497

U.S. Wealth Management
601 Congress Street
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 663-4324
Fax: (617) 663-2196
E-Mail: nkolokithas@jhancock.com

Name:     Nicholas J. Kolokithas
Title:      Assistant Vice President and Senior Counsel

December 21, 2012

VIA EDGAR TRANSMISSION

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20549

RE: John Hancock Tax-Exempt Series Fund (the “Trust”), on behalf of:
John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund (the “Fund”)
File Nos. 33-12947; 811-05079

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of the Trust, transmitted for filing, pursuant to Rule 497 under the Securities Act of 1933, are exhibits containing interactive data format risk/return summary information for the Fund.

The interactive data files included as exhibits to this filing relate to the form of prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 14, 2012 on behalf of the Fund pursuant to Rule 497(e) (Accession No. 0000950123-12-013768), which is incorporated by reference into this Rule 497 Document.

If you have any questions or comments, please call me at (617) 663-4324.

Sincerely,

/s/ Nicholas J. Kolokithas Nicholas J. Kolokithas, Esq.

Assistant Secretary of the Trust

Exhibit Index

EX-101.INS	XBRL Instance Document
EX-101.SCH	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
EX-101.CAL	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
EX-101.LAB	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Linkbase Document
EX-101.PRE	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
EX-101.DEF	XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document

- 1 -

XML

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund (the "fund")
Supplement dated 12-14-2012 to the current Prospectus

In the "Fund Summary" section, under the "Past performance" subsection, the following benchmark index descriptions are added and the "Average annual total returns" table is amended and restated as follows:

Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of New York investment grade municipal bonds.

Barclays Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index representative of the tax-exempt bond market.

Average annual total returns (%)	1 Year		5 Year		10 Year
as of 12-31-11
Class A before tax		4.65		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions		4.64		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions, with sale		4.48		3.37		4.16
Class B before tax		3.67		3.14		4.05
Class C before tax		7.68		3.49		3.90
Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index*		9.79		5.26		5.35
Barclays Municipal Bond Index*		10.70		5.22		5.38

* Prior to December 14, 2012, the fund compared its performance solely to the Barclays Municipal Bond Index. After this date, the fund added the Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index as the primary benchmark index and retained the Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the secondary benchmark index to which the fund compares its performance to better reflect the universe of investment opportunities based on the fund's investment strategy.

XML

Label

Element

Value

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Registrant Name

dei_EntityRegistrantName

JOHN HANCOCK TAX-EXEMPT SERIES FUND

Prospectus Date

rr_ProspectusDate

Oct. 01, 2012

Supplement [Text Block]

jhtesf1_SupplementTextBlock

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund (the "fund")
Supplement dated 12-14-2012 to the current Prospectus

In the "Fund Summary" section, under the "Past performance" subsection, the following benchmark index descriptions are added and the "Average annual total returns" table is amended and restated as follows:

Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of New York investment grade municipal bonds.

Barclays Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index representative of the tax-exempt bond market.

Average annual total returns (%)	1 Year		5 Year		10 Year
as of 12-31-11
Class A before tax		4.65		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions		4.64		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions, with sale		4.48		3.37		4.16
Class B before tax		3.67		3.14		4.05
Class C before tax		7.68		3.49		3.90
Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index*		9.79		5.26		5.35
Barclays Municipal Bond Index*		10.70		5.22		5.38

* Prior to December 14, 2012, the fund compared its performance solely to the Barclays Municipal Bond Index. After this date, the fund added the Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index as the primary benchmark index and retained the Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the secondary benchmark index to which the fund compares its performance to better reflect the universe of investment opportunities based on the fund's investment strategy.

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

Supplement [Text Block]

jhtesf1_SupplementTextBlock

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund (the "fund")
Supplement dated 12-14-2012 to the current Prospectus

In the "Fund Summary" section, under the "Past performance" subsection, the following benchmark index descriptions are added and the "Average annual total returns" table is amended and restated as follows:

Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of New York investment grade municipal bonds.

Barclays Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index representative of the tax-exempt bond market.

Average annual total returns (%)	1 Year		5 Year		10 Year
as of 12-31-11
Class A before tax		4.65		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions		4.64		3.26		4.15
After tax on distributions, with sale		4.48		3.37		4.16
Class B before tax		3.67		3.14		4.05
Class C before tax		7.68		3.49		3.90
Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index*		9.79		5.26		5.35
Barclays Municipal Bond Index*		10.70		5.22		5.38

* Prior to December 14, 2012, the fund compared its performance solely to the Barclays Municipal Bond Index. After this date, the fund added the Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index as the primary benchmark index and retained the Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the secondary benchmark index to which the fund compares its performance to better reflect the universe of investment opportunities based on the fund's investment strategy.

Performance Additional Market Index [Text]

rr_PerformanceAdditionalMarketIndex

Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index composed of New York investment grade municipal bonds. Barclays Municipal Bond Index is an unmanaged index representative of the tax-exempt bond market.

Performance Table Heading

rr_PerformanceTableHeading

Average annual total returns (%)
as of 12-31-11

Performance Table Market Index Changed

rr_PerformanceTableMarketIndexChanged

Prior to December 14, 2012, the fund compared its performance solely to the Barclays Municipal Bond Index. After this date, the fund added the Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index as the primary benchmark index and retained the Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the secondary benchmark index to which the fund compares its performance to better reflect the universe of investment opportunities based on the fund’s investment strategy.

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | before tax | Class A

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

4.65%

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

3.26%

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.15%

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | before tax | Class B

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

3.67%

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

3.14%

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.05%

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | before tax | Class C

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

7.68%

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

3.49%

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

3.90%

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | After tax on distributions | Class A

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

4.64%

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

3.26%

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.15%

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | After tax on distributions, with Sale | Class A

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

4.48%

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

3.37%

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

4.16%

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

9.79%

^[1]

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

5.26%

^[1]

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

5.35%

^[1]

John Hancock New York Tax-Free Income Fund | Prospectus Class A, B and C Shares | Barclays Municipal Bond Index

Risk/Return:

rr_RiskReturnAbstract

1 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01

10.70%

^[1]

5 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05

5.22%

^[1]

10 Year

rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10

5.38%

^[1]

[1] Prior to December 14, 2012, the fund compared its performance solely to the Barclays Municipal Bond Index. After this date, the fund added the Barclays New York Municipal Bond Index as the primary benchmark index and retained the Barclays Municipal Bond Index as the secondary benchmark index to which the fund compares its performance to better reflect the universe of investment opportunities based on the fund's investment strategy.

XML

Document and Entity Information	12 Months Ended
	Oct. 01, 2012
Risk/Return:
Document Type	Other
Document Period End Date	May 31, 2012
Registrant Name	JOHN HANCOCK TAX-EXEMPT SERIES FUND
Central Index Key	0000811921
Amendment Flag	false
Document Creation Date	Dec. 14, 2012
Document Effective Date	Dec. 14, 2012
Prospectus Date	Oct. 01, 2012

XML

Label	Element	Value
Risk/Return:	rr_RiskReturnAbstract
Registrant Name	dei_EntityRegistrantName	JOHN HANCOCK TAX-EXEMPT SERIES FUND
Prospectus Date	rr_ProspectusDate	Oct. 01, 2012
Document Creation Date	dei_DocumentCreationDate	Dec. 14, 2012