My wife (Japanese citizen) and I (US citizen) relocated to Japan this year after living together in the US for over 12 years. Just before moving, we sold our house in the US. Both of our names were on the title, and after closing, the proceeds—about USD 180,000—were deposited into my US bank account. The sale and distribution of funds occurred before we arrived in Japan.
Since the property was jointly owned and Japan doesn’t really have a concept of joint finances, I’m planning to transfer her half—roughly USD 90,000 —directly to her account here in Japan (SMBC) to avoid complications in the future. I plan to keep my own half in the US for investment purposes.
For context, I arrived in April 2025 on an Intra-company Transfer (ICT) visa and will likely switch to a spousal visa sometime next year.
We expect to purchase a home together in Japan in a couple of years, so I’d like to move her share now to keep everything clean.
Before sending the money, are there any issues I should be aware of—potential banking problems, NTA concerns, remittance-based taxation, or Japanese gift tax implications?
(I don't believe there would be as this is not a gift and we have closing paperwork showing here name on the sale)
Also, with 2025 ending soon, is there any advantage (or disadvantage) to transferring the funds before year-end versus waiting until next year?
Any insights or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
by Ok-Goose4657
2 comments
I’m in a very similar situation. But from what I gather it’s also not as simple as splitting the proceeds 50:50. Since my wife wasn’t working much while we were living in the US, it could be argued that I paid for most of the house so most of the proceeds are also mine. I’m not sure how aggressively this kind of thing is pursued by the Japan tax agency. I plan on visiting my local tax office to ask. Was your wife contributing to the mortgage payments in the US?
Im a non permanent resident on a spouse visa and looked into this a little for myself. From what I read it may be possible to remit money above your foreign sourced income tax free in the first 5 years of residency. You would need to pay tax on the total amount of your foreign sourced income (they assume the remitted amount is from income) but the savings (since you likely paid tax on the home sale proceeds to the US) wont be taxed if you keep them in your name. If you deposit in your wife’s account since she is a fully tax citizen you may run afoul of the gift tax.
Please confirm this with others as Im not a tax professional by a long shot.
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