Yeah. Actually after doing it last year I thought it made little difference until I did the calcs. It only felt that way because I’d had an income increase and my inhabitant tax therefore increase significantly. And when you divide the Furusato nozei deduction over 12 months it doesn’t look as effectual. So yeah when I read and deciphered my inhabitant tax slip last month it finally all added up in my head and I became a big fan again. This year I’m going to go all in (up to close to my limit)

But basically you get back nearly all of what you spend. There are some handling fees but that’s only a few thousand yen.

After you do your tax return, assuming you paid ¥F for furusatonozei purchases in 2022, and your income tax rate is T%, it looks like they’ll pay you back T% x F after the tax return (due Q1 2023). The remaining (100%-T%)xF will then start taking effect as an inhabitant tax deduction, distributed over 12 months starting June 2023.

(This example ignores the like 2000yen admin fees I mentioned)