Japan's tax reform bill went into effect on July 1, 2017. This officially exempts consumption tax on the same of bitcoin and now businesses are getting ready to adopt bitcoin as a form of payment in retail stores.
“The supply of virtual currency will be exempt from Japanese Consumption Tax (“JCT”). Currently, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin do not fall under the category of exempt sales, and as a result, the sale of virtual currencies in Japan have been treated as taxable for JCT purposes. Following the enactment of the amended Fund Settlement Law in May 2016, which newly defined “virtual currency” as a means of settlement, the sale of virtual currency as defined under the new Fund Settlement Law will be exempt from JCT. This change will apply to sales/purchase transactions performed in Japan on or after 1 July 2017.”
A couple of retail companies such as Recruit Lifestyle Co., Ltd. and Megane Super are ready and have a mobile point-of-sale (POS) app ready. The app is called "Mobile payment for Air Regi"
"Customer holding bitcoins can pay with bitcoin simply by scanning the barcode displayed on ‘Mobile payment for Air Regi’ app."
Over 260,000 retail stores in Japan will be accepting bitcoin by this summer.
Recruit Lifestyle has started accepting payments as of July 3 and eyeglass chain Megane Super will begin on July 10.
A developer from Coincheck International Business has confirmed the eyeglass stores are the first batch of the 260,000 stores will start accepting bitcoin using the Air Regi app and will expand.
"Some other stores are also preparing Air Regi bitcoin payments…Also, adding to existing 260,000 stores that already use Air Regi, we will cooperate with Recruit Lifestyle to expand the stores that accept bitcoin."
-Kagayaki Kawabata, Developer at Coincheck
Coincheck has been signing up merchants to accept bitcoin directly such as capsule hotels, a property management comapany, and restaurants owned by Kai Corporation.
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