Job Discussion Forums

[matty]

I hope someone knows the answer to this, or at least the possible answer.
I lived in japan for almost four years up untill July last year, and I only paid a couple of installmants (about 30%) of my residence tax, and on advise from others, avoided it most of the time.

Now i look like returning next year to work and live and wonder if there will be a block on my visa application or any other difficulty awaiting me. I have no problem paying any outstanding taxes in order to get back there, but am unsure if I will be let in at all.

Any takers?

[Sherri]

Matt
I have heard of this happening. A friend of mine left without settling her ward tax bill. She came back (no problem getting back in or getting a visa) but the ward did find her again and demanded payment. I haven't seen any evidence of a connection/communication between the ward tax, national health insurance entities and the immigration office--at least so far. Get ready to pay a big bill on your return, it might even go in your favour if you "turn yourself in" first.
Good luck

[cafebleu]

My question for you is - how on earth did you avoid paying the residence tax? Did you move each year? Where I am, if you don`t pay your residence tax you receive constant reminders and could certainly not default again after one year if you were staying in the same place.

[matty]

It was pretty easy. I got a stack of reminders, filed them or threw them away, and occasionally paid an installment which kept them at bay for quite a while.

I had friends who paid everything, and then others who just binned everything that was sent to them.

[matty]

Let me add its not something i feel I am proud of, or that i managed to beat the system. At the time i just felt that the money was better in my pocket than theirs.

[Brooks]

well then I have a question for you:
do you like it if and when foreign workers in Australia don`t pay taxes?

Brooks

[matty]

No, and I know where you are coming from. As I said I wasnt defending myself. It was just the way it happened and if I had to i would pay them back. End of story.

My question was about possible complications of returning. Not the morals of taxation and whether its paid or not.

Do you teach in japan? Do you teach privately? If so do you declare all that income. I don't know of anyone who would.

[homersimpson]

[matty]

Do you declare your private student income? By the way, whats Kogashima like? never made it down that for. Only got to Miyazaki.

[homersimpson]

I declare nothing ... not even my heterosexuality!
Kagoshima is hot as h*ll, but really laid back (at least until we get the Shinkansen). There are some really cool islands, too.
P.S. Hope the Bill Bennett reference wasn't too obscure (it's an American thing I guess)!

[matty]

To be honest Homer it was a bit obscure. Who is he anyway?

[ProdigalSon]

you shouldn't have a problem unless you move back to the same ward in the same city. I didn't pay for 5 years and returned without any problems.
I didn't pay because they would not let me vote.

[homersimpson]

Matt,
Bill Bennett is (was) the self-proclaimed leader of the morals police in the U.S. from the 1980s until about a month ago, when it was revealed that he had a penchant for gambling, especially in the City of Las Vegas, a place notorious for the societal ills he supposedly railed against. His estimated losses at the tables totalled in the millions. (Don't know how much he doled out at the strip joints).

[cafebleu]

With all respect to Matty, homersimpson et al, I think that paying taxes to your local city which are levied because of your choice to live in that city and declaring private income from non-declared arabaito such as teaching are a little different. (By the way, I don`t have any private, non-declared income providing jobs but good luck to those who do.)

However, I understand your not wanting to pay the so called `Citizens` tax`. I always have because I like to do everything on time here and in the correct way mainly because it makes life a lot easier here. The citizens` tax is a sham and is just a cynical way to extract more and more money out of foreigners who are deemed fit to live here but not fit to be able to enjoy rights which are granted to Japanese residents in our home countries after a comparably short time.

The NHK tax is also a sham but one which I pay because I have to (despite the claims of people that it is not obligatory). I have never watched NHK during my time here and I think it represents one of the major thing wrong with Japan - bloated, inefficient bureaucracy and so called enterprises which cannot survive in a genuine, competitive market but stitch up markets, prevent consumer choice, and force people here to pay for unproductive, wasteful companies that would not survive if they did not leech off the ordinary people here, including us.

A word of caution Matt - it`s true that computerisation and linking of databases has not occured on the scale of western countries. But remember one thing - Japan is becoming more closed, not open, if you agree with one of the conclusions of Alex Kerr`s Dogs and Demons book (which I do). Japanese government, bureaucracy and the ordinary people lack the will and/or knowledge to be able to face the real reasons for Japan`s economic stagnation and social problems, and as that becomes more widespread then it will be easier to target foreigners. That is not being paranoid.

Sure databases of city halls may not be linked to the big government one. However, I think it is only a matter of time, given trends everywhere in the world. Moreover, as the Japanese authorities will put no genuine effort into catching and penalising the real, corrupt tax avoiders such as organised crime and their politician friends, foreigners who avoid taxes that can be easily monitored, may find it themselves under greater scrutiny than they bargained for. Be careful.

[TokyoLiz]

BTW, how much do people on average pay for residence tax?

I don't remember the figures from the last time I was there...And I was in deep inaka. Now I'm in Chiba.