JJapan Finance

I’m financially helping a Divorced Japanese citizen.

  • February 22, 2026

Hello everybody. I'm in an unusual situation, and I'm looking for advice, thanks in advance.

I'm an Australian Citizen, a high income earner. I'll be retiring in about 5 years. I knew a Japanese woman in Australia as a friend only. She returned to Japan to get married a while ago. Her husband was a deadbeat piece of crap, who got a taste for daily beatings, finally she had enough, and divorced him, but she was pregnant at the time.

She was desperate for help, so I was happy to do so. The money doesn't hurt me yet, and I've given them both a life.

I DO know she never applied for Child Rearing allowance. I don't know why, but there you go. So there is no worry there.

My question is Gift Taxes. Can I, a foreign citizen gift her money for living expenses more than Y1.1 million over 12 month period? I've read I can gift her child the same amount? I'm wondering if this is true. 95% of this money is for living expenses, and she has some medical bills as well. I'd hate for the tax man to come visiting because I've helped her and her child, you know, LIVE above desperate poverty.

As she is renting, that is an awful lot of money down the drain, which could be used for other purposes, like life. I was also considering an Akiya, done up and letting them move in. However, the research I've done here is scary.

  1. I cannot become a Japanese Citizen for tax purposes, because my money will be in Australian Super, when I retire, which would be taxed at 20%. It's already been taxed 3 times. That's not feasable. Therefore I'm restricted to Visitor/Tourist visas and leaving every 3 months if I buy an Akiya for them and occasionally visit.

  2. I can't buy an Akiya and gift it to her, as that would attract Gift Tax for sure, and transfer property taxes and other crap to her burden.

  3. I was wondering however, is there a law requiring a certain amount of rent to be collected for a renter? If I bought the Akiya, kept up the property taxes, and allowed her to move in for Y10000 a month, for example? I'd have to pay tax on that of course. But. for example, if the average rent in the area was Y50000, is it likely that would be classified as a gift as well?

    The Japanese Govt REALLY love their taxes, don't they?

Thanks for reading.

by That_Original_8601

24 comments

  1. Sorry, I should have added, that I will have to step back the help when I retire. That’s why I was considering the Akiya.

  2. I don’t think you necessarily have an accurate understanding of how your super would be treated, although without more info it’s impossible to know. The 20% figure doesn’t really accord with anything.

  4. Pretty sure you can do number 3. I heard of some people who were scamming their company by buying an apartment and renting it to themselves, when the company pays the rent.

  5. 3 is doable, but up to a certain extent.

    During an audit, they DO look at sales way below “market value” as “potentially an attempt to evade gift tax”

    But on paper you’re right that it wouldn’t be a gift.

    It would depend on how sure you were that she would get audited (she’s the one who pays gift tax) and whether they would accept the explanation or otherwise take pity on the situation and leave it be.

    This kind of 匙加減 with NTA is best discussed with a good 税理士.

    They also might be able to offer more iron clad tax saving techniques.

    I definitely recommend consulting with one.

  6. Wait wut. Why are you involving yourself in other people’s lives in such a way? Even if you have the best of intentions, this might not end well for you.

    Japan has many social safety nets for situations such as your friends. The fact she did not use said safety nets but rather contacted you is kinda weird.

    I’m not implying anything shady on her part or your part, but what you are asking for is tax advantages of being married and raising a child, without the marriage and raising a child part. Best case scenario, JP gov comes after YOU for trying to game THEIR tax system. You and your friend should def see a JP lawyer and tax specialist before doing anything that might come back and bite you later.

    Just my two cents.

  7. Sounds like you’re being scammed. Be glad that your over thinking of taxes caused you to hesitate. 

  8. Dang that’s a lot of commitment for a friend and her child. If 1 million yen is not enough for her, but you’re willing to give her more, than we’re talking about a potential marriage situation being more appropriate.

  9. > Can I, a foreign citizen gift her money for living expenses more than Y1.1 million over 12 month period?

    The living expense exemption unfortunately does not hold if you aren’t family.

    She can receive help from her family and in addition you could gift 1.1M per year, meaning if all the other funds she receives are exempted she can use her 1.1M per year for receiving a gift from you.

    > I’ve read I can gift her child the same amount?

    It’s tricky because while the child is young the child cannot really accept a gift. If the mother accepts it on the kid’s behalf I don’t know to what extent she can use the money to pay for living expenses, instead of safeguarding for the child’s future / until coming of age.

  14. You can gift the mother and child each up to 1.1 million tax free, so just have the mother create a bank account for the child and send each 1.1 million separately. The mother can then access the child’s account and use it for whatever needs they have. As a single mother she’ll also have access to plenty of government aid in addition to minimum 15,000 per month in basic childcare allowance. For a reasonable life, between what you and the government will give that’s quite enough.

    You haven’t elaborated on the mother’s medical situation but medical expenses are also subsidised and can only go so high.

    You can buy an akiya and have them live there rent free if you want. There’s no law against you letting people live in a house you own.

    What you’re doing is very kind but the most kind thing you can do is just help her enough for her to get back on her feet.

  16. To be fair this woman should be using government assistance applying for public housing etc and be going after all the available resources at her disposal before she’s taking money off you.

    This whole story is sorta weird, child care is very inexpensive if not free for someone in her position here which leads me to the next question why can’t she work ???…

    While I’m sure your charitable gestures are well intentioned all you seem to be doing is enabling her to sit on her arse, this all sounds very sus imho.

  17. Man I feel bad for her, thank you for helping. I would suggest trying to convince her to apply for government assistance if she can’t afford to take care of herself and her child.

  19. I’m not sure, but I think if she is receiving support from you, she cannot get government benefits.

  21. As someone probably around your age, who has helped people financially in the past, can I make a comment and suggestion?

    You’ve done well for yourself, so it’s possible you want to solve a problem. That was my issue – I can handle money problems; let me solve this so the person can move forward.

    The challenge in a situation like this is it is typically more than just a financial issue. This woman is going to need to go through a transformation and get really motivated to build a new life. That has to come from within, and that sort of never happens when they get help like that which you are providing.

    If it makes you feel good – help for a year. Make an excuse about retirement or other circumstances that absolutely prevents you from helping further. Then let go.

  22. Whilst I don’t think you’re getting scammed, I do think you’re being a little immature. From the description, she seems to be like 25 years younger than you?

    I wouldn’t be giving any one 1.1 million yen annually if I heard they never applied for benefits. Why have you never asked?

    Not only should she be receiving benefits from the government, she should also be receiving allowance from the husband after divorce.

    Also with her kid being 4, as you mentioned in the comments would mean that her childcare if free and can go to school and the mum can work basically full time. I appreciate she’s had a difficult life, but so have millions of others so just handing out what sounds like 10s of millions of yen over half a decade for both the wife, her kid and a house just feels a bit childish.

    To be honest with you I’m suprised she’s even willing to accept the help, especially the Akiya. My mother was a single mother with two small kids and whilst times were hard, she would never have accepted that much money from someone, even if it was offered. You’re kinda treating this lady as a bit useless if you’re willing to go as far as buying her a whole house.

    Why don’t you ask her for a list of things she needs, rather than giving cash? You can order things on Amazon Japan from abroad using a foreign card so just get the kid some clothes, some kitchen items etc.

  24. Why are you doing this? She can access MANY support programs from the government as a single mother, and not even applying for the child allowance is insane. It’s literally just free money. Not much, but why wouldn’t you? Daycare in Japan is also literally basically free if you are low income in Japan, she could literally be working full time and have no issues, and I assume she probably even has family and parents who would support her as families tend to be close in Japan. There’s no reason for her to be in poverty without you sending her money when she can easily get government support and work full time and send the kid to daycare, which is really good in Japan

    She’s using you as a cash cow, but if that’s your fetish go for it.

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