00:00:03: Thank you.

00:00:08: I'm actually a bit nervous because uh, i don't really...I try to plan my talk this week Because I leave things till the last minute and I couldn't Really get an image of The crowd right.

00:00:21: so normally?

00:00:23: I help people who live in Japan kind of Get started with personal finance Right but the real estate crowd You know you guys are a bit scarier.

00:00:32: all right you've already got it together.

00:00:34: So I thought, hmm can't do my normal talk.

00:00:40: So i was thinking okay what could be useful?

00:00:42: and one thing that could be usefull is maybe just telling you about a few kind of quirks About the tax system in Japan things that I found surprising Things people I talked to find suprising Infuriating Nonsensical In some cases.

00:01:07: And the main thing here, I think is that...I'm not a tax professional.

00:01:13: So i can't help you with your tax return and even give you tax advice!

00:01:20: Japan's quite strict about who is allowed to do certain things if you're an accountant or a tax lawyer tax advice, if you're not a lawyer.

00:01:34: You can't give individual legal advice but I'm going to do that today instead.

00:01:40: what i'd like to just tell you about the few things and my hope is that having heard them...you know..you might think oh!

00:01:51: That might apply to me?

00:01:52: And then go ahead and do some more research maybe get some professional advice and so on But your'e gonna get caught out Because that's what happens.

00:02:01: People aren't aware of these things until they land on them, right?

00:02:06: So we're going to go through that a little bit.

00:02:08: so first of all just give you quick introduction like Ziv's kind.

00:02:12: introduction pretty much covered it but...so my name is Ben.

00:02:18: I'm currently transitioning into Ben Tanaka.

00:02:23: I've used Ben Sheeran most in my life.

00:02:25: My passport name has been Sheer and Johnson And i don't like having a double-barreled name, so much.

00:02:34: But yeah I'm currently applying to become Japanese citizen.

00:02:38: So i am going through the naturalization process started that last year.

00:02:43: it looks like its gonna take another year or two.

00:02:47: The government keeps changing rules but im fairly confident.

00:02:51: Im enjoying this process as well.

00:02:53: If you want talk about later on.

00:02:55: thats great.

00:02:58: I was actually born in Germany.

00:03:02: Unfortunately, Germany doesn't give citizenship to people who are born there so I couldn't get a German passport and when the UK left EU... ...I lost my EU passport as well.

00:03:15: very disappointing!

00:03:16: I grew up in Spain.

00:03:18: So i really do feel like im European which is strange considering that Im now becoming Japanese.

00:03:26: So I came to Japan in two thousand straight out of university, so I've never worked anywhere else.

00:03:33: Um...I've never been an adult really?

00:03:35: Anywhere else?

00:03:36: Japan is all i know and not just japan but sendai!

00:03:40: When I came into Japan was sent to Sendai.

00:03:43: Never heard of Sendai had to look it up in an atlas because we didn't have the internet back then But It Really Worked Out Well For Me.

00:03:52: Personally I think Sendai's The Best Place To Live In Japan Like, Fukuoka's close.

00:03:58: Fukuokas are really close second but the climate down there is just brutal so... So I've been living and working in Japan since two thousandth.

00:04:07: Uh..I was an English teacher for twenty-two years uh....and i kind of semi retired in twenty-twenty-two which gave me a bit more time to spend on retired Japan Which my kinda passion project.

00:04:27: So the reason I started Ritajapan, The reason that got into finance is in... ...in two thousand and eights.

00:04:37: Until two-thousand eight!

00:04:38: I wouldn't really think about money.. ..I think most people do go through life this way right?

00:04:42: You earn money you spend money....you don't even think too much.....You're not aware of the possibilities unless your grew up with a family Some families.

00:04:54: they've gotten their stuff sorted out.

00:04:56: They teach kids.

00:04:57: it's great If you're not from that kind of family, there's really a good way to learn I find.

00:05:05: And you need some trigger point.

00:05:08: So for me...I talk about personal finance all the time.

00:05:12: Most people are not interested.

00:05:14: The only way is if they want to know it and because something happened Maybe got married or had child Or like me, maybe you lost your job.

00:05:30: Something stressful something important happens and You start thinking about money?

00:05:35: Maybe it turned thirty or forty of some things right all Right.

00:05:39: now It's time to get serious About Money.

00:05:42: for Me it was losing my Job.

00:05:44: so two Thousand And Eight I Was on a One-Year Rolling Contract.

00:05:50: This might sound familiar.

00:05:51: when i started the Job they said oh you can stay as long As you Like Forever.

00:05:56: And four years later, the situation changed.

00:06:00: My boss called me in for a meeting on November one day out of The Blue and said oh we're not going to renew your contract... ...in March.

00:06:10: So I had three kids two cats who were renting this big house and Sendai's is not great place to find new job at short notice.

00:06:18: so that was incredibly stressful.

00:06:20: but thing i took away from it was its my fault That Im In This Situation.

00:06:27: I didn't prepare for this.

00:06:29: And, i'm not going to let that happen again and That started me thinking about money learning about money and then from twenty thirteen I started trying to help other people learn About money.

00:06:44: so it's like okay?

00:06:46: I've benefited From this knowledge.

00:06:48: but there's lots of People in Japan especially English speakers people who are more comfortable In english than in japanese.

00:06:55: That could really do with some of this information as well.

00:06:59: So I started retire.

00:07:00: Japan has a blog and it kind of grew from there, so now we've got forum Might have.

00:07:07: yeah here We go?

00:07:09: So you've got for them.

00:07:10: You've got YouTube channel.

00:07:11: We've got publications ID coaching kind of on the side And that's lot of information on here.

00:07:18: This is retiredjapan.com.

00:07:21: Just go there There's all sorts of information, contact details and so on.

00:07:28: But today I wanted to talk about taxes.

00:07:33: So i want to talk some things that... ...I found surprising but some people might know about And my hope is just make you aware of them.

00:07:44: If your need too You can get professional advice or an accountant Or a tax office.

00:07:51: Tax Office in Japan Is quite good at least for personal matters.

00:07:56: They're not as friendly to companies, but for individuals they are fairly friendly I think and i think we'll have some time for questions At the end And im also planning a breakout corridor later on.

00:08:08: so if you come join me in the corridor We can have chat too.

00:08:14: So For Me Japan is really easy place To invest.

00:08:20: It's really user-friendly place As long as your resident.

00:08:26: It's very easy to open accounts and use the tax-free account here And just really invest in a very Time efficient way once it's all set up.

00:08:38: There's very little that you have to do to keep it going.

00:08:40: So if they're main ones NISA obviously, then NISA account got revamped in twenty twenty four so used to be.

00:08:48: You could invest one point two million yen a year for like five years But in twenty-twenty four they expanded that to three point six million a year up To eighteen million yen lifetime contribution for most people.

00:09:03: if you fill your NISA account with something sensible like A low cost index fund and just leave it.

00:09:11: That's your retirement Sorted.

00:09:14: so the one stop solution I'm doing that Might take you a couple of weeks to set up, but then It'll Take You few hours a year to maintain.

00:09:24: So that's amazing!

00:09:26: Ideco is the other one, this is kind of pension version.

00:09:30: so you pay in pre-tax income.

00:09:36: it reduces your income taxes.

00:09:40: It's locked away until you're sixty.

00:09:42: You can't spend it...you cannot have your midlife crisis and like buy sports car with your Idecal balance And then from sixty You can access this.

00:09:52: There's a tax break on the way out as well, so you get taxed very little on their way up and they're putting up the limits.

00:09:59: next year from January of twenty-twenty seven salaried employees currently paying twenty three thousand yen per month rather...you'll be able to put in sixty two thousand yen a month which is huge really expands it a lot!

00:10:17: Very excited about what they've got And even just investing normally.

00:10:23: So in Japan, we have this thing called the Tokutei Kousa which is a tax deducting account.

00:10:29: so if you have a broker and You put your investments in this Tokuteikosa The broker does your taxes for you.

00:10:38: That's how user-friendly it is!

00:10:51: Balance and we'll pay them on your behalf.

00:10:54: So Japan Incredibly user-friendly for kind of stock market type investors.

00:11:02: Now the less user friendly parts.

00:11:05: so investing is great.

00:11:08: Actually, this is good too!

00:11:09: My experience with Japanese tax offices Is very friendly Very professional Very helpful.

00:11:17: In Japan at least in my experience The Tax Office is not adversarial.

00:11:23: In some countries the tax office is there to catch you, it's there to punish You.

00:11:27: in Japan The Tax Office Is There To Help You File Your Taxes Correctly.

00:11:31: That'S Their Goal And They Will Work With You To Help YOU File.

00:11:40: So they're Zemushaw!

00:11:41: You'll Have One Locally that You Can Go To.

00:11:43: and the thing is...you can drop-in and just talk to them Between February and March each year.

00:11:56: the dates slightly different depending on when the weekends are in stuff But you have about a month to file your tax return for The calendar.

00:12:04: yeah, so that actually turns go from January to December And you file the following?

00:12:09: February.

00:12:10: but You can go to the tax office.

00:12:12: They'll do it for you.

00:12:14: So walk-in.

00:12:15: recently you have to make an appointment post-COVID, they put in all these appointment systems which makes the weights a little bit easier.

00:12:22: But you can go to the tax office with your paperwork and find some poor person who will be cowering.

00:12:29: just drop it on them.

00:12:30: They'll basically do their tax return with you.

00:12:37: The benefit of that is having done this once for the following year.

00:12:41: You could do online.

00:12:42: It's same procedure as long as took notes or photos.

00:12:48: You can do your own taxes the next year.

00:12:51: And, the e-tax system that they brought in recently from my point of view... It's been around for a couple years now.

00:12:59: very easy to use.

00:13:01: The interface is Japanese interface but it's fairly user friendly and there is an English language guide put out by National Tax Authority.

00:13:12: so its pretty good.

00:13:14: If you have a complicated situation, if you've got company and multiple streams of income You probably want to get an accountant.

00:13:21: But as individual person with relatively simple situations it's very easy to file online And the tax office will help you do so.

00:13:31: I forgot to file my taxes once.

00:13:33: So there is thing where if your are a salaried employee and less than two hundred thousand yen of side work You don't need that in your tax return, but you do have to file it locally.

00:13:48: And I didn't know about that until i got this letter saying please come into the tax office uh...to talk to us about these.

00:13:54: and now is really worried.

00:13:56: abut they thought wow im in trouble am gonna pay a fine.

00:14:01: its going be stressful.

00:14:02: went in on his really nice man.

00:14:06: we sat down and he started asking me what kind of expenses might have incurred While earning this part-time income, right?

00:14:17: I went in to pay the tax and possibly pay a fine.

00:14:21: He sat down and said well.

00:14:22: Let's file This for you And You must have had some transport expenses.

00:14:26: Right, right as like.

00:14:29: okay maybe it is all right let's put Down.

00:14:31: let's Putdown twenty thousand yeah, and then he's like you Must Have Like Printing Costs.

00:14:37: let's Pull that Down As Well.

00:14:38: so by The end of It he Had Reduced the Tax i owed By About A third Because that would be like a normal thing and it really wasn't what I was expecting.

00:14:48: but, That's What i think the tax office is Like.

00:14:52: if you work with them right once they catch You They're not very nice at all.

00:15:01: My wife has been audited A couple of times And she hadn't done anything wrong.

00:15:05: But apparently If you move Tax Offices as a sole proprietor That makes it quite likely that you'll get audited, and the audit people are not nice.

00:15:13: They're more like tax police so thats a bit less fun.

00:15:21: Now one slightly thing to be careful about is its quite possible The Tax Office will give bad advice Right, especially if it's something obscure.

00:15:38: Especially for something overseas.

00:15:39: they're not necessarily going to be a hundred percent aware of what the rules are and So getting bad advice is not going to help you later If you get pulled up on that.

00:15:52: It's quite common in Japan so you can go in Immigrations.

00:15:56: awful about this.

00:15:57: say he talked immigration and three different people give you three different answers But later on if you'd like no but they told me this doesn't help you.

00:16:06: It's not an excuse, they're like okay sorry but your still in trouble.

00:16:11: so just yeah especially if it is something complicated be sure to get a second opinion as well and then this is huge.

00:16:19: So You've probably seen the news recently where The government Is reacting To people being angry about tourists by making things harder for residents And This is Huge part of it.

00:16:32: now Not just tax, but health insurance pension.

00:16:38: all your payments have to be not Just come current But you have to prove that they were made on time as well.

00:16:48: So currently if you If you go for permanent residence at the moment.

00:16:52: For example You have to have the receipts That you paid health insurance payments with or your pension payments, in order to prove that the payments were made on time because The agencies That run these things can't issue proof of that.

00:17:10: so it's getting really nitpicky about Right.

00:17:18: So yeah, so tax It's not just a tax thing.

00:17:22: so they're not Just tax penalties.

00:17:23: there are immigration penalties for tax problems?

00:17:27: Really important too.

00:17:28: be completely up-to-date Right, tax residents.

00:17:34: So this is quite nice.

00:17:35: if you're not Japanese The first five years you spend in Japan You don't have to pay tax on overseas income.

00:17:46: so be probably aware of this.

00:17:47: This is a really nice system.

00:17:50: Just be careful with what overseas income Is?

00:17:53: If your working in japan and being paid In different country that's Japan income because you are in Japan.

00:18:00: What they talking about here?

00:18:02: Rental income, which would be good for this crowd.

00:18:05: I guess rental income you know maybe capital gains dividends interest in foreign countries.

00:18:11: first five years You're in Japan?

00:18:13: You don't have to declare that here right unless you bring it to japan.

00:18:20: Bringing it to Japan makes it taxable.

00:18:24: So the best way To approach This is to make sure That you Don't need to Bring money to Japan For those First Five Years and then you don't Have to pay Tax on them income.

00:18:34: There's a lot of information about this online, please do have a look if you're in that kind of happy first five years here.

00:18:41: and the terminology is confusing.

00:18:43: so just be careful with the terminology at least an English.

00:18:47: So In English they say You are permanently resident for tax purposes That's from The six year onwards or your not permanently resident For tax purposes And This has nothing to Do With Your Visa Right, so it doesn't matter if you're a permanent resident or not.

00:19:03: You can be a permanent Resident status and Be non permanently resident for tax purposes right?

00:19:10: So the visa on the tax status completely different even though they use The same words to describe them which is really confusing health insurance.

00:19:22: So Health Insurance Is compulsory.

00:19:24: And again because of all this Visa crackdown stuff you need To enroll immediately.

00:19:29: So as soon you become resident that same week, you need to enroll in health insurance.

00:19:34: pretty much.

00:19:35: You can get health insurance through your employer if you're employed at Shakai Hocken or you could get it through City Hall and the city hall version is more expensive unfortunately.

00:19:47: so If you are employed then your employer pays half of your health insurance contributions.

00:19:55: There's a few things based on previous year income.

00:20:00: So that first year in Japan is going to be very cheap and then it's gonna ratchet up later probably.

00:20:05: so just Be aware.

00:20:06: That's Gonna happen.

00:20:09: Surprisingly It does cover you if your overseas.

00:20:14: In some cases, If You're Overseas?

00:20:16: You Can Sometimes Get Covered By Your Japanese Health Insurance But They Will Only Pay As Much as it Would Costs in Japan.

00:20:26: So that means, you know Southeast Asia it might cover your casts North America probably not and this is just my Experience.

00:20:38: I've had quite a lot of experience with medical stuff recently Japan.

00:20:45: I think is great in That you can choose Your doctor?

00:20:49: You can choose your clinic.

00:20:50: you Can walk into pretty much any clinic same day And be seen But the quality is really all over the place, right?

00:21:00: So there are some excellent doctors out there.

00:21:03: There are some awful doctors out here and so Especially if you're gonna be seeing a doctor regularly it's really worth putting Some time in just going to lots of different clinics until you find one that's good works with you That has a convenient kind of reservation system And so on.

00:21:23: I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

00:21:26: I started when i was forty, which is a very bad idea.

00:21:30: So I spend A LOT of time in the seikei gikka Which is kind of...I don't know what it is in English.

00:21:37: It's like injuries, muscle and bone type stuff And seikeii gikka tend to be full Of elderly Japanese people that hang out there.

00:21:46: It's their club And so normal seikeia gikka would take you two or three hours To get seen Right, but after I think about fifteen.

00:21:56: I tried about fifteen in Sendai and i found one that had a reservation system.

00:21:59: the works A doctor.

00:22:01: That was very matter-of fact and fast.

00:22:04: And thats now my go to clinic.

00:22:07: But if I'd stuck with The first One?

00:22:09: I would still be having those.

00:22:10: you know three four hour waits every time I have To Go there.

00:22:13: so definitely shop around for your regular doctors.

00:22:20: right.

00:22:20: Nengi is Japanese pension.

00:22:22: this Is also compulsory.

00:22:24: So, and again immigration is very interested in whether you're paying your compulsory pension payments.

00:22:32: You have to pay between eighteen and sixty but if you are a student of full-time education can get an exemption If you have low income then reduced payment or exemptions as well Even though there's very little income on paper.

00:22:50: that was also possible.

00:22:51: so lots people retire early and then get their pension waived through low income because they don't have a salary anymore, They're living off investments in savings.

00:23:04: There's different types of pensions.

00:23:06: so again there is the company version which is Kosei Nenkin And then there are the basic versions which is Kokumin Nenkein The citizens' pension.

00:23:17: This is fixed rate.

00:23:18: It's only sixteen thousand yen per month but you do have to pay, it is tax deductible as well.

00:23:25: It takes a hundred and twenty months to vest.

00:23:29: so unless you've paid in one hundred and thirty months You will not get a pension from Japan if you leave japan before paying a hundred-and-twenty month.

00:23:38: So you can get partial refund upto five years worth If you leave Japan after paying a Hundred and Twenty Months.

00:23:45: you Can no longer Get a refund instead?

00:23:49: very small pension from retirement age.

00:23:53: Four hundred and eighty months or forty years is a full kind of pension, fully vested uh...and it's very small Japanese pensions not generous in the slightest.

00:24:06: you're unlikely to be able to have a satisfactory life with just a japanese pension.

00:24:13: that's why The government made these investment accounts The NISA account, the Yideko account.

00:24:19: You want to be filling those and that's going pay for your pension right?

00:24:24: Your Nenkin is gonna cover utilities maybe a rent but nothing else.

00:24:32: basically there are all sorts of TV programs about pensioners living on very little horrible situations.

00:24:40: so don't put yourself in that horrible situation.

00:24:42: make sure you can take care.

00:24:44: Yeah, so it's basically especially now.

00:24:55: this is going to factor into immigration stuff too.

00:24:59: This isn't unpleasant surprise for many people.

00:25:01: So Kaigo Hoken I think its not a bad system...so this is basically nursing care insurance.

00:25:08: From the age of forty you have to pay this.

00:25:13: Most people find out just after their fortieth birthday when they're salary much lower They're like, what?

00:25:20: What happened?

00:25:21: Kaigo Hoken started.

00:25:22: That's what happens.

00:25:23: So from the age of forty until you die You have to pay kaigo hoken.

00:25:29: It is a surcharge on top health insurance.

00:25:32: basically it pays for subsidized nursing care.

00:25:37: so in old age if need help this will help pay for that.

00:25:43: My father-in law who was ninety four goes into daycare like four times a week, goes to daycare.

00:25:49: They kind of feed him they give them a bath and he does some exercise and stuff.

00:25:53: And that's subsidized by this.

00:25:57: If you need it You have to apply for it.

00:26:00: It's not automatic and you have to go through A...it's kinda weird.

00:26:05: This is kind of public-private partnership.

00:26:08: So you apply through private company.

00:26:10: That helps you apply For the Public Funding to subsidize your treatment or care and so on.

00:26:17: They can also pay.

00:26:18: you help make home more kind of retire friendly as well, barrier free.

00:26:28: but just be aware from age forty.

00:26:32: this will kick in.

00:26:33: You have start paying it right?

00:26:37: This is a weird one that catches lot people out.

00:26:39: Japan in principle does yeah five minutes Okay, I'm gonna speed up a lot.

00:26:53: All right Japan does not have joint ownership.

00:26:56: That's why they don't have joint checking accounts and so on.

00:27:00: Everyone has to own something.

00:27:02: Right.

00:27:03: if you want to own your host house together that you have to put in the money separately And then you have joined ownership.

00:27:08: and so This is important because Japan also has gift tax, and weirdly for many people it has a gift tax between spouses.

00:27:20: So if you buy your spouse a luxury car they have to pay give-tax on that.

00:27:26: If you give your spouse money to invests They need to pay gifts on that.

00:27:32: Difficult especially for the people who are having communal view of marriage.

00:27:38: this very tough.

00:27:40: Basically, these are gift tax rates.

00:27:42: You do not want to pay gift tax.

00:27:44: It's much more expensive than inheritance tax for example.

00:27:47: the reason it exists is to prevent people getting around inheritance tax basically one important exemption.

00:27:54: so Money for kind of normal living expenses does not count towards this.

00:28:01: So you know if your working and then give your spouse money to pay rent or buy groceries And so on doesn't count Money for investing definitely counts.

00:28:10: money for assets Definitely counts.

00:28:16: Yeah, just be careful.

00:28:17: There is a one point one million allowance that you can receive every year before gift tax kicks in.

00:28:23: if You want to give money to your kids?

00:28:25: If I'm gonna Give money to spouse For them to like invest or something keep it under the amount and they won't have to do our gift tax.

00:28:32: return In inheritance tax any Australians.

00:28:37: Australians really don't like inheritance tax, do they?

00:28:40: I'm from the UK.

00:28:42: The UK Inheritance Tax is probably a bit worse than Japan's so I don't mind inheritance tax here.

00:28:48: It...I think it was reasonable.

00:28:51: So you get thirty-forty million tax free and then it starts after that.

00:29:00: First ten millions taxed at ten percent.

00:29:03: Spouse gets a hundred and sixty million tax-free or half of the estate.

00:29:08: Whichever is larger seems reasonable.

00:29:14: Yeah, but inheritance tax IS A THING!

00:29:16: And if you're on a spouse visa Or your permanent resident in Japan You have to pay inheritance tax ON FOREIGN Inheritances.

00:29:24: This can be a big deal.

00:29:26: Also If you've been here for more than ten years But under ten years on a work visa, you don't have to pay inheritance tax on overseas inheritances.

00:29:36: So if you're expecting an inheritance it's probably not a good idea... ...to get permanent residence because you could be exposing yourself to this.

00:29:47: Everyone talks about the top rate which is fifty-five percent but that's more than six hundred million yen Four million dollars or so.

00:29:56: most people are not inheriting for me.

00:29:58: if you are going to inherit four million dollars Please get professional help because you can afford it.

00:30:05: Now this This I don't like.

00:30:08: So, I like inheritance tax a lot the concept of inheritance tax in Japan.

00:30:12: You inherit the original purchase price Which is a nightmare?

00:30:18: If you inherit overseas real estate Okay, so let's say your grandmother in California dies right?

00:30:25: you inherit her house that she bought in nineteen seventy for three dollars.

00:30:32: You pay first.

00:30:33: Do you pay inheritance tax on the current market value?

00:30:37: And then you sell it and you pay capital gains tax based on the original purchase price.

00:30:43: So if at all possible do not inherit real estate.

00:30:48: Please try and inherit cash, then your other family members that live abroad can get the real estate.

00:30:54: Then you avoid this issue.

00:30:58: Foreign exchange!

00:30:59: Many people are unaware of it but foreign exchange gains a taxable in Japan.

00:31:05: so if I'm going to buy dollars now or yen later... That's taxable.

00:31:10: You have to declare it.

00:31:12: I think lots don't But you should.

00:31:15: Cryptocurrency is currently taxed in the same way as forex, and it's taxed as miscellaneous income.

00:31:22: So you pay your marginal income tax rate on that.

00:31:25: but this is probably going to change soon.

00:31:28: so crypto is gonna be likely taxed capital gains instead which for most people is better right?

00:31:35: You don't want to be paying fifty-five percent on your crypto because you made a lot of money ,you can play a flat twenty percent instead.

00:31:41: But that hasn't started yet.

00:31:43: It will come in quite soon I think.

00:31:46: Credit cards in Japan.

00:31:47: It's really hard to get a credit card So the first credit card is really hard-to-get.

00:31:53: once you have a credit Card, it's easier to get more right?

00:31:56: Japan doesn't have a credits score.

00:31:58: You have a Credit record.

00:31:59: instead until you have A credit record you can't Get a creditcard.

00:32:02: so its kind of chicken and egg kinda thing.

00:32:06: Its quite Hard To get chargebacks In japan I find...so you don't Have The same protection that you might have in other countries where you Can just be like no i dont want to pay That.

00:32:15: They're much stricter.

00:32:18: But this is I really like you expected to pay the full balance every month right unless You specifically try and get it in installments, which i think Is better.

00:32:28: furusato knows a. who's heard of furusata nose?

00:32:31: Who's doing for us after?

00:32:32: no say okay This is great.

00:32:34: This is basically free stuff.

00:32:37: People Say this is A way To save tax.

00:32:39: It'S not A Way to Save Tax but it's The way to Get Free Stuff.

00:32:43: so I don't think there's any downside other than perhaps a moral kind of thing.

00:32:48: The way it works is you go shopping with your local inhabitants.

00:32:52: tax basically, so You give your local inhabitance tax to different location and then they send you at present And the place where you live doesn't get the tax.

00:33:05: Some people think that's problematic.

00:33:06: some People Think It's A Good Way Of Moving Money From Cities To The Countryside.

00:33:12: from personal point you can Get Free Stuff using this but be careful because The way it works is you make the donation and then later.

00:33:19: You get the tax return to you if you donate too much?

00:33:23: You're not going to get that back, and the gifts are only worth about fifteen twenty percent of the Donation amount.

00:33:29: so if you go shopping Properly your gonna lose a lot of money with this Charitable.

00:33:36: on political donations use the same tax allowance as for this afternoon.

00:33:40: say If you're non-Japanese you can't do political donations But the charity ones, yes.

00:33:46: So you're using.

00:33:48: just be sure that together they are not more than the amount of tax you have.

00:33:52: Residents' Tax is based on your previous year's income.

00:33:56: so again be careful with this.

00:33:58: There's one cheat code for this which if you leave before the end December You don't have to pay in the following years Inhabitants' Tax.

00:34:07: If you live January then do!

00:34:10: Just a couple days difference could be huge tax bill or no.

00:34:17: Yeah, so if you leave Japan and you leave in December You don't have to pay the following years local inhabitants tax If you live in January.

00:34:27: You do So huge huge difference just by leaving a couple of days before Leave Japan permanent.

00:34:37: yeah Yeah We'll do the Q&A in a few minutes so that the streamers can hear it too, we will pass the mic between you.

00:34:52: So just give me minute.

00:34:54: Excellent okay this catches some people.

00:34:56: You have to declare any foreign assets That are worth... Oh!

00:35:01: Where did that come from?

00:35:03: Ah right gotcha.

00:35:05: Yeah Okay see after declared foreign assets worth fifty million yen or more This is anything.

00:35:11: It's cash investments property cars Jewelry together adds up to more than fifty million yen.

00:35:18: You have to declare this.

00:35:20: They haven't raised the amount with The weekend and so on, so pretty much everyone is affected by this.

00:35:27: now It's quite strict.

00:35:31: So you you have to declared there are penalties And it's not obvious because it doesn't come up anywhere in the tax reporting process?

00:35:42: Yeah, if you have more than fifty million yen's worth of stuff overseas After your permanently tax resident.

00:35:50: You have to do this declaration.

00:35:53: The exit tax is the kind of boogeyman right?

00:35:58: So This only applies to people on spouse or PR Right.

00:36:01: so working visas.

00:36:03: don't have to worry about the exit tax.

00:36:06: It only kicks in if you have a hundred million yen's worth of stocks or similar things.

00:36:11: Real estate doesn't count cash.

00:36:12: Doesn't count Hundred million yens worth the things that have capital gains and when you leave, you have to pay Capital gains tax as if you'd sold them Right.

00:36:23: easy way to get around this is just make sure you have slightly less than one hundred million Yen And then you don't have to worry right Unless you have much more.

00:36:31: in which case Get professional advice because you can afford it.

00:36:36: Okay, owning at home.

00:36:37: I don't think I need to talk about this with you guys.

00:36:39: So there's a mortgage tax break which is nice and if you want to rent out your house that has a residential mortgage You need permission from the bank.

00:36:49: Loopholes Japan doesn't have loopholes!

00:36:56: Japan wants you to pay the taxes on the code.

00:36:59: There are not really ways to avoid that...there're few things.

00:37:02: so..you can give money to child or grandchild To buy it home.

00:37:06: Lump some.

00:37:07: you can give money for a child or grandchild to have education Especially grandparents is quite good.

00:37:13: You get like fifteen million yen and it's used for Education, but you could give money to your spouse To buy house.

00:37:20: oughta kind of own your house after twenty years in marriage.

00:37:27: Yeah be super careful with trusts Overseas because Japan ignores them.

00:37:33: so you could end up within this situation where?

00:37:35: You don't have access to the money But Japan is taxing you as if you did.

00:37:39: So just be really careful with trusts and if your family is going to make a trust for you, Make sure that You're not gonna have huge problems With them.

00:37:50: And my last piece of advice If you are going leave Japan For A considerable amount Of time Get a re-entry permit.

00:37:58: so this Is the old system where you go To immigration office get a re entry permit That's valid for five years Uh...and then..if you happen to Be outside japan more than one year Which what special reentry Permit gives you?

00:38:11: you still get to keep your visa.

00:38:13: I was talking to a client the other day, they were outside of Japan dealing with some family stuff and they weren't able come back within a year.

00:38:20: so now no longer have a spouse visa.

00:38:23: So yeah if you're going to Thailand for ten days not problem but If You are Going Back Somewhere For Like Eight Months Or Something Get A Reentry Permit Just To Be Safe Because We Got Another Covid Thing You Are Locked Out.

00:38:35: Goodbye Visa.

00:38:37: And try you good luck getting a new visa in this kind of environment, right?

00:38:42: Okay.

00:38:42: This is a really good place to ask questions as well.

00:38:45: some reddit Japan finance on Reddit and then Q&A before zip.

00:38:50: yeah for zip kills me.

00:38:53: We're gonna have not that much time for q&a.

00:38:55: but yes like Ben mentioned I think he doesn't have an official breakout room.

00:38:59: for some reason you're more than welcome to take over the breakout room.

00:39:02: There's a lot of stuff that is not happening there at any given time, so we'll start with one from the stream and then head on into the room.

00:39:11: So what for the stream?

00:39:12: What's the minimum pension age for Nenkin?

00:39:15: Okay!

00:39:16: You can take Nenken early from age sixty.

00:39:20: standard age is sixty-five and you can delay it until seventy five.

00:39:25: if you take it early I think how much... like, forty-two percent less forever.

00:39:33: This is generally a very bad idea.

00:39:36: if you take it late You can get up to eighty four percent more Forever.

00:39:40: and the way I think about this Is that?

00:39:44: If your able to delay taking nanking To get larger amount It's kind of long life insurance.

00:39:51: You're kinda insuring yourself against living for a very long time.

00:39:54: That bigger pension gonna make things easier Once you get old, you don't want to be messing around with racked-end securities login.

00:40:03: It's much easier just to get a regular payment into your bank account right?

00:40:09: So my general advice is defer Nenki as much possible but can get it from sixty if really wanted.

00:40:18: Can I ask question on the exact mechanism that government uses your actual entry and exit for tax purposes.

00:40:29: So just like, for example I came back in two thousand twenty-three And i don't want to be PR but it doesn't wanna a permanent tax resident?

00:40:35: I put my juming heel into the summer of twenty three.

00:40:38: My question is do I need leave by The end of Two thousand twenty seven or can I leave on like Summer twenty eight?

00:40:52: What's exact process?

00:40:53: yeah, I'm not entirely sure.

00:40:57: I believe it kicks in the start of the tax year.

00:41:01: So you might have to leave December, which would also save your local inhabitants' tax.

00:41:08: but yeah just...I will check.

00:41:10: maybe talk to a professional or the tax office.

00:41:17: Hi thank you very much!

00:41:19: I am a resident from Japan for ten years and i'm doing the NISA and recently changed my job.

00:41:26: they're not pension, so anyways I had to open an Aideko account for that because i could not touch that money.

00:41:38: My question is of course...I would like to apply for PR but in the case..i was just on a working visa , i cannot touch that many until i'm sixty ..not planning to stay so much in Japan?

00:41:49: what happens with that money if im not resident?

00:41:52: Yes!

00:41:52: So Aideco In some circumstances, if you're not Japanese.

00:41:57: You can take the money out early.

00:42:02: Yeah yeah so there's a certain amount as time time.

00:42:06: If your over that It just stays their until you're sixty.

00:42:10: So however Once you reach sixty from abroad you can get your broker or bank to send you the money To your overseas bank account.

00:42:24: Really?

00:42:25: Who do?

00:42:32: okay?

00:42:32: Because the ones I've talked to said they would do that, so it might depend on... We got one more from the stream.

00:42:43: What if I'm over sixty-five years old?

00:42:45: Do I need to pay into a health system?

00:42:48: what if i already have Medicare through auto deduction in USA?

00:42:54: Yeah!

00:42:54: I believe you'd have to pay Into Japanese Health System.

00:43:01: Not the pension obviously because that's only compulsory until sixty But national health insurance.

00:43:07: Okay, one last question for the room.

00:43:09: Sorry but again Ben is going to be with us in Q&A session at end of day as well so we can keep badgering him.

00:43:15: then A quick question.

00:43:18: You mentioned that when you switch text offices it's easier to get out of there.

00:43:22: What does this mean?

00:43:22: Does that means will move like if I moved from Tokyo to Sendai and its easy to get Out of there?

00:43:29: or because If we move from one word another word still gets out of here?

00:43:34: what does that mean?

00:43:35: So it's anecdotal It's just my experience and what I've heard, but it's moving tax office.

00:43:41: So the Tax Office generally will cover a certain area.

00:43:45: so My wife moved within the city But to different tax office catchment area And The new tax office audited her.

00:43:54: This isn't for individuals this is for Solved proprietors Koji and Jigiyonushi who get bit more scrutiny.

00:44:02: So I think that was it.

00:44:04: It's moving tax offices, so for her she moved from the south tax office to the east tax office and a new one audited here.

00:44:12: Just one clarification on the crypto tax?

00:44:14: Yes.

00:44:15: Just a clarification of the crypto taxes.

00:44:18: as of April change this year there is a new legislation which now has twenty percent flat.

00:44:24: When does that start though?

00:44:25: It starts by next month.

00:44:26: April change, the B has been passed already.

00:44:29: Oh, OK.

00:44:29: So if you want to do tokenization of your building and chance to raise money it's a better way than we just think about it.

00:44:35: And then you're able to raise the money and pay only twenty percent tax flat.

00:44:38: Nice All right.

00:44:41: Thank You very much Ben.

00:44:47: He has given me hope.