No, not automatically. Paying customs duty and import consumption tax directly from a corporate account at the moment of customs declaration requires that account to sit at a bank on the NACCS (Nippon Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System) Center's own list of participating financial institutions. Many corporate accounts, particularly at newer online-only banks, are not on it, and the gap only shows up once a shipment is ready to clear.
What Does "Direct Customs Duty Payment" Actually Mean?#
It means paying duty and import consumption tax straight out of a bank account at the time the import declaration is filed, through a mechanism called リアルタイム口座振替方式 (real-time direct debit). NACCS pulls the funds in real time as part of the declaration process, so the payment and the clearance happen in the same step. This is the fast path: no invoice cycle, no advance from a third party, no waiting for a reimbursement to clear.
The alternative is 立替払い (broker advance payment), where the customs broker pays the duty and tax out of its own funds at clearance and bills the importer afterward. Both routes get the goods cleared. The difference is who is carrying the cash in the gap between declaration and reimbursement, and for how long.
Which Banks Support NACCS Real-Time Direct Debit?#
Only banks on the NACCS Center's published list of participating financial institutions can be set up for this direct-debit mechanism, and that list is shorter than most importers assume. Major commercial banks, including MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, are typically on it. A number of newer online-only banks commonly are not, which matters because online banks are often the default choice for a newly incorporated entity opening its first Japan account.
This is a different question from whether a bank will open a corporate account for a new company at all. The Japan Corporate Bank Account guide covers incorporation-stage banking: what documents a bank wants, how long account opening takes, which banks accept a foreign-owned entity with no local operating history. None of that tells you whether the account can later be registered for NACCS direct debit. They are two separate screening processes against two separate criteria, and an account can pass the first and fail the second.
What Happens If Your Bank Isn't on the NACCS List?#
Customs clearance does not stop. The customs broker falls back to 立替払い (broker advance payment), paying the duty and import consumption tax on the importer's behalf at the time of declaration and invoicing it afterward. The shipment clears on schedule either way, because the broker advance is a recognized and routine fallback, not an emergency measure.
What changes is speed and cost. The importer no longer controls the timing of the cash outflow, since the broker fronts the money first and recovers it on its own invoicing cycle. That financing gap carries a cost, because the broker is extending credit for however long the invoice cycle runs, and that cost is typically passed through rather than absorbed. For the broader cost structure of an IOR engagement, including where a financing cost like this sits relative to the base per-shipment fee, see how much Japan IOR actually costs. This applies whether the importer is working under an IOR (importer of record) structure, where Aplash or another provider is the declared importer, or an ACP structure, where the client itself is the declared importer and the provider acts as 税関事務管理人 (Attorney for Customs Procedures). The IOR vs ACP comparison covers which structure fits which buyer, but the duty-payment banking question applies under either, since both require someone's account to be the one that NACCS debits, or someone's cash that advances it.
How Long Does It Take to Set Up a Duty-Payment Account?#
Commonly several weeks, sometimes closer to a month, from the point the paperwork is submitted to the bank. The bank has to review the application and activate the real-time direct-debit registration before it works at declaration time; it is not a same-day toggle on an existing account. That lead time is the reason this has to be arranged when the account is opened, not when the first shipment is sitting at the port waiting to clear.
An importer that only discovers the gap once goods are already in transit has no way to close it before that shipment needs to move. The only available option at that point is the broker-advance fallback above, for that shipment and likely several more while the direct-debit registration works its way through the bank's process.
A buyer setting up an IOR or ACP structure for the first time should confirm three things before the first shipment is booked.
(a) Which bank the duty-payment account sits at, and whether that bank appears on the NACCS Center's participating list. (b) Whether the real-time direct-debit registration has already been submitted, and how long ago, since activation is not instant. (c) What the fallback cost looks like if the first shipment or several shipments have to run on broker advance payment while the registration is pending.
Frequently Asked Questions#
Can any corporate bank account in Japan pay customs duty directly?
No. Only accounts at banks on the NACCS Center's published list of participating financial institutions can be registered for リアルタイム口座振替方式 (real-time direct debit). A corporate account at a bank that is not on that list cannot be used this way, regardless of how well-established the account otherwise is.
Does an online-only bank ever work for duty payment?
Some do and some do not, and the only way to know is to check the specific bank against the NACCS Center's current published list rather than assume either way. As a category, newer online-only banks are less consistently covered than the major commercial banks, so this is worth confirming before choosing a bank for this purpose, not after.
If my bank isn't on the list, does my shipment get delayed?
No, the shipment still clears on schedule. The customs broker advances the duty and import consumption tax under 立替払い (broker advance payment) and invoices afterward, so clearance timing is unaffected. What changes is who is financing the gap between declaration and payment, and the cost that comes with it.
This article is informational only and does not constitute legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Consult a qualified advisor before acting on the content. Last updated: October 2026.