Potential Japan Tax Issues, returning to Japan

Good evening,

I will be returning to Japan in the near future, and so *I’m worried about how any previous tax issues will affect my VISA/ or change of status of residence application in the future.*

I am in dire need of some guidance regarding taxes in Japan. I am not sure if I need to pay some income/residence tax/ if I should have paid it before I left Japan.

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For background, I lived in Japan from September 2022 to November 2022 (so very recently) and received two payments from my Japanese employer. As I understand it, they deducted all of the social insurance premiums (health insurance, welfare pension, employment insurance) from my pay, but they **did NOT take any income tax** from my pay. I have therefore not paid any income tax on my earnings in Japan.

My employer didn’t explain anything regarding taxes or the procedures to me before I left Japan, so I am now panicking as to what I need to do. My Japanese language ability is not good enough to make calls in Japanese/ find out information/ etc.

From the information I have managed to find out online I should have paid any taxes **BEFORE I left Japan**, OR **appointed a tax agent (someone who lives in Japan) to deal with taxes on my behalf.**

In order to appoint a tax agent however, I’ve read that you also must do this before leaving the country. I didn’t (because I didn’t know about this).

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**TLDR;** I need to pay taxes/ appoint a tax agent in Japan FROM OUTSIDE OF JAPAN (I live in the UK).

I want to make sure I don’t break any laws regarding taxes, I was simply not informed of any of this before my departure. I don’t want this to affect future VISA applications / or change of status of residence applications in the future. That would be devastating.

Please help, or point me in the right direction. I’m truly worried.

1 comment
  1. No income tax or no residence tax ?

    No residence tax would actually be normal. You were not a resident (were you?) on Jan 1st.

    No income tax is weirder. It requires dedication to pay for social security and pension and not withhold taxes (besides being illegal for the company).

    Also, you’re in the clear yourself until at least march and tax returns.

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