Long story short, I'm moving to Japan under a Business Manager visa. I am moving my existing business to Japan (it's a US LLC managed from abroad, Monaco in my case). I have a few questions:
- I know managing a US LLC from Japan is a bad idea as it can be double taxed, but is it possible to use a US LLC as a "payment agent" and structure it as a subsidiary of my new Japanese LLC (GK) or just even make a contract between the entities to keep them independent? Reason for keeping a US LLC is that most of my clients are US based and keeping my US bank accounts, credit cards, etc. is best for me overall, also I don't know if I'm staying in Japan in the long term.
- What is the most tax efficient way to pay myself, if any? Seems pretty straightforward… doesn't matter if I pay myself dividends or whatnot as the tax rate will depend on the overall income, but maybe there are options I'm not aware of.
- Does anyone have experience with royalties in Japan? I sell some online courses and it seems the tax rate in Japan is 0% provided they are taxed at source (I pay 30% US WHT tax already). Would I personally be taxed on this income under the progressive scale as well?
- Exit tax: let's say I leave Japan in 2-3 years. I could simply close down the GK and not owe anything to Japan given my "under 5 year residence"?
Many thanks to all.
by juanalou