I’ve found a few posts about living in Japan and working remotely for a (in my case US) company from home. However, many seem to be for people who want to move to Japan and do this.
I currently reside in Japan on a dependent visa. I plan to apply for permission to work 28 hours a week.
My employer before I left the US wanted to contract me once I got settled in Japan. Assuming I am filing my US and Japanese taxes, and staying within the 28 hour limit, is there any legal reason I could not do this? Money will be deposited in my US bank account.
Anybody know any tax accountants in Japan that do Japanese and US taxes?
4 comments
Should be fine as long as your are contractor like you stated.
If you are on a dependant (配偶者) SOR, one point to keep in mind is that actually being dependant on your spouse is a requirement of keeping that status.
There is no clearly defined line at which point you would face scrutiny from immigration, but anecdotally, out-earning your spouse (or earning an equivalent or near-equivalent amount) does seem to cause immigration to view you as no longer being dependant.
However where they draw that line will probably be heavily reliant on your individual circumstances.
You need to declare your contractor status with city hall and your tax office and report your income in Japan. You probably won’t have to file taxes in the us if you were in Japan more than 6 months of the year. You will only need to declare taxes to Japan from when you moved in. That’s when you pay the living extortion fees like pension and city breathing tax.
According to the information on the [tax office website](https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/pdf/a-4.pdf), the situation is different for permanent residents and non-permanent residents. If you have permanent residency, all foreign income is taxable. If you don’t have permanent residency, only the income that is remitted to Japan is taxable. You should probably consult someone who does Japanese taxes.