I’m a U.S. citizen living in Japan on a Humanities visa and hoping to attend an online Master’s program from a U.S. university. Does anyone here have any experience with this? Would I be required to report financial aid received from the U.S. government in the form of loans to Japan for tax purposes?
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It is not income and you are not running a business. The money stays in the U.S. so I do not see any issues in that regard.
Try r/JapanFinance for tax questions. Also, avoid Open University–it is only accredited nationally (virtually no other uni). Regional accreditation is what is credible, so check on that.
If you’re thinking an ESL MA for uni work there are several UK schools that offer good programs for that, and which also have a passable alumni network here.
Biggest challenge you may have is exam proctoring. When I took online courses in the past (2017) it was all online except I had to have a human test proctor for all graded mid terms and finals. I ended up paying my local library for this service and the school accepted it. They also accepted my company’s HR officer too. You should look into that before you drop a lot of cash on tuition.
I’ve completed two programs like this and if it’s student loans, there’s no impact on your taxes or income in Japan. The only issue is if you chose an IBR plan and have an amount forgiven, you’d get hit with a one-off tax bill to the IRS, as that would count as income for the year it gets discharged. I’m not completely sure, but I believe whatever amount gets discharged, minus US taxes, would also be taxed in Japan, but I’m not sure how they’d know.