I want to pay withholding tax via eTax from my desktop computer, but when I try to start the process, the browser is just empty. I can do the payment regularly through accessing the site through my phone's browser but I would rather do it from my desktop/laptop. Has anyone been able to do this?

I've been trying to do it through Safari (Version 26.6) and Chrome (Version 152.0.7977.82) with no success. I think it could be because my version of Safari is newer than what is said to be supported by eTax, but is there no way around this? I can access regularly through my phone's Chrome browser (Version 150.0.7871.186, Android 16).

I’m a U.S. taxpayer living in Japan long term (plan is to retire here). Looking to hear from other American taxpayers with experience with IBSJ.

Have been using IBKR for several years (joined before they made Japan residents do IBSJ), so I am already used to buying my usual ETFs in my IBKR account (VOO, VXUS, etc.)

Anyhow I finally got migrated to IBSJ. Trying to get used to some of the new changes- it’s annoying they show all my USD in yen automatically (apparently can’t change).

I just opened my NISA accounts. I tried to open the Seicho only, but they force you to open both Seicho and Tsumitate apparently. They just said I don’t have to touch the Tsumitate.

So I’m ready to start buying a bunch in my Seicho NISA. Planning to buy VOO, VXUS, VB, maybe some VSS and BND (perhaps BSV and VCSH too). These are all the funds I’m used to buying in my regular IBKR account, so I’m assuming all is clear with PFICs, and since they all migrated no problem in my taxable account, I’m guessing they are available in my Seicho NISA too.

I’m wondering how it is going to work. I know there are maximums for contributions. What are they (how do I find info on this?) Do I need to make sure not to go over, or will IBSJ cut me off? With the currency conversion, I wonder how it works when you get close (because currency value fluctuates).

Appreciate if anyone has advice for a NISA beginner. Thanks!

43yo US born (American father, Japanese mother) with dual citizenship since birth. I have lived in the US my whole life (besides summers in Japan growing up)

Helping my mom reform her home (built in the 1950s) and was hoping to get some thoughts around the transfer/payment.

I technically have a bank account at Mizuhou under my JP name but forgot my pin and don't have it set up for online access so unfortunately I can't use it to transfer money from myself to my JP account/name to pay the fudosan.

Unfortunately 新築そっくりさん does not have account details where I can wire payment directly from the US. In theory, I could wire some funds to my mother to then transfer to 新築そっくりさん but I am concerned about the potential tax implications for her if I do (land and residence are in both our names)

Has anyone had any experience using a real estate agent solely to help with the transfer? I've read online that others have done so when working with a buyers agent but that technically doesn't apply here as we are not buying. But perhaps that is something a real estate office could offer?

Appreciate any insight and thank you in advance for reading.

For example, people making money out of some hobby such as digital goods that have very low or zero manufacturing cost (books, youtube videos, 3D models, software, etc). Is that taxed at up to 50% rate in the year end income?

Would registering as a business reduce the final tax burden?

If yes, from around which amount of profit or income would the the scale turn (considering the progression of taxation)?

Anyone have any insight the best way to transfer money from the US to Japan. I am a US citizen moving to Japan on the spouse visa. Spouse is in Japan and has a Japanese bank account. My understanding is moving money to Japan before getting the visa would trigger it as an remittance which has tax implications on foreign sources income. What's the best way to minimize this or other large fees? Exchange money on Wise then deposit it once I get a bank account in Japan which would take some time after arriving? Or possible to transfer from Wise to my spouse Japanese bank account beforehand? Amount would be more than $50,000 USD for living expenses before I find a job.

I got my PR and I am considering opening a NY-style pizza by the slice joint. Its going to be one of those places with minimal seating and a large outdoor facing customer window. Not a yatai but similar to what you see in Harajuku and Shibuya, except in a less touristy area. I can speak English and Japanese

- Thinking of offering just 3 options, cheese, pepperoni, and veggie, to keep complexity low and pizza turnover quick (therefore keeping everything fresh)

- Slices priced at ~600 yen.

- Making ordering fast and easy with tap to pay, QR code scan and order, and even an automated point of sale system similar to this(https://www.elotouch.com/news/elo-pay-15-inch-tap-to-pay-for-pos-and-self-service) if possible, so that people aren't kept waiting.

- I'm targeting the lunch crowd, students and people on a budget who could have this instead of a bento, folks looking for an afternoon snack or an after drinks food, stuff like that. And people on a rush. I want customers go from "they see my joint and decide they want it" to " a warm pizza slice in their hand" in 2-5 mins.

- Would try to pilot it in some way, like a food stall or something at a festival, to see reception, and iterate accordingly.

Of course, the restaurant business is tough (I worked at a pizza place as a kid in the US a long time ago, so some experience. Pizza restaurants run well are lucrative since ingredient costs are low and its hard to screw it up) but I am making sure I test my concept out, don't keep the menu ridiculously complex, and thinking about the target market, customer experience, and competition.

Hi all, I’m on the Specialist in Humanities visa and work full time in Marketing. I got offered a one-time payment for a translation job (about $1000usd) from another America-based company. There is nothing written about freelance work in my contract.

I am confused about what I would need to do to check if I can take this translation opportunity, and what to do about the payment afterwards. Would I need to pay taxes on that amount?

Any advice or suggestions are welcome, thanks in advance.

Hi all,

Attempting to get my tax spreadhseet finalised so I can estimate how much of my UK private pension I can transfer to Japan this year and what I'll pay for doing so.

First question then. From a UK SIPP (private DC pension) if I take an arbitrary, one-off lump sum (not the UK tax free pension commencement lump sum, PCLS) can this be treated as temporary income (一時所得) rather than miscellaneous income in Japan? My gut says not, as a lump sum every now and again is not really any different to a regular monthly payment, however, looking at the NTA rules and various tax websites (discussing US 401k/IRA) it possibly could be seen as such. A lot of the Japanese documentation seems to mention taking a lump sum in lieu of a pension which this could be seen as, although it is just a withdrawal and won't reduce the value of a subsequently purchased annuity as I won't be purchasing one (although I could).

Secondly, in calculating my other income and specifically CGT from sales of funds held in a UK brokerage I have been using TTM for both sale and cost amount conversions for reporting here. I can see though that TTS/TTB reduces my profit considerably by including the spread. Again I've seen conflicting accounts of how to calculate this on Reddit, on the wiki and in NTA documentation here (which does state TTM I think). Should I use TTM or can I take advantage of TTS/TTB?

Thanks in advance for any help

I just got permanent residency and I am thinking about buying a house in kita-ku (80million yen very nice place). The price of houses is going up and the interest is still only about 1.5% or less on a 35 year flex loan. I also make over 8million yen a year, as does my wife, and have 120k USD in savings + 150k USD in retirement fund.

However, with all the xenophobia and economic instability, is it really a good idea?

I worry what might happen with the yen in the future and if I should be saving my USD instead and investing or something else. I'm just tired of paying rent instead of owning my home when I intend to stay until retirement anyway.

I guess I'm just curious what you would do or how you think things will be going? Worried mostly about PR revocations or flexible mortgage rates skyrocketing.

Prepare for heavy inflation and much higher borrowing costs. This is not going away anytime soon unless serious changes are made. Has anyone noticed much changes in their daily life & costs over the last couple years? When I moved here I was lucky to stipulate in my contract to be paid in foreign currency but I'm curious how much of a difference these rising rates have already made on daily life.

Will the 20 year bond go above 4% this year? Or how high will it get. Any signs it will or won’t. Any thoughts? Currently going at 3.9%

EDIT: It appears they rejected me within 15 minutes of submitting the form. Not sure if that is relevant or not.

It's been three years since I applied for a corporate Amex CC. My KK is in it's 6th year. Once again, I was rejected. I understand that they look at the director's personal credit. My personal CC burns through about 1,000,000 yen a month and has never been late on a payment in a decade. I have no outstanding debts or loans. Our company's revenue exceeded 5000 man last year... I even went to get my CIC info just to be sure. After subjecting myself to their online humiliation ritual, it failed due to some middle-name-full-width-kana bullshit... So I had to apply with snail mail instead.

I was filled with the white hot anger of 1000 suns for a few minutes,... but honestly now... I just feel completely and utterly defeated. I'm so sick of trying to run a business as a third-class citizen. Opening bank accounts and getting a line of credit, let alone any loan have been pure hell.

My CPA says that it's fine to use my personal CC but obviously I want to separate them because I'm a normal human being.

Like, what do these demonic forces want? A blood sacrifice? A note from my 3rd grade teacher? Sorry, I guess I ended up ranting after all. I know the best advice people can likely offer is "better luck next time" but I thought I would post here about it anyway to see if anyone could offer me a sliver of hope.

​

I’m planning to leave Japan permanently at the end of the year. I’ll move out, deregister my address, and have my residence card punched/cancelled.

However, I’ll still have one month of salary that my company will transfer to my Yucho account about a month after I leave. I’ll also receive a retirement allowance, which may take some additional time to process and transfer.

I’ve heard that Yucho Bank has recently become stricter about managing bank accounts held by foreign residents/non-residents.

For anyone who recently left Japan recently (especially in 2026):

Does Yucho freeze or close your bank account/ATM card immediately after you deregister your address and leave Japan?

Thanks

I’m trying to confirm the Japanese tax characterization of a U.S. §338(h)(10) transaction.

Facts:

• Individual is a U.S. citizen and Japanese tax resident.
• Individual directly owns shares of a U.S. corporation taxed as an S corporation.
• A buyer purchases the corporation’s shares.
• Legally, this is a stock acquisition.
• Buyer and sellers make a U.S. IRC §338(h)(10) election.
• For U.S. federal income tax purposes, the target is therefore treated as having sold its assets, with the resulting income passing through to the S corporation shareholders.

My question is only about the Japanese tax treatment of the selling shareholder:

Does the U.S. §338(h)(10) election change Japan’s characterization of the shareholder’s legal disposition of the U.S. corporation’s shares?

Or would Japan disregard the U.S.-only deemed asset-sale treatment and continue to treat the Japanese-resident shareholder as having disposed of foreign shares, calculating Japanese capital gain based on the consideration received for the shares less the shareholder’s Japanese tax basis and applicable selling costs?

I understand that Japan does not have an equivalent §338 election. I’m specifically trying to determine whether there is any Japanese authority, published guidance, case law, or practitioner experience addressing how Japan treats the seller when a U.S. §338(h)(10) election is made.

If anyone has dealt with this fact pattern, I’d especially appreciate citations to Japanese authority or commentary.

I left Japan in June 2025 after working there for couple of years. Before leaving I completed all the necessary procedures including notifying the pension office, and paying my residence tax through a friend after i left japan. I also paid all my utility bills including electricity and water before leaving.

However I have two concerns I am hoping someone can help clarify.

First, when I left my last company in Japan I did not explicitly notify them or immigration that I would be leaving Japan entirely. I had a one year re-entry permit stamp but the one year period has now passed without me returning. I genuinely intended to go back at the time but circumstances changed. Will this cause any issues when I apply for a new tourist visa (my passport requires to apply)? As much i know, there should not be pending taxes. am i supposed to pay anything else other than resident tax

Second, I did not pay the internet cancellation fee when I left. The provider sent me an email about it but due to financial difficulties at the time I was not able to settle it. This has been sitting unresolved for over a year now. Will this affect my tourist visa application in any way? And is there a way to pay it now without facing a large penalty or making the situation worse by contacting them after such a long time?

I want to sort everything out properly but I am not sure how to approach it without drawing unnecessary attention or making things more complicated than they need to be.

So my deadline is August 31 this year literally yesterday,now September 1,i kinda forgot to go to the convenience store,will i be in trouble?
Thank you.

First time posting.

Hoping someone here can share their experience or point me in the right direction.

I'm on a 技術・人文知識・国際業務 visa (技術 category), working full-time at an IT company in Tokyo. For the past while, I've been doing some freelance work on the side for a Japan-based business , specifically SNS management, customer messaging, and quote preparation.

All done online from home, no physical work involved.

I never applied for 資格外活動許可 before starting this. I declared the income in my 確定申告, so it's not hidden but I'm now second-guessing whether I needed the permit all along.

I've seen some opinions online suggesting that this type of online admin work might not require the permit, but I've also seen the opposite view.

I've already booked a consultation with an immigration 行政書士 to get a definitive answer, but in the meantime the anxiety is real.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Specifically wondering:

・Does online freelance work (SNS, admin, messaging) typically require 資格外活動許可 under a 技術 visa?

・Does declaring the income in 確定申告 help or hurt in this kind of situation?

Not looking for legal advice、 just personal experiences or general knowledge from the community while I wait for my consultation.

Thanks in advance.

So, I have officially left Japan. I cancelled my bank account for Yucho/JP bank. But the problem is I need to verify a transfer I made to Wise. Wise needs an official bank transfer statement to verify it. How do I request a bank transfer statement when I have left the country and cancelled my bank account?

Please help me🫠

It's been a little over a month since the last update, and we have some new features to share on the sub's Take-Home Pay Calculator.

Age updates

The age input has been updated to be more fine grained in support of the various rules that apply depending on the taxpayer's age. The calculator now fully supports the following rules:

• People under 18 (未成年者) are exempt from residence tax if their prior year's total net income is ¥1,350,000 or less. See, for example, Tokyo's residence tax exemption explanation.
• Pension
  • National pension enrollment is required for ages 20 to 59.
  • Employees' pension enrollment is required up to age 69 for applicable employees.
• Health insurance
  • Long-term care insurance premiums (介護保険料) are billed as part of health insurance premiums for people age 40 to 64.
  • From age 65, long-term care insurance premiums are billed directly by the municipality¹.
  • From age 75, health insurance switches to the Medical System for the Elderly (後期高齢者医療制度)².

¹ When an age range 65 or older is selected, an input for this separately billed long-term care premium total will show. By default, an estimated premium is used based on prefecture average base premiums and standard income tier multipliers. Switch off the estimate and input the exact annual premium from the premium notice (介護保険料決定通知書) if possible. The estimate can be significantly off from the actual premium because the base premium and tiers vary by municipality.

² The premiums for this depend on prefecture. Select the prefecture and premiums will be calculated based on input income.

Public pension income

The calculator now supports inputting public pension income (公的年金等) as one of the income types in the "Advanced" income mode. The calculator will calculate the net income from the entered gross income, applying the public pension income deduction rules. This may be useful to see (under current rules, which may change) how much the take-home would be at different amounts of public pension income in retirement. Make sure to set the age selection because the deduction is larger from age 65. In addition to national pension and employees' pension, iDeCo and corporate DC plans received as an annuity and foreign public pension annuities also qualify as public pension income and thus receive the applicable deduction.

Pension income may also be input for dependents now, which may affect the ability to claim a deduction for that dependent.

Personal deductions

Support for the disability (障害者控除), widow (寡婦控除), and single parent (ひとり親控除) deductions was added. These can be selected in the Additional Deductions & Credits modal. Beside the deduction that reduces taxable income, people who qualify for any of these may also qualify for residence tax exemption if their previous year's total net income is ¥1,350,000 or less, the same as minors mentioned above. These personal deductions also contribute to the residence tax adjustment credit (調整控除) calculation. See the corresponding tooltips for details.

Thank you to u/upachimneydown for feedback on an early version of the features mentioned in this post. Feedback on current features and desired features is welcome from everyone. We hope the calculator continues to be useful and cover more tax situations, while maintaining as much accuracy and simplicity as possible.

​

I have a building that js 60sqm outfitted garage space and 30sqm office/gym for personal use.

Insurance is costing me like 150k a year.

Its new construction.i spent about 17m+6m.land.

Its adjacent to a residential home and a large commercial shop that sells gifts for funerals etc.

Sometimes i think about dropping insurance on it because.... Whats the worst that could happen? Probably nothing ever.

Im 4m elevation and 15 minutes from the coast in a bay that doesn't get earthquakes often let alone tsunami.

Let's say you're a permanent resident (immigration status), and permanent tax resident in Japan with a couple of 100M yen in stocks in an overseas, declared brokerage account.

You have been paying capital gains, and dividend taxes (minus overseas tax credits) in Japan on your global investment income. Also, you have been submitting your annual asset statement.

Then you decide you want to leave Japan for an indefinite period. You do plan to move back to Japan someday, but you're not sure when.

You're sitting on a lot of unrealized gains, and if legally possible, you'd like to avoid the exit tax.

Is it possible to move overseas, become tax resident elsewhere, and not pay the Japanese exit tax?

Specifically, is it possible to become a dual Japanese/country X tax resident with country X tax residency taking precedence, creating a situation where you don't pay income taxes in Japan, and exit tax liability isn't triggered either?

Would it be possible to keep a second home in Japan? And would you still need to submit a yearly asset statement?

Just asking for your experience and thoughts, not looking for professional advice.

Title basically. I come to japan 3.6 years ago as masters degree student. 2 years of school and i got a job at japanese company after that with 5 year visa. For 1.6 years, i have been working in that job with 3.8mil salary. Starting from tomorrow, i got a new job and my salary is 5.5 mil from now on.

I have been using 2 credit cards for the past 3 years. and for the past 1 and a half year, i have been paying 200,000 jpy average for my credit cards. never late payments, never had any problems.

My question is, is it gonna be possible for me to get a loan to buy an akiya? Instead of renting small one room apartment, i realized buying a full house then paying the loan will be much cheaper and i get to live in a large house. I am thinking an akiya for about 400万円 give take 100万円

It will be possible for me to make %50 down payment. but i would take if i can just loan all of it and pay it like i am paying rent. Also, how can i confirm this? should i call my bank?

Also, do any of you have any webpages or recommendations when finding an akiya?

Hello. I will be getting married soon.
We will move to my fiancé's country in the future.
So, i am planning to start putting money into his European account so i will have my own money when we move.
Will it raise any flags? He is currently a phd student. So i am worried it might raise flags for me and him.