I currently work full-time with a engineer/humanities/foreign services visa, and recently I’ve also started looking into doing non-Japan-based freelance proofreading and copyediting online for extra income.
I think I’m pretty well-versed in visa questions for domestic work but I haven’t been able to figure out how to deal with remote work that’s not based in Japan.
1–Do visa category restrictions still apply for remote work abroad? I would normally assume no but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard visa stuff applies to all work you do while residing in Japan. Could proofreading possibly be considered part of my existing visa even though it’s not really foreign services like most Japan-based English proofreading would be?
2–Would I have to worry about Japanese income tax? I’m using a US-based freelancing site I think (based on something about W9’s and some other form I saw in passing) so would I pay taxes in the US instead and be done with it, even though I’m a tax resident of Japan?
I’m American so I suffer through US taxes every year anyway.
I don’t think it’s too relevant, but in addition to my visa-supporting main job, I have a part-time job within my visa category that already withholds taxes for me.
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You’d register as a sole proprietor in Japan, and include that income in your tax filing. As part of the registration you want to elect for “blue return” filing, which has a tax free offset.
As a freelancer your counterparty shouldn’t be withholding any tax, and definitely not given you and them are in different countries.
On visas: I don’t know the law but I’ve witnessed their attitude around this: they don’t care if you’re getting income from overseas regardless of visa, it’s working in Japan for Japanese businesses without permission that they won’t stand.
Disclaimer: not a lawyer/accountant, not tax/legal advice, so take with a pinch of salt. Should prob talk to a qualified advisor as if you screw it up it’s *really* painful to fix after the fact.