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Licorice5758
Joined: 30 Jun 2009
Posts: 2
Location: America
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 Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:54 pm Post subject: Getting hit for past local taxes |
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| I left Japan in December 2007 and am returning next month. I'm going back to where I was before. Since I left the country, I didn't receive any tax notice and didn't pay my 2007 local tax bill. I read somewhere that the local authorities will be soon after me to pay up. I don't mind paying up, but wonder if anyone has had any experience here? |
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dove
Joined: 01 Oct 2003
Posts: 271
Location: USA/Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes, when I returned to Japan after teaching in Brazil for 6 months, the tax office of the city where I last lived sent the tax bill (with late penalties) to my new address. It was for about 150,000 yen. I payed it in installments. I think taxes can be garnished from wages and/or bank accounts if they are in arrears. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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| dove wrote: |
| Yes, when I returned to Japan after teaching in Brazil for 6 months, the tax office of the city where I last lived sent the tax bill (with late penalties) to my new address. It was for about 150,000 yen. I payed it in installments. I think taxes can be garnished from wages and/or bank accounts if they are in arrears. |
This all seems a bit mean. Was there any reason they put late penalties on like, were you still a registered resident of Japan for those 6 months? Or did you leave after the tax bills had been issued without paying?
I'm just wondering since the OP is hardly the first person to return to Japan, yet this topic doesn't seem to pop up very often. |
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GambateBingBangBOOM
Joined: 04 Nov 2003
Posts: 2021
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| I'm just wondering since the OP is hardly the first person to return to Japan, yet this topic doesn't seem to pop up very often. |
That's because most people aren't going back to the same town (or even prefecture) that they were in before and so simply don't get the bills. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:01 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| This all seems a bit mean. Was there any reason they put late penalties on like.. |
In your country, if you don't pay your taxes, you mean nothing happens?  
It would be better if people were paying when they were supposed to. And yes, sometimes the rules change, shocking that, yeah  ? |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:21 am Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| dove wrote: |
| Yes, when I returned to Japan after teaching in Brazil for 6 months, the tax office of the city where I last lived sent the tax bill (with late penalties) to my new address. It was for about 150,000 yen. I payed it in installments. I think taxes can be garnished from wages and/or bank accounts if they are in arrears. |
This all seems a bit mean. Was there any reason they put late penalties on like, were you still a registered resident of Japan for those 6 months? Or did you leave after the tax bills had been issued without paying?
I'm just wondering since the OP is hardly the first person to return to Japan, yet this topic doesn't seem to pop up very often. |
This topic does come up from time to time, here and elsewhere. If you leave Japan with a valid visa, then you are still technically a resident of Japan. It was likely that he/she left after the tax bill had been issued, or without making arrangements with the tax office to pay- basically if you worked in Japan the previous tax year, you owe that money, whether you are still in Japan or not, and if you don't pay it, you will accrue penalties. Seems fair to me, not mean at all.
I had the same thing happen to me as I left Japan in 2001 not planning to come back. Circumstances changed and I was back 7 months later. As soon as I registered with my new city office, I started getting demands from my old ward office, with late fees tacked on. I paid what I owed, and have always paid my taxes since.
As above, they can and do take what they are owed from your bank account if you are more than a year in arrears- to the point of taking every last yen in your account, which happened to someone who posted on another site just a month or so ago. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:28 am Post subject: |
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| GambateBingBangBOOM wrote: |
| seklarwia wrote: |
| I'm just wondering since the OP is hardly the first person to return to Japan, yet this topic doesn't seem to pop up very often. |
That's because most people aren't going back to the same town (or even prefecture) that they were in before and so simply don't get the bills. |
Believe it or not, the different offices even in different prefectures do communicate with each other, and they will start sending you bills if you owe tax. I moved from Kanagawa to Saitama, and they had no trouble whatsoever in locating me. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:54 am Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
| basically if you worked in Japan the previous tax year, you owe that money, whether you are still in Japan or not, and if you don't pay it, you will accrue penalties. Seems fair to me, not mean at all. |
To be honest, I didn't know much about this tax or even when of how often bills are issued. I mean back home these types of income based taxes are calculated based on your predicted earning for the following year then paid monthly. So if you stop working or move abroad, the only reason you're likely to contact Inland Revenue is to find out how much they owe you, not the other way round. And at the end of the tax year many will even get refunds because what they actually earned was lower than the predicted wage their tax was based on. The only people who get issued tax bills at the end of the year are those who are found to have lied about there earnings, or those who did heaps of overtime and ended up earning alot more.
So with my rather foolishly having the UK system in mind, I thought perhaps Dove had actually left the country, handed in his ARC then decided to come back later and been hit with a bill for the time he wasn't in country which is what I thought seemed mean.
But that's why I asking if there was a reason. Skipping country without paying what is owed is definately reason for penalties. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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What you are talking about sounds more like ordinary income tax (shotokuzei in Japanese). The resident's tax (juuminzei), while it is based on income, is more like the "poll tax" that I think they tried to impose on people in the UK a couple of decades ago- it's assessed by and payable to the local government (city/ward and prefectural).
Because I am a part-timer on a certain kind of contract (itaku) with most of my jobs, I actually do get a nice rebate on my income tax, as I am entitled to claim all kinds of expenses. Unfortunately that usually just barely covers my resident's tax 
Some people do indeed have their resident's tax deducted along with their national income tax (my husband does), but most English teachers don't. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
What you are talking about sounds more like ordinary income tax (shotokuzei in Japanese). The resident's tax (juuminzei), while it is based on income, is more like the "poll tax" that I think they tried to impose on people in the UK a couple of decades ago- it's assessed by and payable to the local government (city/ward and prefectural).
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Poll tax to cover public services isn't gone; just made slightly more tolerable by using council tax to pick up the slack and then some. And although location and property based, they are still not charged only once a year.
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| Some people do indeed have their resident's tax deducted along with their national income tax (my husband does), but most English teachers don't. |
So why do English teachers not? Isn't it easier than being lumped with a bill at the end of the year? And if you're having it deducted whilst you work, then you don't have to worry about finding a lump sum to pay if you leave before the tax year is up. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:28 pm Post subject: |
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Ah ok, I wasn't clear on the details of the poll tax, I just knew it was a local tax that was unpopular.
The resident's tax isn't charged once a year, they send out the bills once a year, but you have the option of paying it in quarterly or monthly installments.
I have no idea why many English teachers or myself do not have juuminzei deducted at source, but given that my income tax is only between 5 and 8%, I can't really complain when another 8% is added on top of that. It only causes trouble for people if they don't put money aside to pay the bills when they come, or if they don't pay it. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:45 am Post subject: |
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aspara posted
| Quote: |
| I have no idea why many English teachers or myself do not have juuminzei deducted at source, but given that my income tax is only between 5 and 8%, I can't really complain when another 8% is added on top of that. It only causes trouble for people if they don't put money aside to pay the bills when they come, or if they don't pay it. |
I guess it depends on which teachers you talk to. Most of the ones I know have it deducted as they want to avoid having to suddenly face a large bill. My main uni deducts it out, sometimes I owe some money at the end of the year (like this last time) or sometimes I get a little something. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 8:37 am Post subject: |
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| It doesn't surprise me that universities will, but in my own experience, eikaiwas and part time employers very often do not. |
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