I used to do ebay for about a decade before moving here.
Im thinking of starting again now im settled. I’d be selling on my overseas account and of course being paid in that country.
Would it be better to set up a company here, or register as a sole proprietor?
As far as calculating income/ taxes go would it just be a matter of declaring the profits at the time of sale converted to JPY or would i be allowed to work out total sales for the year in profit in foreign currency and use a 52 week moving average or something like that then declare that as my profit?
Any grey areas i need to watch out for if im paid overseas in foreign account? I’ll likely not remittance it all to Japan, just what i need to use. Does that cause problems?
3 comments
Not sure in your case, but I’m registered as solo proprietor and I just declare it as business income. Of course, I barely sell anything now with that crazy expensive shipping fee.
> I’d be selling on my overseas account and of course being paid in that country.
Sure, you can do that, but it will complicate your tax situation.
> Would it be better to set up a company here, or register as a sole proprietor?
If you expect to have yearly profits over 10m to 15m yen then generally a company will be the better option. Otherwise a sole proprietor will be much cheaper.
> As far as calculating income/ taxes go would it just be a matter of declaring the profits at the time of sale converted to JPY or would i be allowed to work out total sales for the year in profit in foreign currency and use a 52 week moving average or something like that then declare that as my profit?
You’ll want to ask your accountant about this. You could also try asking in /r/JapanFinance. We did our calculations based on the exchange rates when we converted sales income to JPY. Whatever path you choose, you will be expected to be consistent and keep accurate records.
> Any grey areas i need to watch out for if im paid overseas in foreign account? I’ll likely not remittance it all to Japan, just what i need to use. Does that cause problems?
It doesn’t matter what you keep overseas or what you bring back to Japan, the money is being earned based on work you perform in Japan. Therefore it must all be declared as income in Japan. This can complicate taxes in the other country if you are processing sales there as they may feel your sales should be taxed there. You will need to sort this out with the tax authorities, but your tax residence is Japan.
If you are considering sourcing items in Japan and shipping them to customers in your home country, the cost of shipping has gone up dramatically from pre-pandemic times. You need to either be selling high value items where the cost of shipping is inconsequential, or you need to be shipping in volume to the destination country and handing fulfillment there.
The days of making super easy money on eBay from Japan ended in 2007.
I just did taxes in the US as if I was living there.