Operating a business in Canada while living in Japan with a work holiday Visa

3 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

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   **Operating a business in Canada while living in Japan with a work holiday Visa**

   I have a Youtube channel covering geopolitics that makes me a decent income in Canada. I plan to live in Japan for a year with a Work holiday visa.

   My searches on the internet seems to be that you can’t operate a business in another country while living in Japan with a **working visa**. But is this also true with a work holiday visa?

   Ideally, my goal is to eventually switch to J-Find Visa (the new visa) and then use that to transition to a startup visa and eventually to a business management visa. I was wondering if my YouTube business would cause any issues along that process

   Thanks in advance for your help

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2. I too am curious about this. Almost exactly same situation.

3. If you’re on a working holiday there are very few and very specific things that you’re not allowed to do. There is no problem with remotely operating your business providing it’s not in the adult entertainment industry.

   Keep in mind that if your activities while in Japan are generating income, then that income is considered domestically sourced and you would owe Japan the non-resident income tax rate of 20.42%. It doesn’t matter if the money never enters Japan. But you’d also be protected by the tax treaty meaning you’d owe less taxes to Canada.

   Things would be more complicated with a registered business so I’d recommend discussing your plans with a tax accountant who is familiar with the terms of the Canada-Japan tax treaty.