My spouse is japanese citizen, and we both currently live overseas.
We want to eventually move back to Japan and purchase a house. I will be on spouse visa, and so we are thinking the house will be best purchase under her name as a citizen (and with a longer credit history, etc).
However, of course, there is the issue of gift tax to consider since she is a Japanese citizen. To that end, will opening a joint bank account be a smart idea, or more hassle than it's worth?
Scenario 1: Both she and I put money into the account (likely I will put more in). Then she transfers that money into a japanese bank account eventually. No gift tax triggered because she's transferring money to herself.
Scenario 2: Both put money into the account. We need to keep clear receipt of how much money we both contributed into her account. Money I contribute might be subject to gift tax if it exceeds a certain amount. So when she transfers a large sum from her joint account to her japanese bank account, they might want to see her contribution history on the joint account to determine need for taxation.
If scenario 2 is the case, then there's no benefit with a joint account and would in fact make things harder to track.
by 90smule