Since Japan has strong inheritance tax laws and if you’re not from the US /UK you probably have very low inheritance tax , if you stay long enough in Japan then your foreign inheritance is also taxed. I mean there’s a limit to property you can include and rest is taxed but mostly it is very high say 50% . And since Japan taxes everything worldwide it doesn’t make sense to live here long-term say a decade and also not make enough as an English teacher / subject teacher and save. Is it a worthwhile investment just to live in Japan? I am in Japan right now and I’m interviewing and somehow getting offers between 250k-320k at international schools. And after taxes it doesn’t seem like I can have any savings. Say a mere 50,000 yen a month. While other offers I got are in China are more than double of this.
And I can save 30,000 usd a year. Am I fool to consider a job here just cause I like Japan? I plan on early retirement by the time I’m in my 40s.
19 comments
No point in worrying about it, its just the way of the world. You live here, you abide by the tax systems they have in place. Do you want to live in Japan, or do you want to live in your home country?
Also, are you planning on retiring as a teacher in your 40s?…
You could ask in r/JapanFinance. The topic of inheritance tax comes up there now and again.
Not at all… because my parents are poor, as am I.
=(
The only thing I have to inherit from my parents is generational trauma and maybe a couple Big Mouth Billy Basses with dead batteries. I think I’ll be OK.
If early retirement is your main career goal you should take the job that lets you save 30k+ USD. You won’t get rich enough to retire in your 40s by saving 50,000 yen a month.
No because my family ain’t rich 😂 go ahead and tax 5 bucks 🤣🤣
You’re in the wrong country and wrong industry if you plan to retire in your 40’s, unless your retirement plan is to retire when your parents die. In that case, yeah, the inheritance tax would suck for you. You’d be better off returning to your home country until your parents die.
If your plan is to retire in your 40s based on your own income, you won’t get there teaching. Hell, I don’t know any country where you can retire in your 40s as a teacher. Learn to code, I guess, but keep living like a teacher, and you may be able to save enough to retire early.
Do you have an inheritance in Japan or in another country?
Yeah I think it is something like $300,000+ where it starts to hit the that higher rate. Also you gotta remember that’s for each dollar over. You don’t just hit 300,000 and end up with 150,000
saving 30,000 dollars a year in china seems highly unlikely. i worked there for 7 years in international schools in shanghai, your monthly salary is gonna be on average 30k rmb, 4k usd and that’s at a good international school. If you think you can save 30k a year on that wage then please let me know your secret because early retirement sounds dope. depending where you live in china, its not that cheap anymore like it was in 2010.
I guess I don’t worry to much. There are some exemptions for spouse and child and a general deduction.
At the end of the day, there isn’t a ton I can do about it other than make sure my child is well educated, well prepared to be independent, and debt free (will pay for school).
We’ll probably get some advice on tax strategies, but I’m not concerned with leaving my child with heaps of money he didn’t earn and we plan to have a decent retirement ourselves (won’t be penny pinching). Of course, I’d like him to have something, but I’ve seen a variety of outcomes with kids who knew they could count on a large inheritance.
No, because I don’t plan on being in Japan that long.
I’m a subject teacher at an international school and put away 120k yen per month. Though this is my first year here, but I also travel lots this year so probably can maintain the same amount even when I get resident tax.
>Am I fool to consider a job here just cause I like Japan?
No, but if it’s permanent or long term then maybe. Japan’s low salary for teaching (especially experienced or long term work) is pretty well known.
I took a “36% paycut” comparing dollar to dollar coming here from Australia, but I save more and have a lot more fun than I did back home.
>I plan on early retirement by the time I’m in my 40s.
Then you probably won’t be able to do that by staying here. Unless you’re planning to be extremely frugal (in which case, to me, what’s the point of being in Japan if you can’t enjoy it?) Or you have supplemental/passive income elsewhere.
Since you mention inheritance tax, perhaps you anticipate inheriting a sizable amount of money. Then you’d have to find out whether it will be enough of a cushion for your early retirement plans or not.
> Am I fool to consider a job here just cause I like Japan? I plan on early retirement by the time I’m in my 40s.
Assuming you’re not trolling, I think…
– You’re in the wrong industry if you wanna bag a heap of cash and retire off it by 40. Doesn’t matter where you are, EFL gigs are low paid and as a general rule, higher pay is gonna be commensurate with a higher cost of living.
– This has nothing to do with inheritance tax but whatevz. If you’re planning to slum it up, achieve nothing and then get a massive windfall from your parents’ death (so you can retire at 40) then that’s pretty stupid planning IMO. Further, check the rules but you’ll probably get taxed in their jurisdiction (US or UK by the sound of it) regardless so go figure.
– Live where you want, not where you think you’re gonna get a better deal on tax. Particularly if you’re an EFL teacher… as opposed to some millionaire CEO with a sophisticated investment portfolio. Get that millionaire CEO role first and THEN go call your tax lawyer 😛
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Again?
This topic is coming up again?
Jesus. Look in the finance sub. Here’s a relevant thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanFinance/comments/116zspt/any_inheritance_tax_experts_here
And a relevant quote from that thread:
>It’s worth noting that only around 9% of all estates are subject to inheritance tax (the wealthiest 9% of deceased people, basically) and only around 0.07% of estates are large enough to be subject to an effective tax rate (tax as a proportion of the estate) of more than 25%.
>In other words, due to the significant tax-free allowances for statutory heirs and spouses, the valuation reductions for residential property, as well as the way the liability is calculated (applying marginal rates to each statutory heir’s share instead of to the estate as a whole), inheritance tax only ends up being a significant burden on a very small minority of the richest families.
In other words, you are most likely not rich enough to have to worry about inheritance tax.
If money is most important then Japan is not the place for you. This is a hard pill that a lot of people need to swallow. Most (western) foreigners can make more money elsewhere. I don’t know how it is for non westerners though.
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Inheritance tax in Japan is not as bad as all that (at least for normal people): [https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/japanese-inheritance-taxes/](https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/japanese-inheritance-taxes/)
Inheritance tax on overseas estates is only payable by spouse visa holders and permanent residents. If you are on a working visa you don’t need to worry about it.
Being a teacher in Japan is more like to make you US$30,000 a year, not save that amount.