Management server and computer program

Abstract

To provide a technique for realizing foreign remittance by creating an electronic wallet (wallet) dedicated to a foreign traveler in order to refund a consumption tax from a duty-free store to the foreign traveler.SOLUTION: A management server virtually divides a bank account for refunding a consumption tax received from a foreign traveler to the foreign traveler. The system includes wallet creation data reception means for receiving personal data from an inbound traveler for identifying the traveler, wallet creation means for using the personal data to virtually create a separate account for the inbound traveler associated with the personal data in a bank account associated with an administrator of a management server created in advance at a Japan financial institution, and wallet application transmission means for transmitting to a mobile terminal a wallet application that enables the mobile terminal associated with the inbound traveler to access the separate account.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology that improves the convenience of tax-exempt holders when receiving tax refunds under the tax-exempt system used by foreign tourists entering Japan and Japanese nationals living overseas who are temporarily returning to Japan (hereinafter referred to as "tax-exempt holders"). [Background technology]

[0002] Figure 1 shows a conceptual diagram of the current procedure for foreign remittance. When person A in Japan wants to send money to person B in a foreign country, person A is the sender and person B is the recipient.

[0003] Client A prepares and submits a foreign remittance request to a financial institution in Japan that can handle foreign remittances (in the diagram, this is referred to as a "Japanese financial institution," more specifically, "Iroha Bank").

[0004] Japanese financial institutions that receive a foreign remittance request will check to see if there are any violations of laws, regulations, or treaties, such as the identity of the requester, Mr. A, the validity of the request, and the identity of the recipient, Mr. B. The illustration of "verification means" refers to the automation of items that can be processed mechanically when a foreign remittance request is partially or entirely electronic.

[0005] Once confirmation is received, the deposit method will receive the cash from Requester A. The remittance method will then send the money to a foreign financial institution (shown as "ZY-BANK" in the diagram) where Recipient B can receive it. Once Recipient B receives notification from Requester A that the money has been sent, he or she can receive the cash from the foreign financial institution via a withdrawal method.

[0006] While international remittances are carried out according to the above procedure, there are problems for the requester, such as the time and effort required to prepare the request form and the high fees, and for Japanese financial institutions, there are problems in that they have to take the time and responsibility to check the request form, as well as the burden of having to store the data after processing.

[0007] Meanwhile, electronic money technology has been established and is becoming widespread along with smartphones. One technology that is easy for foreign tourists to use is electronic wallets (also called "wallets" or "wallets" as a means of managing virtual currency and electronic money; hereafter referred to as "wallets"). When searching for prior patents related to tax refunds using wallets, the following two were found.

[0008] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that automatically determines eligibility for a tax refund based on the payment card used by a user, without having to rely on storing and maintaining an issuer code.

[0009] For example, Patent Document 2 discloses technology that can be applied to tax refund transactions and other types of transactions where the identities of various parties need to be checked and verified to reduce fraudulent purchases, prevent fraud, and / or facilitate the completion of the transaction. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0010] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6498712 [Patent Document 2] Patent No. 7235847 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0011] As shown in Figure 2 (from a document issued by the National Tax Agency), at export goods sales points (duty-free shops), each time a duty-free item is sold, (1) the tax-free sales data, including the purchased item details data and the purchaser's passport data, is sent to the National Tax Agency server (duty-free sales management system) associated with the National Tax Agency, and the data is accumulated (2). When a foreign traveler departs the country, the departure customs office checks the passport presented by the foreign traveler (3). In other words, the departure customs office checks the purchase item details data linked to the passport data (passport number). Then, if necessary, it conducts an inspection (4). The results of the check (or inspection) are registered in the duty-free sales management system (5). The check results are saved in the duty-free sales management system (6). Then, once it is confirmed that the foreign traveler has departed the country, the consumption tax amount is refunded (by online remittance, etc.) (7).

[0012] An image of the procedures and changes that will be made to the system as they are revised is shown in Figure 3 (from a document issued by the National Tax Agency). Now, if consumption tax is refunded through the foreign remittance system after the system is revised, it can be estimated that the situation will be as shown in Figure 4.

[0013] Even within Japan, if foreign tourists or Japanese returning to Japan temporarily prove that they are tax-exempt, there are stores such as airport-style duty-free shops outside the departure counters where they can shop without paying consumption tax (as will be discussed later, this system will be revised by a legal amendment in 2025). Such stores are called "export goods sales outlets," but in the diagram they are simply referred to as "duty-free shops."

[0014] Suppose a foreign tourist, Mr. C, makes a purchase at a duty-free shop, which is an "export goods store," and purchases a watch. At this time, Mr. C pays the price including the consumption tax, and the duty-free shop keeps the consumption tax. Mr. C wishes to receive a consumption tax refund, so he fills out a foreign remittance request form and requests it from a Japanese financial institution.

[0015] The Japanese financial institution will check the foreign remittance application form, and once it receives refund approval from the customs terminal when Mr. C leaves Japan, the remittance will be made to the foreign financial institution in Mr. C's home country. After Mr. C returns to Japan, he will be able to receive cash equivalent to the consumption tax from the foreign financial institution.

[0016] However, as shown in Figure 5, the problems with international remittances mentioned above remain. In addition to the time-consuming task of preparing the request form, the fees are high, and it takes a long time for the funds to arrive. Furthermore, it is time-consuming for Japanese financial institutions to verify the request form (not only the identity of the requester but also the identity of the recipient's account holder). The number of foreign tourists is enormous (approximately 40 million per year), and consumption tax is levied on each purchase at duty-free shops. This creates a difficult task for duty-free shops that collect consumption tax from each tourist (Mr. C, Mr. D, Mr. E). Moreover, there are 60,000 duty-free shops in Japan.

[0017] The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a technology that enables duty-free shops used by foreign tourists and financial institutions (banks, money transfer companies, etc.) that carry out consumption tax refund operations to rationally realize consumption tax refunds through simple procedures. [Means for solving the problem]

[0018] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a technology that allows foreign tourists to set up a wallet, accept requests for consumption tax refunds including shopping data at duty-free shops via that wallet, and realize overseas remittances.

[0019] (First Invention) The first invention relates to a management server that virtually divides bank accounts for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists. The management server includes a wallet creation data receiving means for receiving personal data for identifying the individual from the foreign traveler; a wallet creation means for virtually creating a split account exclusively for the foreign traveler using the personal data in a bank account related to the operator of the management server that has been created in advance at a Japanese financial institution; a wallet application sending means for sending a wallet application to the mobile terminal of the foreign traveler that enables the mobile terminal to access the split account; (See Figure 7.)

[0020] (Terminology) "Virtual bank account division" refers to the theoretical division of a bank account, which can only be opened by one trader at a single bank branch, into multiple virtual wallets. The divided virtual wallets can distribute funds received in the account to each wallet and withdraw distributed funds from each wallet (see Figure 15). By theoretically dividing an account, it becomes possible to manage deposits and withdrawals as if each divided account were an independent account. For example, suppose there are three transfer sources: a, b, and c, and three transfer destinations: x, y, and z. If it is known that one deposit from transfer source a corresponds to the total amount transferred to destinations x, y, and z, the transferred funds can be separated and managed as funds for destinations x, y, and z.

[0021] (action) The wallet creation data receiving means receives personal data from the foreign traveler to identify the individual. Using the received personal data, the wallet creation means virtually creates a split account exclusively for the foreign traveler, related to the personal data, for a bank account related to the operator of the management server that was previously created at a Japanese financial institution. The wallet application sending means sends to the mobile device a wallet application that enables the mobile device related to the foreign traveler to access the virtually created split account.

[0022] (Variation 1 of the first invention) The first aspect of the present invention may be configured as follows. That is, when the foreign tourist makes a purchase at the duty-free shop, a duty-free sales data receiving means receives tourist data for identifying the foreign tourist and purchase detail data relating to the purchases made by the foreign tourist; a wallet display data creation means for creating wallet display data including the traveler data and purchase detail data received by the duty-free sales data receiving means; a wallet display data transmission means for transmitting the wallet display data created by the wallet display data creation means to the mobile terminal; (See Figure 11.)

[0023] (Terminology) "Traveler data" is typically a passport number, but may also include name, nationality, etc.

[0024] (action) When a foreign tourist makes a purchase at a duty-free shop, the duty-free sales data receiving means receives traveler data for identifying the foreign tourist and purchase detail data regarding the purchases made by the foreign tourist. The wallet display data creating means creates wallet display data including the received traveler data and purchase detail data. The wallet display data sending means sends the created wallet display data to the mobile terminal associated with the foreign tourist.

[0025] (Variation 2 of the first invention) The first aspect of the present invention may be configured as follows. That is, a tax exemption permission / denial receiving means for receiving tax exemption permission / denial data as a result of the foreign tourist having undergone a check on his / her purchases at the time of departure, together with personal authentication data; an allotment instruction means for instructing the bank account of the operator of the management server to allocate the amount of consumption tax paid by the foreign tourist that is permitted in the tax exemption permission data from the tax exemption permission data transferred from the duty-free shop to a separate account exclusively for the foreign tourist; (See Figure 13.)

[0026] (Terminology) "Instructing" distribution is the act of dividing a single transfer (refund) into separate wallets and recording it in the ledger. For example, even if a 1,000 yen transfer is made from one duty-free shop, if there is separate data on which separate accounts this 1,000 yen transfer should be divided into, it is possible to instruct the distribution.

[0027] (action) The tax exemption permission / denial receiving means receives the tax exemption permission / denial data as a result of the check on the purchases made by the foreign tourist upon departure, together with the personal authentication data. Of the consumption tax paid by the foreign tourist, the consumption tax amount related to permission in the tax exemption permission / denial data is transferred from the tax-free shop to the bank account of the operator of the management server, and the transfer instruction means instructs the transfer to the division account dedicated to the foreign tourist.

[0028] (Second Invention) A second aspect of the present invention relates to a computer program for controlling the management server according to the first aspect of the present invention. The management server is a computer equipped with a data input device such as a data receiving means, a data storage device that temporarily stores input data and records data to be stored in advance, an arithmetic unit that performs arithmetic processing using the recorded data and input data, and a data output device that outputs the arithmetic results.

[0029] The computer program is a computer program for controlling a management server that virtually divides bank accounts for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists, a data receiving step for receiving personal data for identifying the foreign traveler from the foreign traveler; a wallet creation procedure for virtually creating a split account exclusively for the foreign traveler using the personal data in a bank account related to the operator of the management server that has been created in advance at a Japanese financial institution; a wallet application transmission step of transmitting to the mobile terminal of the foreign traveler a wallet application that enables the mobile terminal to access the split account; This is a computer program that causes the management server to execute the above (see FIG. 9).

[0030] (Variation 1 of the second invention) The second invention may be configured as follows. That is, when the foreign tourist makes a purchase at the duty-free shop, a duty-free sales data receiving procedure is performed to receive traveler data for identifying the foreign tourist and purchase detail data relating to the purchases made by the foreign tourist; a wallet display data creation procedure for creating wallet display data including the traveler data and purchase detail data received in the duty-free sales data reception procedure; a wallet display data transmission procedure for transmitting the wallet display data created in the wallet display data creation procedure to the mobile terminal; is a computer program executed by the management server (see FIG. 11).

[0031] (Variation 2 of the second invention) The second invention may be configured as follows. That is, a tax exemption permission / denial receiving procedure for receiving tax exemption permission / denial data as a result of the foreign tourist's purchases being checked at the time of departure, together with personal authentication data; an allocation instruction procedure for instructing the bank account of the operator of the management server to which the consumption tax amount related to the permission in the tax exemption permission data, out of the consumption tax paid by the foreign tourist, be transferred from the duty-free shop to a division account dedicated to the foreign tourist; is a computer program executed by the management server (see FIG. 13).

[0032] (Provision of computer programs) The computer program according to the second aspect of the present invention can also be provided by being stored in a recording medium. Here, a "recording medium" refers to a medium that can carry a program that does not occupy space by itself, such as a flexible disk, hard disk, CD-R, CD-RW, MO (magneto-optical disk), DVD-R, DVD-RW, or flash memory. The program according to the present invention can also be transmitted from a computer storing the program to other terminal means via a communication line, or provided on the so-called cloud via the Internet.

[0033] (Third Invention) A third invention relates to a computer program (application program) executed on a mobile terminal of a foreign tourist who has made a purchase at a duty-free shop. The computer program includes a wallet display data receiving step for receiving wallet display data for displaying a wallet formed by virtually dividing a bank account from a management server that virtually divides a bank account for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists; a wallet data output procedure for outputting the wallet display data received by the wallet display data receiving procedure; a remittance instruction sending step in which the foreign traveler sends a remittance instruction to instruct the remittance of the amount of consumption tax to the wallet virtually divided for the bank account; is a computer program executed on the mobile terminal (see FIG. 19).

[0034] (Variation 1 of the third invention) The third aspect of the present invention may be configured as follows. In other words, in the wallet display data receiving procedure, the wallet display data includes data regarding the consumption tax on purchases for which tax exemption is permitted, based on tax exemption approval data for the purchases from the departure customs server related to the departure customs at the time the foreign traveler departs the country (see Figure 19).

[0035] (Variation 2 of the third invention) The third aspect of the present invention may be configured as follows. That is, a wallet creation instruction receiving procedure for receiving a wallet creation instruction from the duty-free shop where the foreign tourist made a purchase; a wallet creation data transmission procedure for transmitting wallet creation data to the management server based on the wallet creation instruction received in the wallet creation instruction reception procedure; is a computer program that is executed by the mobile terminal (see FIG. 19).

[0036] (Provision of computer programs) The computer (application) program according to the third aspect of the present invention is generally provided by being downloaded to a mobile terminal from an application provider server on which the computer program is pre-installed, and is a so-called native application. However, the application provider server may execute the application program on the mobile device accessing the application server. In this case, the result data may be returned to the mobile device, making it appear as if the application program is being executed on the mobile device. This is known as a browser application. [Effects of the Invention]

[0037] According to the first invention, it is possible to provide a management server that contributes to the rational realization of consumption tax refunds through simple procedures for duty-free shops used by foreign tourists and financial institutions that carry out consumption tax refund operations. According to the second invention, it is possible to provide a control program for a management server that contributes to the rational realization of consumption tax refunds through simple procedures for duty-free shops used by foreign tourists and financial institutions that carry out consumption tax refund operations. According to the third invention, it is possible to provide a smartphone application program that contributes to the rational realization of consumption tax refunds through simple procedures for duty-free shops used by foreign tourists and financial institutions that carry out consumption tax refund operations. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0038] [Figure 1] This is a conceptual diagram showing the current system of foreign remittances. [Figure 2] This is a conceptual diagram showing the consumption tax refund system that will be introduced in 2025 (from a document provided by the National Tax Agency). [Figure 3] This is a diagram showing an outline of the procedures that will be changed from 2025 (from materials provided by the National Tax Agency). [Figure 4] This is a conceptual diagram that assumes that consumption tax refunds will be realized using the current system for foreign remittances. [Figure 5] This conceptual diagram illustrates the limitations of the current system, with multiple travelers requesting a consumption tax refund from a designated bank in their home country. [Figure 6] 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an overview of the present invention. [Figure 7] This is a conceptual diagram showing the process from when a foreign tourist makes a purchase at a duty-free shop, requests a wallet to when the wallet is created, and so on. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the screen of a mobile terminal when a two-dimensional barcode provided by a duty-free shop is read. [Figure 9] 10 is a conceptual diagram showing the state before and after wallet creation on a server related to a tax exemption agent. FIG. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the screen of the mobile terminal when wallet creation is completed. [Figure 11] This is a conceptual diagram showing how data to be stored in a wallet is created when a foreign tourist makes purchases at multiple duty-free shops, and how the foreign tourist can view that data on a terminal. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the screen of the mobile terminal when data (shopping history) in the wallet is displayed. [Figure 13] This is a conceptual diagram showing how the consumption tax amount transferred from the duty-free shop is allocated to the wallet when tax exemption is partially denied for multiple purchases made by a foreign tourist. [Figure 14] This is a conceptual diagram showing how the amount of consumption tax on purchases made by multiple foreign tourists is distributed to multiple wallets when the amount is transferred from a duty-free shop. [Figure 15] This is a flowchart showing the process for a foreign traveler from departure customs to completing departure. [Figure 16] This is a conceptual diagram showing the steps a foreign traveler takes to withdraw consumption tax from their wallet after leaving the country. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the screen of a mobile terminal when wallet data relating to tax exemption approved at departure customs is displayed. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a mobile terminal screen indicating that tax-free transactions that have not been approved at departure customs will not be displayed as wallet data. [Figure 19] FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram summarizing the functions performed by a portable terminal associated with a foreign tourist in the present invention. [Figure 20] 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating the effect of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0039] The present invention will be described below based on an embodiment. The drawings used here are Figures 6 to 20. Figures 1 to 5 will also be referenced as necessary. In the figures, wireless communication and communication via dedicated lines are indicated by dashed double-dashed arrows, and data transfer within the same hardware and wired communication are indicated by solid arrows.

[0040] (Figure 6) Figure 6 shows an overview of the present invention. Assume that a foreign tourist C (simply referred to as "Tourist C" in the figure) purchases a watch (c-1) and cosmetics (c-2) at a duty-free shop S (written as "duty-free shop" in the figure, but actually referring to the "export goods sales counter"), paying the price including consumption tax. Note that a duty-free agent P, which has not appeared in the previous figures, is a company that acts as an agent for duty-free shop S to send reports to the departure customs server (i.e., the National Tax Agency) and receive communications from the National Tax Agency.

[0041] Duty-free shop S has traveler C present his passport, uses a passport reader to obtain his passport number (personal data), and then sells him the goods. The obtained passport number is stored in a traveler database ("database" is abbreviated to "DB" in the diagram). In addition, the goods sold are linked to the passport number, and purchase detail data including the duty-free shop ID to identify the name of the store (duty-free shop S), the date and time of sale, the item sold, the price excluding tax, and the amount of consumption tax is stored in the purchase detail database.

[0042] Duty-free shop S must send traveler data and purchase details data to the National Tax Agency (its server), but outsources this transmission work to a duty-free agent P. Therefore, the management server associated with duty-free agent P is equipped with a traveler database and a purchase details database, and receives new data from the traveler database and purchase details database constructed in duty-free shop S (its terminal) to keep them up to date. Then, each data in the traveler database and purchase details database constructed in the management server is transmitted to the National Tax Agency server (not shown). Each data in the traveler database and purchase details database transmitted to the National Tax Agency server is constructed as a duty-free sales database, and a duty-free sales database with the same content is constructed in the departure customs server.

[0043] Suppose traveler C is about to leave Japan and visits customs. At this time, he has a watch (c-1) with him, but he has opened and consumed cosmetics (c-2) while in Japan. An officer at departure customs inspects the luggage of traveler C when he leaves the country. That is, the officer at departure customs obtains the passport number from C's passport and retrieves the purchase details linked to that passport number from the duty-free sales database. The officer then determines that the items (purchases) purchased by C at duty-free shop S are a watch (c-1) and cosmetics (c-2), and inputs into the departure customs server via a client terminal (not shown) that only the watch (c-1) is permitted to be tax-free, and that cosmetics (c-2) are not permitted to be tax-free.

[0044] The tax exemption permission / refusal determination means of the departure customs server transmits data indicating that c-1 has been permitted and c-2 has been rejected, linked to the passport number (personal data), to the management server related to the tax exemption agent P. The transmitted data is received by the tax exemption permission / refusal receiving means of the management server related to the tax exemption agent P.

[0045] Tax exemption agent P prepares bank accounts in advance for foreign tourists to refund (refund) the consumption tax that has been approved for exemption. These bank accounts are virtually divided for each request (for each traveler) based on the request from the foreign traveler. Each virtual account divided for each traveler is called a "wallet." Since there are multiple wallets, an ID is assigned to each one so that they can be identified. In the diagram, instead of an ID, a name corresponding to the foreign traveler's name, such as "Wallet for Mr. C," is assigned to the wallet.

[0046] Duty-free shop S receives the consumption tax on watch c-1 (for example, 1,000 yen) and the consumption tax on cosmetics c-2 (for example, 500 yen) from traveler C, but only the consumption tax on watch c-1 is refunded by departure customs. The consumption tax refunded by departure customs (for c-1) is transferred to an account in the name of duty-free agent P.

[0047] Tax exemption agent P is aware that the 1,000 yen transferred from duty-free shop S is the amount of consumption tax for Mr. C, whose refund was approved at the same time. Therefore, it allocates the amount to Mr. C's wallet using the allocation means. Mr. C can then use his mobile device to operate Mr. C's wallet, which has the allocated 1,000 yen deposited in it (for example, to request a transfer to a designated bank in his country).

[0048] (Figure 7) FIG. 7 shows the stage of wallet creation for a foreign tourist in the processing procedure shown in FIG.

[0049] Let's say traveler C purchases wristwatch c-1 at duty-free shop S for 11,000 yen including tax. At that time, duty-free shop S presents Mr. C with a two-dimensional barcode. This two-dimensional barcode serves as a wallet creation method and transaction ID instruction means. Mr. C activates the two-dimensional barcode reader (camera) on his mobile terminal (labeled "Mr. C's terminal" in the figure) and reads the two-dimensional barcode. This state is shown in Figure 8. The wallet creation method and transaction ID instruction means includes a transaction ID. This transaction ID is unique (different) for each traveler and each duty-free sale.

[0050] The mobile device that reads the two-dimensional barcode connects to the Internet and accesses the management server (prepared by) of tax exemption agent P. A page explaining the wallet creation procedure is then displayed on the mobile device screen. The wallet creation procedure includes a preface explaining that "a wallet is a virtual dedicated account that Mr. C creates in order to receive a refund for the consumption tax he paid when he made a recent purchase."

[0051] After reading and understanding the explanation of the wallet creation procedure, Mr. C enters the data required to create the wallet (wallet creation data) into his mobile device and taps the "Send" button on the screen, which activates the wallet creation data transmission means.

[0052] The wallet creation data sent from the mobile device of traveler C is received by the wallet creation data receiving means in the management server of tax exemption agent P. Then, a virtual wallet for C is created in an account in the name of tax exemption agent P. Mr. C's wallet is like a virtual dedicated account created in an account in the name of tax exemption agent P at financial institution M in Japan (shown as "MFJ Bank" in the figure). The account in the name of tax exemption agent P is used by duty free shop S to transfer the consumption tax deposited by travelers to tax exemption agent P.

[0053] Duty-free agent P can only open one account at each head office or branch of a financial institution in Japan. However, within that single account, it creates virtual separate accounts for the number of travelers who apply for wallet creation through duty-free store S. More specifically, it sets up partitions and assigns a partition ID such as "wallet for Mr. C" to each partition so that an identification label can be affixed to it.

[0054] Once the wallet creation is complete, the wallet app (application program for smartphones) is sent from the wallet app sending means of the management server associated with duty-free agent P to Mr. C's terminal. The wallet app is received by the wallet app receiving means on Mr. C's terminal. When the wallet app is launched, it becomes possible to view what data is contained in Mr. C's wallet, which has been virtually created in an account under P's name.

[0055] (Figure 8) Figure 8 shows the screen of Mr. C's terminal when the two-dimensional barcode provided by duty-free shop S is read. In other words, this is the screen when the two-dimensional barcode (including the transaction ID) printed on the printed material or LCD screen provided by duty-free shop S is read by the mobile terminal of foreign tourist C.

[0056] (Figure 9) FIG. 9 is a block diagram for explaining what data is used to create a wallet.

[0057] Foreign tourist C accesses duty-free shop S via a two-dimensional barcode containing the wallet creation procedure and transaction ID, and inputs and transmits the data for wallet creation, including the following personal data: passport information including the passport number, a selfie image taken of C's face using his device for facial recognition, and his residential address.

[0058] The management server that receives the wallet creation data uses the personal data to check whether Mr. C appears in external databases such as the terrorist database, criminal database, or other blacklists. If there are no problems, the wallet app is sent to Mr. C's mobile device. A message is then displayed on Mr. C's device stating, "Identity verification has been completed and your refund wallet is ready."

[0059] (Figure 10) Figure 10 shows the display screen indicating that wallet creation has been completed. However, the wallet does not yet contain any data such as a shopping history from Duty Free Shop S.

[0060] (Figure 11) Fig. 11 shows the type of information processing that is carried out by the management server associated with duty-free agent P when foreign tourist C makes purchases at two or more duty-free shops S and T. More specifically, it shows the process from when foreign tourist C makes purchases at duty-free shops S and T until when the wallet data is sent to C's terminal.

[0061] Duty-free shop S is equipped with cash register S and a terminal with a passport reading function (a tablet terminal or a smartphone terminal). Mr. C needs to present his passport to shop at duty-free shop S. Duty-free shop S uses the passport reading terminal to retrieve personal data including the passport number and name from the passport presented by Mr. C.

[0062] Mr. C pays the total amount, including consumption tax, for the purchase of a wristwatch at the cash register. Specifically, the price excluding tax is 10,000 yen, and the consumption tax is 1,000 yen. Register S transmits purchase detail data, including the purchased item (goods), price, consumption tax, and purchase date and time, to the purchase detail data receiving means of the terminal with passport reading function. The terminal with passport reading function then creates tax-free sales data (SA) by combining the purchase detail data with the above-mentioned personal data. The tax-free sales data (SA) is then transmitted to the management server of tax-free agent P via the tax-free sales data transmitting means.

[0063] Let's say that Mr. C purchases another item (a men's bag) at another duty-free shop T. At duty-free shop T, a passport reader collects personal data including the passport number and name, and a multi-function register T creates duty-free sales data. The multi-function register T can send the duty-free sales data (TA) to the management server of duty-free agent P without going through a terminal with a passport reading function.

[0064] In the management server of the duty-free agent P, the duty-free sales data receiving means receives the duty-free sales data (SA) and the duty-free sales data (TA) sent from the duty-free shop S and stores them in the duty-free sales database. In the duty-free sales database, each data is stored (conceptually) in a traveler database and a purchase details database, using the passport number as a key.

[0065] Duty-free agent P must refund the consumption tax to traveler C on behalf of duty-free shops S and T. Therefore, in preparation for this, they must process data. This data processing corresponds to putting the data into a wallet that has already been created.

[0066] Mr. C, a traveler staying in Japan, would like to know where, when, what kind of purchases he made, how much he paid, and how much consumption tax he paid. Therefore, using the purchase details database, the wallet display data creation means creates data to be displayed on the wallet about what kind of purchases he made (wallet display data). The created wallet display data is sent to Mr. C's terminal via the wallet display data transmission means.

[0067] The wallet display data is received by the wallet display data receiving means on Mr. C's device. After receiving the data, the wallet app is launched on Mr. C's device, and a detailed purchase history of the purchases that Mr. C made while in Japan is displayed.

[0068] (Figure 12) FIG. 12 shows the display screen of the terminal of the traveler on which the purchase details (history) are displayed.

[0069] (Figure 13) Figure 13 shows the steps foreign traveler C must take to prepare for a consumption tax refund when he leaves Japan through customs. This example shows a case where tax exemption is denied for some items among multiple purchases made by a foreign traveler.

[0070] Traveler C, who is about to leave the country, presents his passport at departure customs, and his personal information is collected by the departure customs server. He also presents the items for which he wants to receive a consumption tax refund to the customs officer.

[0071] The tax-free sales data sent from the duty-free shop is stored in the tax-free sales database of the National Tax Agency server via the tax-free agent P. The departure customs server receives the tax-free sales data from the National Tax Agency server and builds the tax-free sales database.

[0072] Traveler C requested a consumption tax refund for a watch (c-1) and cosmetics (c-2) he purchased at a duty-free shop. However, while the customs officer approved the consumption tax refund for the watch (c-1), he determined that the cosmetics (c-2) had been used and consumed, and therefore the consumption tax refund was not approved, and entered and transmitted this information to the departure customs server (the customs officer entered and transmitted this information via a client terminal, but this is not shown in the illustration).

[0073] The departure customs server uses its duty-free permission / denial determination means to link the tax-free permission / denial data for Mr. C's purchases, i.e., the wristwatch (c-1) is permitted and the cosmetics (c-2) is denied, to the personal data, and transmits this data to the management servers of duty-free shop S and duty-free agent P.

[0074] Duty-free shop S is the store where Mr. C sold the watch (c-1) and cosmetics (c-2), and is the store that is holding the consumption tax on the watch (c-1) and cosmetics (c-2). Therefore, the consumption tax on the watch (c-1) must be refunded to Mr. C, and the consumption tax on the cosmetics (c-2) must be paid to the National Tax Agency. The former refund will be transferred to an account in P's name opened at Japanese financial institution M, to be handled by tax-free agent P. As for the latter payment to the National Tax Agency, since it is not directly related to the present invention, a description thereof will be omitted.

[0075] The management server of the duty-free agent P receives the tax-free permission data linked to the personal data of Mr. C through the tax-free permission determination means of the departure customs server. Then, using the personal data as a key, the remittance permission determination means determines who the person to whom the refund should be made (Mr. C) is and how much the refund amount is (1,000 yen for the watch) from the tax-free sales database created in advance. Duty-free shop S will be notified that the consumption tax in C-1 should be transferred to an account in P's name at Japanese financial institution M, and that the consumption tax in C-2 should be paid to the national tax office.

[0076] The amount transferred from duty-free shop S to an account in the name of P at Japanese financial institution M is instructed by the distribution instruction means to be distributed to Mr. C's wallet. Japanese financial institution M receives the distribution instruction sent from the distribution instruction means of the management server of tax-free agent P, and deposits the 1,000 yen transferred from tax-free shop S as the consumption tax amount for the wristwatch (c-1) into Mr. C's wallet.

[0077] In the example of FIG. 13, the case where there is only one traveler has been explained, so the meaning of "distribution" in the distribution instruction means described above has not been explained, and therefore this will be explained in FIG.

[0078] (Figure 14) Figure 14 explains the case where foreign tourists C, D, and E are planning to leave the country on the same day (although they do not actually have to leave on the same day). For ease of understanding, we will assume that all of the foreign tourists C, D, and E shopped at duty-free shop S, and that they only shopped once.

[0079] An officer at departure customs checks and enters the tax exemption permission status for the purchases made by Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mr. E. Passport data is obtained from the passports of Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mr. E, and the tax exemption permission status data linked to the personal data is sent to the management server of tax exemption agent P.

[0080] Duty-free shop S will transfer the total amount of the consumption tax refund approved for the purchases of Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mr. E to an account opened in the name of P at Japanese financial institution M. In other words, there is no need to separate the amount of consumption tax refunded by Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mr. E.

[0081] The management server of duty-free agent P knows how much the total amount transferred from duty-free shop S to an account in P's name at Japanese financial institution M is, and to which traveler it belongs. This is because the tax-free permission data contains personal data, and this personal data can be used as a key to check against the duty-free sales database.

[0082] Japanese financial institution M receives the allocation instruction sent from the allocation instruction means of the management server of tax-free agent P, and deposits the amount transferred from tax-free shop S as the combined amount of consumption tax to be refunded to Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mr. E into Mr. C's wallet, Mr. D's wallet, and Mr. E's wallet, respectively.

[0083] (Figure 15) FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing how the duty-free shop handles the consumption tax collected after the foreign traveler arrives at departure customs.

[0084] A foreign traveler arrives at departure customs (S1) and presents their passport to a customs official (S2). The departure customs official retrieves the passport number from the presented passport and extracts the purchase history data linked to that passport number (S3).

[0085] The customs official compares the extracted purchase history data with the purchased items brought by the foreign traveler (S4). Specifically, the customs official checks the purchase history data to see if any of the purchased items brought by the foreign traveler are missing (S5).

[0086] If the purchased items brought are sufficient, the customs official determines that the transaction is valid and allows tax exemption (S6) and enters data indicating approval (see Figure 13). In this case, the duty-free shop prepares to refund the consumption tax owed (S7). Specifically, as shown in Figures 13 and 14, the refund amount is transferred to the bank account of duty-free agent P, who then distributes the money to the wallet.

[0087] If there is a mismatch between the purchase history data and the purchased items brought by the foreign tourist, the transaction is not considered to be tax-free (S8). Specifically, cosmetics (c-2) are shown as an example of a purchased item in Figure 13. The amount not approved for tax exemption is the amount that should be paid as consumption tax, so the duty-free shop will pay the tax (S9).

[0088] (Figure 16) Figure 16 shows the procedure for a foreign traveler to receive a consumption tax refund after leaving the country.

[0089] After leaving Japan, Mr. C sends a remittance instruction to the Japanese financial institution M that created the wallet using the remittance instruction sending means on his terminal.

[0090] Japanese financial institution M, which receives the remittance instruction via its remittance instruction receiving means, first checks whether the remittance instruction is from Mr. C, the wallet holder. If it is confirmed that the instruction is from Mr. C, it then checks whether Mr. C is listed on any of the various blacklists. These various blacklists are made using external databases such as a criminal database and a terrorist database.

[0091] After identity verification and blacklist checks are completed, the amount deposited in Mr. C's wallet is transferred via a remittance method to the financial institution designated by Mr. C. Fees will be deducted, but we will not discuss them here.

[0092] Regarding the fact that a remittance has been made, data such as the date and time, requester, remittance amount, and remittance destination are stored in an external data storage means.

[0093] At the financial institution designated by Mr. C, the receiving means receives the money and deposits the received amount into an account in the name of Mr. C. If the financial institution has an attached "receipt notification service" that notifies Mr. C that the money has been received, the receiving means notifies Mr. C's terminal. When this notification is made, the receiving means on Mr. C's terminal receives the notification.

[0094] (Figure 17) Figure 17 shows the screen that notifies you that the money has been deposited into your wallet if your tax exemption is approved at departure customs.

[0095] (Figure 18) Figure 18 shows a screen indicating that if the tax exemption eligibility is denied by departure customs, the money will not be refunded to the wallet.

[0096] (Figure 19) Figure 19 summarizes the functions that the mobile terminal of foreign tourist C performs in connection with duty-free shop S and the foreign financial institution where he receives his consumption tax refund.

[0097] It functions to receive instructions to create a wallet from duty-free shop S where the shopper made a purchase. When the shopper follows the instructions, the shopper communicates with the duty-free agent's server and the wallet app is downloaded using the wallet app receiving function. However, Mr. C may not have had the opportunity to learn of the existence of the duty-free agent.

[0098] The wallet app can receive wallet data every time you make a purchase using the wallet display data reception function.The wallet data can then be output using the wallet output function, allowing you to view your shopping history.

[0099] After leaving the country, use the remittance instruction sending function to send a remittance instruction to Japanese financial institution M, which created the wallet, to receive a consumption tax refund. In addition, by using the receipt of tax exemption approval / denial data from the departure customs server as a trigger, the transfer instruction means in the tax exemption agent P management server can automatically issue a remittance instruction without the traveler having to operate the remittance instruction.

[0100] If the foreign financial institution that is the recipient of the remittance provides a service to notify the completion of the receipt, the receipt will be notified by the receipt receiving function.In addition, by using the receipt of tax exemption permission data from the departure customs server as a trigger, the transfer instruction means in the tax exemption agent P management server can automatically issue the remittance instruction without the traveler having to operate the remittance instruction.

[0101] (Figure 20) FIG. 20 shows the effects of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 to 19. Duty-free shop S can entrust the refund procedure for the consumption tax that has been approved for refund from multiple foreign tourists to the foreign tourists through a tax-free agent. In other words, the consumption tax to be refunded to the foreign tourists can be simply transferred all at once to the account of tax-free agent P.

[0102] For financial institutions that receive requests for consumption tax refunds from foreign tourists, the foreign tourist requesting the transfer of their own funds held in a wallet in the tourist's name to a foreign account in the tourist's name only requires identification verification from the foreign tourist (no identification verification is required by the duty-free shop). As a result, administrative procedures are significantly reduced, and remittance fees are also reduced. [Industrial Applicability]

[0103] The present invention may be applicable in the financial industry that refunds consumption tax to foreign tourists, the retail industry through duty-free shops, the manufacturing industry of communication terminals (cash registers) used in the retail industry, the information and communications services industry, and the software industry that creates computer software used in information and communications services in the retail industry.

Claims

1. A management server that virtually divides bank accounts for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists, a wallet creation data receiving means for receiving personal data for identifying the foreign traveler from the foreign traveler; a wallet creation means for virtually creating a split account exclusively for the foreign traveler using the personal data in a bank account related to the operator of the management server that has been created in advance at a Japanese financial institution; a wallet application sending means for sending a wallet application to the mobile terminal of the foreign traveler that enables the mobile terminal to access the split account; A management server with

2. a duty-free sales data receiving means for receiving, when the foreign tourist makes a purchase at the duty-free shop, traveler data for identifying the foreign tourist and purchase detail data relating to the purchases made by the foreign tourist; a wallet display data creation means for creating wallet display data including the traveler data and purchase detail data received by the duty-free sales data receiving means; a wallet display data transmission means for transmitting the wallet display data created by the wallet display data creation means to the mobile terminal; It was decided to provide The management server according to claim 1 .

3. a tax exemption permission / denial receiving means for receiving tax exemption permission / denial data as a result of the check on the purchases made by the foreign tourist at the time of departure together with personal authentication data; an allotment instruction means for instructing the bank account of the operator of the management server to allocate the amount of consumption tax paid by the foreign tourist that is permitted in the tax exemption permission data from the tax exemption permission data transferred from the duty-free shop to a separate account exclusively for the foreign tourist; It was decided to provide 3. The management server according to claim 1.

4. A computer program that controls a management server that virtually divides bank accounts for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists, a data receiving step for receiving personal data for identifying the foreign traveler from the foreign traveler; a wallet creation procedure for virtually creating a split account exclusively for the foreign traveler using the personal data in a bank account related to the operator of the management server that has been created in advance at a Japanese financial institution; a wallet application transmission step of transmitting to the mobile terminal of the foreign traveler a wallet application that enables the mobile terminal to access the split account; A computer program that causes the management server to execute the above.

5. a duty-free sales data receiving procedure for receiving traveler data for identifying the foreign traveler and purchase detail data regarding the purchases made by the foreign traveler when the foreign traveler makes a purchase at the duty-free shop; a wallet display data creation procedure for creating wallet display data including the traveler data and purchase detail data received in the duty-free sales data reception procedure; and a wallet display data transmission procedure for transmitting the wallet display data created in the wallet display data creation procedure to the mobile terminal.

5. A computer program according to claim 4.

6. a tax exemption permission / denial receiving step for receiving tax exemption permission / denial data as a result of a check on the purchases made by the foreign tourist upon departure, together with personal authentication data; and an allocation instruction procedure for instructing the bank account of the operator of the management server to transfer the amount of consumption tax paid by the foreign tourist that is permitted in the tax exemption permission data from the tax exemption permission data to a separate account dedicated to the foreign tourist. A computer program according to claim 4 or claim 5.

7. A computer program executed on a mobile terminal of a foreign tourist who has made a purchase at a duty-free shop, The computer program includes a wallet display data receiving step for receiving wallet display data for displaying a wallet formed by virtually dividing a bank account from a management server that virtually divides a bank account for refunding consumption tax received from duty-free shops to foreign tourists; a wallet data output procedure for outputting the wallet display data received by the wallet display data receiving procedure; a remittance instruction sending step in which the foreign traveler sends a remittance instruction to instruct the remittance of the amount of consumption tax to the wallet virtually divided for the bank account; A computer program for causing the mobile terminal to execute the above.

8. In the wallet display data receiving procedure, the wallet display data includes data on consumption tax on purchases for which tax exemption is permitted based on tax exemption permission data on the purchases from a departure customs server related to departure customs when the foreign traveler departs the country.

8. A computer program according to claim 7.

9. a wallet creation instruction receiving step for receiving a wallet creation instruction from the duty-free shop where the foreign tourist has made a purchase; a wallet creation data transmission procedure for transmitting wallet creation data to the management server based on the wallet creation instruction received in the wallet creation instruction reception procedure; 9. The computer program according to claim 7, wherein the computer program is executed by the mobile terminal.

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