Japan Moved Crypto Under the FIEA. The Tax Starts the Year After Commencement

Japan has regulated crypto assets since 2017 under the Payment Services Act. On 23 July 2026, the government promulgated Act No. 64 of 2026. It moves crypto-asset trading from the Payment Services Act into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (House of Councillors bill record).

The Financial Services Agency had signalled the move for two years. The act is now law. Its assurance provisions start on 1 April 2027. The crypto provisions start on a date set by cabinet order, no later than 23 July 2027. The 20 per cent tax rate starts on 1 January of the following year.

What the record says

The Cabinet submitted the bill to the 221st Diet session on 10 April 2026. The House of Representatives Committee on Financial Affairs passed it on 10 June and the plenary on 11 June. The House of Councillors Committee on Financial Affairs passed it on 14 July and the plenary on 15 July. Promulgation followed on 23 July 2026 as Act No. 64 (House of Councillors).

The FSA describes the act as covering crypto assets, sustainability disclosure and assurance, startup funding, and unfair-trading rules (FSA, bills submitted to the 221st Diet). A company holding crypto and filing sustainability information has to read both sections.

The crypto half

The committee summary of the act lists what changes for crypto (House of Councillors summary):

A disclosure regime for crypto-asset information is created. Buying and selling crypto assets, offering and selling specified crypto assets, and crypto lending conducted as a business are brought inside the definition of financial instruments business, which means registration under the FIEA rather than under the Payment Services Act. Insider-trading rules are written for crypto assets handled by certain crypto trading businesses. The method for calculating administrative surcharges on unfair securities trading is revised. And the crypto-trading provisions are deleted from the Payment Services Act.

Crypto assets do not become securities. They become financial instruments under a separate heading, with their own insider-trading and disclosure articles. Stablecoins remain under the electronic payment instrument regime that Japan has run since 2023 and that we covered in the programmable-yen briefing.

Two commencement dates in one act

The crypto items, together with the surcharge revision and the Payment Services Act deletion, come into force on a date set by cabinet order, within one year of promulgation. That gives an outer limit of 23 July 2027 and no date before it.

The other half of the act runs on a fixed date. From 1 April 2027, certain listed companies disclosing specified non-financial information must prepare it under generally accepted standards and obtain an audit attestation on it, and a registration system for the firms providing that attestation begins. The same date carries the widening of private-placement solicitation to specified investors and the increase in the securities registration statement exemption threshold from ¥100 million to ¥500 million.

A listed Japanese company that holds crypto and files sustainability information has two start dates to track. Assurance starts on 1 April 2027. The crypto provisions start by 23 July 2027, on the date set by cabinet order. We have written about what the assurance obligation tests in the 2028 audit cliff briefing.

The tax side sits in a different instrument. The FY2026 tax reform outline sets out separate taxation at 20 per cent, made up of 15 per cent national income tax and 5 per cent local inhabitant tax, on gains from transferring specified crypto assets to a person carrying on a crypto-asset trading business (Ministry of Finance, FY2026 tax reform outline). A specified crypto asset is one recorded in the financial instruments business operator register. The enabling Act to Partially Amend the Income Tax Act and Related Acts was enacted and promulgated on 31 March 2026 (Ministry of Finance).

The start date is tied to the FIEA amendment’s commencement.

The rate applies from 1 January of the year following the year in which the FIEA amendment act comes into force. If commencement lands in 2027, the first transfers taxed at 20 per cent are those made from 1 January 2028.

Losses on specified crypto assets that cannot be absorbed in the year may be carried forward against specified crypto gains for the following three years. Crypto derivatives on specified crypto assets join the futures-income regime. Beneficial interests in investment trusts that invest in specified crypto assets are treated alongside ordinary shares.

Crypto outside the specified category remains under comprehensive taxation. The outline removes its special deduction. The halving for assets held more than five years no longer applies. Losses can no longer be offset against other comprehensive income. Comprehensive taxation runs to a top national rate of 45 per cent before local inhabitant tax (National Tax Agency).

Operators carrying on a crypto-asset trading business must also file an annual report with the tax office by 31 January of the following year, naming each resident who traded, their address and individual number, and the assets traded. Reporting of this kind is what makes a 20 per cent rate administrable, and it removes the ambiguity some holders have been living in.

What changes for a listed company holding crypto

The new insider-trading rules mean a listed company must identify who holds material information before it trades a covered asset.

Once insider-trading rules apply to crypto assets handled by registered trading businesses, a listed company that buys or sells a covered asset is operating in a regulated market with material-fact rules attached to it. The disclosure regime for crypto-asset information applies to issuers and offerings rather than to corporate buyers, but a company whose share price moves on its crypto position now sits close to two disclosure regimes at once.

Check which assets on the balance sheet appear in the register. That determines their tax treatment. It also determines which conduct rules apply. Before trading, identify everyone inside the company who holds material information. Use the FIEA rules for that decision.

What changes for a Web3 founder

If you run a business in Japan that buys and sells crypto, offers or sells a specified crypto asset, or lends crypto, you are heading for registration as a financial instruments business rather than a crypto-asset exchange service provider. The FSA will supervise the business under the FIEA. The registration requirements and operating costs will change.

If you issue a token, read the disclosure regime first. Users selling an asset outside the specified category remain under comprehensive taxation.

Our 2026 crypto regulation briefing explains the existing framework. The new act requires FIEA registration for crypto trading businesses. It creates crypto information disclosure and insider-trading rules.

What is not settled

The commencement date is a cabinet order that has not been made. Until it is, the tax start date is inferred rather than known, and any plan that assumes 1 January 2028 is assuming a commencement in 2027.

The scope of the specified crypto asset register will decide how much of the market the 20 per cent rate reaches. A narrow register makes the reform smaller than its headline. Detailed conduct rules will come through cabinet office ordinances and supervisory guidelines rather than through the act, and those are where the cost of compliance is actually set.

Operators should confirm their registration route before the cabinet order fixes the commencement date. They should also map covered assets and internal-information controls.

Tech for Impact Summit 2027 is in Tokyo on 18–19 May 2027, co-hosted with the United Nations University. Founders building on-chain businesses in Japan and the investors funding them are both reading the same commencement schedule this year. It is invitation-only, and if this is your work we would like to invite you. Join the waitlist at tech4impactsummit.com/apply.