I tried searching for this in the subreddit but haven’t seen anyone with this situation yet.
For background, I have lived in Japan in the past under a different visa but lived away for about a year and I’m now returning on a spouse visa. I own a *somewhat* online, proprietary company in Australia which receives income from a YouTube channel Adsense, working with sponsors (on youtube), selling merchandise, digital products, affiliates etc. I intend to continue this work as my main income in Japan.
I’m trying to figure out the best, legal way to move this work to Japan while obviously being smart with my taxes and avoiding unnecessary fees etc. I read a comment saying that people on spouse visa don’t have to declare income from overseas but that doesn’t sound legit to me. I also read that if it’s your first year and under living in Japan then you’re considered a non-resident for tax purposes and you only need to pay tax for income sourced in Japan. This would be ideal for me (at least for the first year) as I’d only have to pay tax on income from Japanese sponsors, adsense etc but I don’t know if that applies to me as I have already lived in Japan in the past. I’m aware that Australia and Japan have a tax treaty so I won’t get double taxed.
Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. I’d also appreciate any recommended accountants/lawyers I could speak to about this. Thanks in advance!
4 comments
> I read a comment saying that people on spouse visa don’t have to declare income from overseas
Yeah that’s horseshit, as much as I wish it wasn’t since all my income is from overseas as well.
Generally speaking, any money that you get while physically in Japan as a resident is subject to Japanese taxation.
/r/JapanFinance might be a better place to ask the question but you’ll probably find yourself needing to open up a 個人事業 and file your own taxes with the blue form.
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You will have to pay taxes in Japan on any money you earn while in Japan, regardless of the location where that income was provided from. So if you make money in Australia while living in Japan then you will be taxed in Japan.
I am in a similar situation of working and being paid in the US and living in Japan. I pay taxes in Japan, but don’t have to pay(but still file) in the US.
I’ll give you a bit of heads up on something though. Depending on when you move to Japan, your first year taxes may be quite low because you did not make much money while physically present in Japan. Since they are based off of the previous years taxes, other expenses like national insurance are much cheaper. Be ready for a big increase the second year when your actual yearly income shows up. You will also have to pay your own national insurance which is going to be dependent on your income. Make more money, pay more national insurance.
>I also read that if it’s your first year and under living in Japan then you’re considered a non-resident for tax purposes and you only need to pay tax for income sourced in Japan.
This is a misinterpretation, either on your part or on the part of your source.
For the first year you don’t pay *residence taxes*. That’s the source of the “Don’t pay taxes the first year” thing. But it’s not even really true, because residence taxes are charged in arrears, so you’ll pay the residence taxes for that first year the following year.
As others have mentioned: Income derived from working in Japan is taxable.