Recently, we have been receiving several inquiries about tax refund because Kakuteishinkoku season is coming soon. Tax is beyond my specialty and I cannot provide specific advice for this matter. But since it is very important issue for foreign residents in Japan, I will explain general idea about it today.
Many foreign residents believe kakuteishinkoku is only for tax refund. But actually it is not. It is basically for declaring total income in the last year to pay income tax properly.
If you worked for 1 company in the last year and you got gensenchoushuhyou from the company, basically you don’t need to do Kakuteishinkoku. Your company declared your salary amount and paid income tax on behalf of you.
So if you worked for more than 2 companies or your company doesn’t declare your salary, you need to declare the total of income amount in the last year. It is Kakuteishinkoku.
The period of Kakuteishinkoku is between February 15th and March 15th, every year. However, this year, the period is extended to April 15th due to State of Emergency.
Besides declaring total income, you could declare particular situation in the last year to get the paid income back. Particular situation like baby’s born, buying house, more than 100,000 yen medical expenses and changing the number of dependents.
If your dependents are living in Japan staying with you, once you notify it to the company, generally your company calculate the tax considering your dependents. But if you want to add your family in your country as your dependent, you need to declare by yourself showing evidence during Kakuteishinkoku period.
Many foreign residents are likely to declare dependents easily because if they declare dependents, you might get tax refund. But please rethink before declaring.
In Japan, dependents are generally supposed to be only spouse and minor children and sometimes parents. Siblings, grandparents, cousins, niece and nephew are not recognized as dependents. And the more you have dependents, the more difficult your visa issue would become. If you think about permanent residency application or COE application for your family, do not add dependents unreasonably.
You don’t need to pay tax unnecessarily but at the same time do not decline to pay tax appropriately. Paying tax is part of your obligation as a member of society.
As I mentioned in the beginning, tax issue is not my field. But it affects your visa application lot. If your income in the last year was not declared to tax office and city hall, your income is recognized Zero, which would make your next visa extension difficult.
The below is the link from Tax Agency about Kakuteishinkoku. It is for the last year. I cannot find the new one but the most information is same for this year. 72 pages. Personally, I don’t want to read it. City hall in your location might release more handy information in English for foreign residents. Please search it on line if you are interested in.
Anyway, Sunny, blue sky in Tokyo. Spring is coming near to us. I wish the pandemic would be over together with the winter.
Happy Sunday to all and stay safe!
