Job Discussion Forums

reasonJP · Joined: 17 Jul 2008 Posts: 48

And likely the cause of many a premature death due to heart attax.

But anyway.

So recently I've moved away from doing the one job on one easy contract thing and into the doing of lots of little jobs. I know I should be along to city hall sometime soon armed with income proof and relevant paperwork if I want a nice juicy rebate, but I don't know exactly when the deadline for this stuff is. Any ideas?

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan

Apsara?

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

Income taxes in Japan are due March 15. Go to your city hall or ward office and ask for the forms.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Ah, let me see. Theoretically your tax return needs to be filed by March 15, and they officially start accepting tax returns around February 26, but you can actually file at any time during the year (I have filed later several times and it has never been an issue), and you may want to wait until official tax season is over as they can be very busy during that time.

In Tokyo at least, you file the return at your local tax office, which is usually separate from your ward/city office, i.e. another building in another part of the ward/city.

In the ward I live in there is more than one tax office; which one you file at depends on which part of the ward you live in. If you're not sure where your tax office is, go to the ward/city office and ask. It seems like in the area Glenski is in, the city office handles taxes anyway, so that may be the case for your area as well.

You need to add up all the expenses you are claiming (you should have the receipts for proof but I have yet to be asked to show them) and type them out nicely on a spreadsheet- they like it if you separate them into categories and then do a grand total.

Take the print-out of your spreadsheet and the tax slip your company has given you, multiple slips if you have multiple employers, and say you are there to do your tax return (kakuteishinkoku). If you are on the National Health Insurance, take proof of how much you paid in 2008 as part of this can also be deducted.

I actually haven't got any of my tax slips yet, but am expecting them in the next few weeks. If you are entitled to a rebate, you will receive it (paid into your nominated bank account, don't forget to take your account number to the tax office) within about 6 weeks of filing.