For the past couple of years I’ve done a lot of merch box splits (buying full boxes of trading goods and splitting them) and because of this I’ve gained quite a few contacts who sometimes ask me to proxy goods for them that they cannot get outside of Japan. I’ve taken on some of these requests and taken a small proxy fee for doing the orders for them, which hasn’t really amounted to much at all since I haven’t purposely been seeking them out.
My regular job gives me a lot of free time and as I enjoy doing these orders so I’d really like to take on more and do more group orders for non-trading goods while still taking service fees. I have the contacts from previous orders and the knowledge on how to do it but there’s a couple of things I’m unsure of.
1. I’m on a Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa for my regular job. I feel like doing proxy services would probably fall under this, but I’m not sure. I have been in Japan long enough to apply for PR if necessary but I’d prefer not to have the hassle right now if it does fall under my visa.
2. What I need to to tax-wise for this kind of thing. I’m somewhat clueless about tax related things since my company has been taking care of my taxes for the last 11 years.
If anyone has any insights, I’d be grateful if you could let me know!