Situation: I have recently moved from the US (citizen) to Japan (work visa) as a company employee (正社員) with a salary of about 30M JPY including a variable bonus of 15%. I do purchase US stocks in my US brokerage account, but I generally do not sell any since they are 99% index fund purchases (I also receive dividends). I do not have any Japanese investment accounts.
From what I have read, there are basically two options you have when it comes time to file US taxes:
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Take a deduction of something like $120k (changes yearly)
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Take a credit which is the amount of foreign income taxes paid
My question is what is considered income tax in Japan to the IRS when it comes time to report? Is it purely the raw income tax, or can I also include the amount paid towards the national health insurance fund and anything else that's deducted? I am assuming it will be better for me to take the credit since my income will exceed the ~$120k deduction limit by a substantial amount. I am not necessarily looking for exact numbers here; I am mostly trying to figure out if I will need to plan to have to pay taxes to the US because I don't want to have a huge surprise tax bill come springtime.
Also because of my situation, I believe I may have to file income taxes independently in Japan because my income exceeds a certain level. Is it recommended that I hire someone that specializes in expat taxes to handle all of this stuff for me? What sort of pricing is reasonable for handling of US taxes and Japanese taxes?
by nihongojouzudane