It’s very common (maybe even the norm) to have ones employer pay their residence tax on their behalf. What is the benefit of this arrangement though? When you change employers you have to arrange for the tax to be paid in a lump sum, pay yourself, or go through the process to have the new employer handle it. It seems easier to me to just pay it yourself. I wonder if there is something I’m overlooking. Do people just like not having to account for that amount since it will already be deducted from their monthly pay? Or it’s just the standard so most people stick with it? Or does it become complicated if your income changes? If you get a significant raise for example? Would like to hear people’s opinions.
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A lot of people are very bad at managing their money, and struggle to make big tax payments. This is also why your income tax is withheld per salary payment.
The benefit is not really to the employee, but to the local government who doesn’t have to chase you down for unpaid residence tax.
>When you change employers you have to arrange for the tax to be paid in a lump sum, pay yourself, or go through the process to have the new employer handle it.
Here is your answer. Treating employees like they’re 5yo to have control on your workforce, not having them thinking about quitting, doing freelance on the side (since it would have to be reported) or even questioning the endless Zangyo.
Like “it’s the norm” and the worker feels like the boss is doing them a favor by calculating for them how much their are worth to society because “Ara Ara Keisan muzukashii”
Most people don’t change job. So the only negative points you list is moot.
Because this means one less thing I need to remember, and there is no risk of me forget to actually pay the tax. Whenever I switch job, the only thing I need to do is submit an one page document to my new employer. I’m suprised that you find paying by yourself is easier, but to each their own I guess.
I’m pretty sure if you handle it yourself, it’s 4 large payments you get as paper bills.
Through your employer it’s auto-deducted from your salary and it’s spread over the course of the year.
If you don’t change jobs/move to a new city regularly, it’s something you don’t have to think about.
>When you change employers you have to arrange for the tax to be paid in a lump sum, pay yourself, or go through the process to have the new employer handle it.
No, just the last one, you take the paperwork you got on leaving and give it to the new employer’s HR and everything is handled for you. At least in my experience.
It is just more convenient, honestly.
> When you change employers you have to arrange for the tax to be paid in a lump sum, pay yourself, or go through the process to have the new employer handle it.
Only if your previous employer’s HR department is totally incompetent. It’s a fairly simple bit of paperwork for any competent department.
“What is the benefit of something that makes life strictly better?”
I don’t understand what you’re looking for. Getting paper bills and paying residence tax yourself sucks balls (that’s the technical term). It’s just bad. There are zero good parts about needing to watch your mailbox, get a bill for potentially hundreds of 万円, going to the ATM to take that out over potentially multiple visits, keeping track of that cash, taking time to go to the conbini or ward office during their working hours, making sure you do it before the deadline, having them process it…
What part of that is anything but awful? If you could swap that awful manual process for instead doing *absolutely nothing*, why wouldn’t you?
I guess you miss out on 1.5 months of sweet sweet Japanese bank account interest on the balance you’d otherwise have held in your bank account, but just the cost of shoe leather of doing the whole process is certainly far more than any foregone interest.
1 late payment puts you out of successfully applying for PR for at least 1 year (if applying with 80 points) or 3 years (70 points). Not sure for spousal route.
It is the cities that want it done through the employer so they (the cities) don’t have to chase down people who are not paying.
It is not something that companies actually want to do.
Pros: 1 less shit to worry about
Cons: potential fuck up (happened to me and I was rightfully upset.)
Doing it yourself sucks because when you renew your visa you might have to go to city hall to get the forms proving you paid your taxes.
While we’re on the topic. I just got my residence tax notification and I want to cry. I manage my finances pretty well and have been budgeting for the tax, but it still sucks ass to see that massive balance that I now have to pay. There goes any hope of traveling or (god forbid) me wanting to buy something nice for myself.
Paying yourself is over a 6 month period or so. Letting your employer handle it, and it’s paid over a 12 month period. Meaning less coin per payment. When I did it myself the first five years in Japan those 6 months were always a strain.
It’s a pain. And it makes it harder to track cashflow. And immigration will black mark you if you ever forget to pay. Bunch of things.