Is point-hunting (ポイ活) taxable in Japan? Shopping points are not; prizes and surveys hinge on ¥200,000 and ¥900,000 (2026 tax year)

Whether points from "point-hunting" (ポイ活) are taxed depends on where they came from and what they were paid for. The National Tax Agency (NTA) treats points that a company grants in proportion to what you pay it as a discount, and does not tax them. Points won in a draw, or granted by the operator of a common-point scheme, become occasional income (一時所得) in the year you use them. Points for answering surveys are not addressed on the NTA's official pages; a National Tax College paper, which is one researcher's view, classes them as miscellaneous income (雑所得).

How each kind of point is treated (from the NTA's own pages)

• Points a company grants in proportion to what you pay it (a drugstore's points, for example): treated like an ordinary discount, so neither receiving nor using them is taxable, and no return is needed (No. 1907).
• Points won by chance, such as a points-giveaway draw run by the issuing company: the points you use are added, as the year's occasional income, business income or similar, to total revenue for the year of use (the note to No. 1907).
• Points granted by the operator of a common-point scheme, when you use them: likewise not treated as a discount, and added to revenue for the year of use (the note to No. 1907).
• My Number points (for getting the card, registering it as health insurance, or linking a bank account for public payments): not an ordinary discount, so taxable as occasional income (the Q&A to No. 1490).
• Points for answering surveys or monitor questionnaires: the National Tax College paper (Ronso No. 78, by Ueda) reasons that they are payment for a service and so miscellaneous income. It is one researcher's view, not the NTA's official position.
• Points from point-site offers (sign-ups, card applications and similar): I found no specific statement on the NTA pages above. The category depends on the transaction.

When it counts, and how the amount is worked out

The NTA looks at the year in which you use the points (No. 1907); simply accumulating them is not income. The amounts:

• Miscellaneous income: revenue minus the expenses needed to earn it, added to your salary income.
• Occasional income: revenue minus the expenses spent to earn it and a special deduction of up to ¥500,000, then half of the remainder is added to your other income (No. 1490).

The lines that decide whether you file: ¥200,000, ¥900,000 and ¥20M

An employee with one employer, whose salary is fully withheld, must file if income other than salary and retirement pay totals more than ¥200,000 (No. 1900). A salary above ¥20,000,000 requires a return regardless.

For occasional income alone, half of the amount after the ¥500,000 deduction reaches ¥200,000 at revenue of ¥900,000, which is the figure the NTA's Q&A gives as the limit (No. 1490 Q&A). For miscellaneous income the ¥200,000 is measured on income, revenue less expenses. Point-hunting often has few expenses, in which case revenue is simply income.

That ¥200,000 is an income-tax rule. Resident tax has no such exemption: Nagoya City says an employee with other income of ¥200,000 or less still needs to report to the city (filing an income-tax return covers resident tax). Where and when to report depends on your municipality. If you file a return anyway for medical expenses or Furusato Nozei, the NTA says a return includes salary income that went through year-end adjustment; check with your tax office whether side income must also be written on it.

The extra tax by salary (income tax, surtax and resident tax together)

For an employee with salary only (age 35, no dependants), this is the extra tax from adding miscellaneous income with no expenses. For the ¥100,000 column, which is under the ¥200,000 line, income tax need not be filed and the part you pay is mainly resident tax (10% of the income, ¥10,000).

Occasional income (a prize, for example) is not taxed up to ¥500,000 because of the special deduction.

The ¥900,000 column is within the no-return range: the income-tax part need not be filed, while resident tax (10% of the ¥200,000 of income) is reported to the municipality. From ¥1,000,000 an income-tax return is needed. The figures use the same assumptions as this site's take-home calculator (tax year 2026, social insurance from the salary, no other deductions) and are estimates.

Crossing ¥4.89M of total income makes the tax jump

For 2026 and 2027 the income-tax basic deduction is ¥1,040,000 if total income is ¥4.89M or less, and ¥670,000 up to ¥6.55M (Special Taxation Measures Act, Article 41-16-2). Someone on a ¥6,300,000 salary has salary income of ¥4,600,000, so miscellaneous income up to ¥290,000 keeps total income within ¥4.89M, and ¥300,000 crosses it.

One more ¥10,000 of income adds ¥40,002 of tax, because the income-tax basic deduction falls by ¥370,000 and that amount is taxed too. On a ¥6M salary the same ¥300,000 stays under the line and adds ¥60,630 (about 20.2%). The resident-tax basic deduction stays ¥430,000, so it does not change at this line. If your salary sits near ¥4.89M or ¥6.55M of total income, a few tens of thousands of yen can change the tax a lot.

Points used for medical costs or to buy shares

If you use points to pay for something that qualifies for an income deduction, such as medicine, the NTA gives two options (the reference in No. 1907): compute the deduction on the amount paid after using the points, or compute it on the amount before using them and add the points used to occasional-income revenue.

If you buy shares through a broker with points granted by a common-point scheme's operator, the acquisition cost is based on the amount before the points were used (including the points), and the points used go into occasional-income revenue (the note to No. 1907).

What this page has not verified

• How point-site offers are classified: no specific statement was found on the NTA pages. Continuous, large income can be business income or business-related miscellaneous income, which this page does not cover.
• Survey points as miscellaneous income is the Ronso paper's reading (a researcher's view). Ask your tax office about your own case.
• Dependants, other deductions, Furusato Nozei, the resident-tax adjustment credit, and effects on national health insurance or a spouse's dependant status are not modelled. Being a dependant can be affected once income rises.
• Which points count as used first when different kinds are mixed in one scheme: the NTA pages do not say, and the Ronso paper itself notes that identifying them is often hard.

For point expiry see when points expire; for what point-hunting pays per hour, the hourly-wage guide.

This is general information based on the NTA pages as of 1 April 2026 (checked on 11 October 2026), not tax, legal, or financial advice. For a real return, ask your tax office or a tax accountant.