Job Discussion Forums

mc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 90 Location: Aichi, Japan

Hello,

I am an American and I have been living in Japan on a spouse visa for over a year (this includes the full 2002 tax year). I do not keep a residence in the U.S. nor do I have any source of income in the States. I have a job in Japan that pays less than US$70,000/yr.

My questions are:

1. Which tax form(s) do I need to file? For the sake of simplification, let's just assume that I will ONLY be reporting income earned from my job (i.e. no investments, interest, etc.) Please give me the tax form numbers, if possible, rather than the form names.

2. What kind of income documentation do I need to provide? I obviously will not be getting a W-2 statement, so how can I "prove" that I earned the amount I am declaring?

Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated! Please don't direct me to the various IRS help sites that are available on the net, as I don't understand any of that stuff Embarassed

! I am really looking for firsthand experiences/info here.

Thanks in advance,

mc

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Form 1040
Form 2555
Both of these are available online.

Actually, no documentation from a Japanese source is really needed. I've always included a statement of my own with my IRS documents which says how much I made (converted to US dollars) and how long I have lived in Japan. Never had a penny taxed on it.

mc · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Posts: 90 Location: Aichi, Japan

Got the forms... thanks a lot!