Hey all. New here. I want your guys' advice regarding my situation.
So I'm a Japanese-American. I've been in the US for 10 years now and have been working full-time for almost 2 years now.
My dad, still residing in japan, just called me to tell me I got a form for the annual Resident Tax for my city. This is because for convenience, we have my childhood home (my dad's home) as my Japanese address. This is a bit of a niche situation so I'm wondering these things:
Do I even have to pay this? Some sources I looked into (including Japanese websites, as I can read that if need be) suggest that having an address is just one factor, and that to owe this you actually had to have been living a significant amount at the address.
If I do have to pay this, what do I even report? Obviously, I have no Japanese source of income. All my money is earned in the US. Would I put down 0 and owe nothing?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
by jyakeshyake
3 comments
>I’ve been in the US for 10 years now
And
>my Japanese address
Why do you have a Japanese address. You’re not a resident of Japan.
I am hoping that this mean municipalities are going to start billing people who want to have their cake and eat it (by residing outside Japan but keep registered residency the benefit which come with being a registered resident) resident tax based on their income, regardless of where the income is made
>we have my childhood home (my dad’s home) as my Japanese address. This is a bit of a niche situation so I’m wondering these things:
This is surprisingly not that niche a situation. Some Japanese nationals maintain a registered address (jumihyo) in Japan even when they are not residents. Usually this doesn’t result in any meaningful consequences even if it is illegal and should not be done. I am assuming this is what you have done. (Even if it is “convenient” you are not allowed to maintain a registered address when you are in fact not a resident.)
The simple answer is you probably need to explain that you had your address/jusho incorrectly registered and were in fact in America. If you had received benefits during your time abroad (i..e. Covid stimulus payments) it is quite probable you will be asked to repay them as you were not eligible to receive them when you did.
> I got a form for the annual Resident Tax for my city
I’ll speculate that this is probably an income declaration form because the city does not have any tax information on you and wants to verify your income. As you are not a resident there should be no need to submit this once you explain that fact to the city.
Nobody’s mentioned it, so…
Another thing you’ll want to sort out is pension–and don’t worry, if you’re living overseas you’ll be exempted.
But, if as u/tsian speculates, the mailing in question here is an income declaration, a notice about pension might also come in addition to something about taxes (and NHI).
Again, this will just be another piece of paperwork to get submitted properly, and you’ll be exempt. Eg, one of our kids graduated uni (uni time can be exempted) and went abroad; my wife started paying the kid’s pension since she was worried about being paid up if they came back. Then, it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, wife submitted more paperwork to that effect, and actually got a refund of some kind on the premiums that she’d paid.
You just have to dot each i and cross every t to make the folks at city hall happy.
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