Tax System in Japan for Foreign Residents

公開日時 : 2020年08月04日

更新日時 : 2022年03月04日

Income Tax

As international talent works at Japan, they have to pay income tax annually .For Japan, the Tax year accounting period is form January 1 to December 31.
Foreigners who are leaving Japan before tax deadline must file their returns( On these dates February 16 to March 15 ) before thy leave, or designate a proxy to file a return for them .

Income tax is only required on income over 380,000 yen.

Hence, it could be understood that for all the tax payers who earn less than 380,000 yen could have filled a basic exemption which is meant to for your daily life expenses. This 380,000 yen is a basic exemption for all taxpayers including foreign workers who work in Japan.

But in most cases foreigners are employees, so let’s see the case of employees.

If your are employee(including part time job) ,you are applicable for deduction for employment income for 650,000 yen　（参考：国税庁「No.12012　Overview of deduction for employment income」）

So if you are an employee and your income is over 1,030,00 yen, you are required to pay income tax.

(380,000+650,000=1,030,000 yen) If your income is less than 1,030,000 yen, you don’t have to pay tax but you need to do tax return at the Tax offices.

Japan’s income tax law classified individual into three categories which is not related to visa types :

Resident

Permanent Resident: Foreigners who have Japanese nationality or who have an address and residence in Japan for at least 5 years, for the past 10 years.

Non-permanent Resident: Foreigners who do not have a Japanese nationality,Foreigners with total of 5 years or less who have had an address and residence in the past 10 years. Foreigners who are not “non-residents”.

Non-Resident

Foreigners who do not have an address in Japan or who do not have a residence in Japan for more than 1 year.

日本に住んでいる外国人の所得税しょとくぜいについて

外国人でも日本で働いていると「日本の税金」を支払うひつようがあります。税金ぜいきんに関する知識が無いと、払いすぎてしまったり、支払いを忘れて、遅れた分のお金をとられることもありますので、今回は所得税しょとくぜいについて紹介します。

所得税しょとくぜいとは？

所得税は、お金を稼いだらかせいだら支払う税金ぜいきんです。毎年１月１日から12月31日までに得たお金が課税かぜい（税金がかかる）されます。会社員やアルバイトをしている人などの労働者ろうどうしゃの人は、1年間に稼いだお金が103万円以上であれば所得税しょとくぜいが発生します。1年間の所得が38万円以内であれば基礎控除きそこうじょ（稼いだお金の中で、税金がかからないお金。だれでも受けることできます）の範囲内はんいないですので、税務署ぜいむしょに申告しんこくする必要もありませんが、それより多く収入があると税務署ぜいむしょに申告しんこくしなければなりません。所得税しょとくぜいは働いた人の所得しょとくに応じてかかりますが、外国人の所得税しょとくぜいの扱いは居住者きょじゅうしゃと非居住者ひきょじゅうしゃで大きく違います。

居住者きょじゅうしゃ

居住者きょじゅうしゃとは、日本に住所を持っている人、日本に1年上住んでいる人です。永住者えいじゅうしゃと非永住者ひえいじゅうしゃに分けられます。

永住者えいじゅうしゃ：日本国籍こくせきを持っている。または、外国人で過去10年以内に日本に住所があった期間の合計が5年以上。

非永住者ひえいじゅうしゃ：日本国籍こくせきを持っていない外国人で、過去10年以内に日本に住所があった期間の合計が5年以下。

非居住者

日本に住所を持っていない外国人で日本に1年以上居所（一時的に住んでいる場所）を持っていない人です。

Foreign employees need to know which of the following categories they belong to as the taxable range varies depending on the classification.

As for 1st of August 2020 income tax rate:

Foreign Tax Deduction

In order to avoid the issue of “ double tax payment ”, which indicates foreign residents who work in Japan have to pay both taxes in their home country and Japan.
According to the “OECD tax treaty “ which is an international standard, and serves as a model for concluding a tax treaty centered on OECD member countries. Japan, which is a member of the OECD, has adopted rules that are in line with this.
In short, the foreign income exemption method or foreign tax credit method is enforced in Japan.It is crucial for international workers who work in Japan to know that they have to check whether their country have the “OECD tax treaty” to avoid paying double tax to both countries.