Hello all,
Context:
As of the end of last year I’ve exceeded a year of residency while under a student visa and am now moving in with my wife and switching to a spouse Visa.
I work at as an independent contractor in the US at 20hrs/week, and will be going up to 30hrs/fulltime after I graduate in March. I am paid in the US in USD and haven’t disclosed any income/done tax returns in Japan, but am of course paying in full in the US. I understand that I will have to start filing in Japan as of 2024.
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Questions:
1. Currently, all of the money I spend in this country is either through an American Apple card or by withdrawing it in cash from my American credit union bank acct which charges me about four USD each time I withdraw 7万円 (roughly 500USD), but seems to have an exchange rate which closely matches the exchange rate that pops up when I good yen to USD. I’ve seen lots of people talking about wise and methods to transfer money, but is it worth the hassle or are there easy ways to do it? If the difference is 1% and it’s always in flux because of the exchange rate it doesn’t seem worth trying to do big transfers, but please advise
2. I have significant holdings in American IRAs and a 401k. Also a personal brokerage acct which I use to save after my max IRA contribution is reached. Should I be looking into more investment in Japan? I read that NISA can be used in a very specific way to be tax advantaged, but it was not clear. Also interested in Japanese pension (although I am paying social security). I plan to live here long term, but I am still in my twenties.
3. Is it reasonable for someone like me just have an American tax attorney and file the JP return on my own? If it takes more than a day or two or prep or it seems like a total pain, does anyone have recommendations for tax preparation help for people in similar situations to me?
by Finanananananace