RResidents in Japan

Tax return about gift tax

  • October 15, 2025

My dad has been sending me money in installments as a gift, the next one will be the sixth times, for the purpose of purchasing a house.
The total amount will be 1650万円.
When I do 確定申告 for tax return, is it compulsory to report this money?
I heard that 贈与税 gift tax will be deducted, if yes how much is it? and just wondering if there’s way to avoid it, or whether I should ask my dad to send the next installment money to my brother instead

by mbuhlayaw

4 comments

  1. Yes it is compulsory to report it as gift. Doesn’t matter how many middlemen are involved, your brother etc, so long as it reaches your hands, it is your tax burden.

    How much you pay depends on how frequently it is sent.

    What is the time span for the 16.5M over 6 installments?

    If the 6 payments totalling 16.5M was all received within a calendar year, then you have to pay taxes on that 15.4M (16.5M – 1.1M basic gift tax deduction), which is 50 percent with a 2.5M exemption, or about 5.2M yen tax.

    If the 16.5M installments was sent over 6 years or 2.75M per year, then the taxable amount is 1.65M (2.75 – 1.1) which is a flat 10%. That means every year you pay 165K for 6 years or 990K total tax paid.

    So if the payments are spread out over several years, the tax can be significantly reduced.

    There is however a 10M yen gift tax exemption that parents can give to their kids once in there life. The catch is that the cash must be spent within a year. So to use this, you would have had to received 16.5M and spent it all within a year.

    Using that, you can exempt about 11M of the cash from tax.

    Edit: corrected calculation

  2. You have a 1.1 million yen tax-free gift allowance per year. If you go beyond that you have to file a tax return. For more information about other tax exemptions that might be useful for you, see [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/mymqf5/comment/gvvvvtq/) excellent comment.

    Note that receiving gifts as installments that fall below the tax threshold can be counted as one large gift, which is taxable (although don’t ask me how this is checked). See [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/mymqf5/comment/gvwjhve/) comment.

    ~~In general, it might be better to ask this question on https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance with more detailed information, although “How can I avoid taxes?” is not a question that they like over there.~~ EDIT: I see you already did.

  4. You are getting bad advice here. People saying the gift is taxable might be right, but they are making some big assumptions in saying so.

    The gifts are NOT taxable if all of the following apply:

    1. The gifted asset is outside Japan (you mentioned the gift value in JPY terms, but unclear if the asset was gifted to you in Japan, or overseas and you just provided the equivalent JPY value)
    2. You are a short-term foreigner (There are a few forms of this, most common being you’re here on a work visa and living in Japan <10 years)
    3. The person giving the gift meets certain requirements. If as I imagine, they aren’t a Japanese citizen and have never lived in Japan then this requirement is satisfied.

    Note that you remitting the funds into Japan after receiving the gift does not make those funds taxable.

    (edited to add, more generally on taxation of remittances: that if you are a short-term foreigner <5 years in Japan and you remit foreign income that would be taxable. If you are here >5 years, that foreign income would be taxable, remitted or not.)

    Please read up on inheritance and gift tax, there is plenty of information in English too, to clarify your case and to see how you might proceed to avoid taxes where possible.

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