matter. The NTA says any document carrying these items is a qualified invoice, whether it’s called an invoice, a receipt (領収書) or a delivery note (納品書). Three details need care:

- **The registration number** is “T” followed by 13 digits. For a company it is “T” plus its corporate number; a sole proprietor gets a separate 13-digit number, never their My Number. Half-width or full-width characters are both fine ([NTA Q&A 18](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/18.pdf)).
- **Marking reduced-rate items** can be done with a symbol such as ※ next to each item and a note saying what it means (「※印は軽減税率対象商品」), by grouping the items by rate, or by giving separate invoices for each rate ([NTA Q&A 73](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/73.pdf)).
- **The tax per rate** is a figure in yen, not just the rate, on a full qualified invoice.

## When can a receipt leave out the customer’s name? {#when-can-a-receipt-leave-out-the-customers-name}

A receipt can leave out the customer’s name when it’s a simplified qualified invoice (適格簡易請求書), which only certain businesses may give: retail, restaurants, photography, travel and taxi businesses, parking for the general public, and similar businesses selling to many unspecified people. The NTA says retail sales qualify in whatever form they’re made ([NTA Q&A 24](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/24.pdf)).

A simplified qualified invoice differs from a full one in two ways ([NTA Q&A 58](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/58.pdf)):

- the buyer’s name can be left out;
- it needs either the tax for each rate or the rate itself, rather than both.

The rest stays: your name and registration number, the date, the items with reduced-rate items marked, and the total for each rate. Wholesale isn’t on the list, so a wholesaler gives full qualified invoices. The NTA also suggests, as an option rather than a requirement, a note in the margin saying the document is a simplified invoice, so a business customer doesn’t mistake the missing name for an error ([NTA: the Invoice System](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_about.htm)). Ask your tax accountant (税理士) whether your shop may give simplified qualified invoices.

## How should tax be rounded on an invoice? {#how-should-tax-be-rounded-on-an-invoice}

On a qualified invoice, the consumption tax is rounded once per tax rate per invoice. You may round down, round up or round half up, but you may not work out the tax on each item, round it, and add the results ([NTA Q&A 57](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/57.pdf), based on Article 70-10 of the Consumption Tax Act’s Enforcement Order).

The NTA’s own example is a monthly invoice with 60,000 yen of 10% goods and 40,000 yen of 8% goods, both tax-inclusive. The tax is 60,000 × 10/110, rounded down to 5,454 yen, and 40,000 × 8/108, rounded down to 2,962 yen. Tax rounded item by item and then added up can come to a different figure, and the same answer says that method isn’t allowed.

## Do you have to issue an invoice when a customer asks? {#do-you-have-to-issue-an-invoice-when-a-customer-asks}

Yes, if you’re registered: a registered issuer must give a qualified invoice when a taxable business buyer (課税事業者) asks for one, and keep a copy ([Consumption Tax Act, Article 57-4](https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/363AC0000000108); [NTA Q&A 23](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/23.pdf)). The duty applies whatever rate your goods carry.

- **Paper or PDF.** You can give the invoice as electronic data instead of paper, for example by email or through a website ([NTA Q&A 31](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/31.pdf)).
- **Exemptions.** The duty is lifted only for a short list: public transport fares under 30,000 yen, vending machines under 30,000 yen, certain wholesale-market and co-operative sales, and post paid for with stamps. An online shop’s sales aren’t on it.
- **Copies.** Keep a copy of each qualified invoice, or the data you sent, for seven years from two months after the end of the taxable period it was issued in ([NTA Q&A 79](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/79.pdf)).
- **Mistakes.** If an item on a qualified invoice was wrong, give the buyer a corrected one ([NTA Q&A 32](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/32.pdf)).
- **Refunds and discounts.** When you refund or discount a sale to a taxable business, the law requires a qualified return invoice (適格返還請求書), unless the refund is under 10,000 yen including tax ([NTA Q&A 27](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/27.pdf)).

The tax-law duty is owed to business buyers. A consumer can still ask for a receipt under the Civil Code, which the guide to [receipts for customers in Japan](/blog/shopify-receipts-japan/) covers.

Business customers ask because their deduction depends on it. Without a qualified invoice, a buyer generally can’t deduct the tax it paid ([NTA: the Invoice System](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_about.htm)). On purchases from a seller that isn’t registered, a transitional rule lets it deduct a share, and that share falls in steps. The 2026 tax reform extended the steps to the end of September 2031 ([NTA: 2026 reform](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice-review/index.htm)):

**What a buyer can deduct on purchases from an unregistered seller**

1. Sun, 1 Oct 2023 **Invoice System starts; 80% deductible**
2. Thu, 1 Oct 2026 **70% deductible** From taxable periods starting on or after this date, the part of a year's purchases from one seller above 100 million yen, tax included, gets none.
3. Sun, 1 Oct 2028 **50% deductible**
4. Tue, 1 Oct 2030 **30% deductible**
5. Wed, 1 Oct 2031 **Nothing deductible without a qualified invoice**

Source: [National Tax Agency](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice-review/index.htm), checked 14 October 2026

## What can Shopify’s own tools print? {#what-can-shopifys-own-tools-print}

Shopify’s own tools print documents from orders, but Shopify’s help describes none that prints the qualified-invoice items without work of your own. The nearest is Shopify Order Printer, Shopify’s own free app, which prints from templates you write in HTML, CSS and Liquid.

- **Shopify Order Printer.** You can make up to 15 templates and print up to 50 orders at a time: open an order and choose **More actions** → **Print with Order Printer**, or select several orders in the **Orders** list. Shopify’s help says to save a PDF with your browser’s print function ([Shopify: printing documents](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/managing-orders/printing-orders/shopify-order-printer/printing-documents); [creating templates](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/managing-orders/printing-orders/shopify-order-printer/creating-templates)). Its Liquid exposes each order’s and each line’s tax lines, with the rate and the amount ([Liquid reference](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/managing-orders/printing-orders/shopify-order-printer/liquid-variables-and-filters-reference)). Your registration number, the ※ marks, the totals per rate and the once-per-rate rounding are yours to write and to check.
- **Shopify’s tax settings.** These decide the rate on each product. Food at 8% needs a product override, covered in the guide to [set the 8% reduced rate](/blog/shopify-reduced-tax-rate/); an invoice can only print the rates Shopify charged.
- **Shopify POS.** For sales in person, Shopify POS prints, emails or texts a receipt at the till ([Shopify: POS receipts](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/sell-in-person/shopify-pos/receipt-management/managing-receipts)). Compare it against the six items above before you rely on it for business buyers.
- **VAT invoices.** Shopify’s automatic invoice documents are for orders shipped to the European Union or the United Kingdom only ([Shopify: VAT invoices](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/taxes/shopify-tax/vat-invoices)), so they don’t help a sale in Japan.

If you can write Liquid and issue few invoices a month, a Shopify Order Printer template is enough, and it is free.

## How do you print qualified invoices with an app? {#how-do-you-print-qualified-invoices-with-an-app}

An invoice app can print the six items from each Shopify order without template code. Whatever app you choose, check a sample against the NTA’s list before you give one to a customer.

Ori, which we build, is one of these apps. For a shop billed in Japan:

- you enter your registration number once, in **Settings** → **Tax & compliance**;
- its designs print the registration number, the recipient, the date, the items with ※ on reduced-rate lines in Japanese designs, and the total and tax for 8% and 10%, from the first design you pick;
- it totals the tax once per rate on each document, using the rounding method you choose;
- invoices, receipts and delivery notes carry the items; a receipt with no name can be a simplified qualified invoice if you’ve said your business may give one;
- every PDF it issues is kept in its **Archive**, with every later version, reissued or voided;
- to correct a document, you void it and issue a new one, which takes a new number ([reissue, void and refunds in Ori](/docs/ori/reissue-and-void/)).

How each setting works is in [Japan’s qualified invoice in Ori](/docs/ori/japan-qualified-invoices/).

Know its limits before you rely on it:

- Ori checks only that a registration number has the right format, “T” and 13 digits. It doesn’t look the number up, so search for yours on the NTA’s site (below).
- Each line’s rate is Shopify’s. If your food is set up at 10% in Shopify, Ori’s receipt shows 10% too.
- Ori does not issue qualified return invoices. For a refund of 10,000 yen or more to a business buyer, you need another way to give one.
- Emailing documents and letting customers issue their own receipts are on paid plans ([Ori’s plans](/shopify/ori/#pricing)).

> **Tip:** [Ori, which prints Japan’s qualified-invoice items on every order’s documents](/shopify/ori/), lets you set your registration number and rounding once and issue invoices and receipts from Shopify’s order page.

## How do you check a registration number? {#how-do-you-check-a-registration-number}

You check a registration number on the NTA’s Announcement Site (適格請求書発行事業者公表サイト), which lists every registered business by its number. For a sole proprietor it publishes, in principle, the name, the number and the registration date ([NTA English instructions](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/0024006-039_01.pdf)).

1. Open the [Announcement Site](https://www.invoice-kohyo.nta.go.jp/).
2. Enter the 13 digits after the “T”.
3. Compare the name shown with the name on your invoices.

Do it for your own number once, and again whenever you change the business name your documents print. A business customer may look your number up the same way when your invoice arrives.

## Frequently asked questions {#frequently-asked-questions}

### Is a delivery note an invoice? {#is-a-delivery-note-an-invoice}

A delivery note is a qualified invoice when it carries the six items: the NTA says the document’s name doesn’t matter. A shop may give a delivery note in the box and an invoice or receipt on request. If the delivery note already carries the items, that one document can be the qualified invoice ([NTA: the Invoice System](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice_about.htm)).

### What if I’m not registered yet? {#what-if-im-not-registered-yet}

Without a registration you can’t give a qualified invoice, and your business customers can deduct only the share in the timeline above. Registering makes you a taxable business that files consumption tax returns. Two easing measures exist for businesses that registered after being tax-exempt: a 20% special rule for taxable periods up to the one that includes 30 September 2026, and a 30% special rule for sole proprietors in 2027 and 2028, under which the tax you pay is a share of the tax on your sales ([NTA English instructions](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/0024006-039_01.pdf); [NTA: 2026 reform](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/invoice-review/index.htm)). Decide whether to register with your tax accountant.

### Can I still issue receipts without a registration number? {#can-i-still-issue-receipts-without-a-registration-number}

Yes. A business that isn’t registered can keep giving ordinary invoices and receipts, without a registration number. What it must not do is print anything that could be mistaken for a qualified invoice, such as a number that looks like a registration number or someone else’s number: that is an offence punishable by up to one year’s imprisonment or a fine of up to 500,000 yen ([NTA Q&A 26-2](https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/zeimokubetsu/shohi/keigenzeiritsu/pdf/qa/26-2.pdf)).

[Ori Order Printer: PDF Invoice](/shopify/ori/)

Ori is a Shopify app that turns orders into numbered PDF invoices, receipts, delivery notes, quotations and purchase orders. For shops in Japan, its designs print the qualified-invoice items: your registration number, the totals and tax at 8% and 10%, and, on Japanese designs, the reduced-rate marks. Every issued PDF is kept with its hash and every earlier version. On Standard and Pro, customers issue their own receipts.

[Install free on the Shopify App Store](https://apps.shopify.com/ori-order-printer-pdf-invoice?utm_source=b2bgold.app&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=blog/shopify-qualified-invoice&utm_term=post-cta) [Plans and pricing](/shopify/ori/#pricing) [Ori docs](/docs/ori/)

Need help with Ori? Email [support@b2bgold.app](mailto:support@b2bgold.app).

## More on Ori {#related-heading}

- 15 October 2026 **[How to Issue Receipts from a Shopify Store in Japan](/blog/shopify-receipts-japan/)** Customers in Japan may ask for a receipt in their company's name. What Shopify gives them, what a receipt must show, and how to let customers issue their own.
- 15 October 2026 **[How to Set Japan's 8% Reduced Tax Rate on Shopify](/blog/shopify-reduced-tax-rate/)** Charge 8% on food and 10% on everything else in Shopify with a tax override on a manual collection, then check that orders and receipts show both rates.