確定申告 for Foreigners: Who Must File, What It Costs | MyKyoten

Last verified: 2026. This guide is based on Immigration Bureau regulations, Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare guidelines, and standard Japanese administrative practice. It is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney or official government sources for case-specific guidance.

The tax office will not send you a reminder that you owe a return. But they will absolutely send a penalty notice with interest charges if they find out you were supposed to file and did not. For foreign residents, this is not a hypothetical. It happens regularly, and the consequences reach beyond your bank account into your visa status.

This guide covers exactly who needs to file, what it costs to get it wrong, and how to actually do it.

Who Actually Has to File: The Four Situations That Apply to Foreigners

Most salaried workers in Japan never file a 確定申告 (kakutei shinkoku). Their employer handles year-end tax adjustment (年末調整, nenmatsu chosei) in December, and that closes the book. But that system breaks down in four specific situations.

Situation 1: Income from two or more employers. If you worked at two companies in the same tax year, your primary employer's nenmatsu chosei does not cover income from the second source. The combined income must be reported. Example: you switched jobs mid-year and received a final payout from your old employer while starting your new role.

Situation 2: Side income over ¥200,000. Freelance work, online tutoring, content creation, rental income from overseas property. If total income from sources outside your main employment exceeds ¥200,000 in a calendar year, you are legally required to file. The ¥200,000 threshold is net income, not gross revenue, but tracking expenses to prove that requires documentation.

Situation 3: Overseas income. A Brazilian IT contractor on a Business Manager visa receiving consulting fees from a São Paulo client still pays Japanese tax on that income if they are a resident taxpayer. This is where many people get caught. The assumption that "foreign money stays foreign" is wrong once you cross the residency threshold.

Situation 4: Your employer did not complete nenmatsu chosei. This happens more than it should. Small companies miss the December deadline. Employers who shut down or restructured mid-year may not issue a proper gensen choshuu hyo (源泉徴収票). If nenmatsu chosei was not completed for any reason, the filing obligation falls directly on you.

Reality Check: Based on reports from foreign residents, employees of small izakaya chains, English conversation schools, and part-time employers frequently receive late or incomplete gensen choshuu hyo. Waiting until February to chase that document is already cutting it close. Chase it in January.

→ Use the Document Decoder to translate and understand your Japanese administrative documents.

Are You a Resident or Non-Resident Taxpayer? This Changes Everything

Japan's tax system draws a hard line based on residency status, not visa type.

The 183-day rule: If you have lived in Japan for more than 183 days within a calendar year, you are generally treated as a resident for tax purposes. Residents pay Japanese income tax on their worldwide income. Non-residents pay only on Japan-source income.

The catch is that visa type and tax residency are separate classifications. A person on a Spouse visa who spent most of the year abroad may legally be a non-resident for tax purposes while still holding valid residency status. Conversely, a short-term worker who arrived on a Work visa early in the year and stayed through December is a full resident taxpayer even if they did not intend permanent settlement.

Most commonly misclassified groups based on common experience: Specified Skilled Worker visa holders rotating between Japan and their home country, and spouses accompanying Japanese nationals who maintain work income from abroad.

If you are unsure whether your income situation and visa status are creating unexpected obligations, the Immigration Risk Checker can help identify areas that need closer review.

The Exact Deadlines and How Filing Actually Works

The filing window: February 16 to March 15.

This is fixed annually. Filing opens February 16 and closes at the end of business on March 15. Payments due must also be made by March 15, or interest begins accumulating.

Where to file: You file at the tax office (税務署, zeimusho) that covers your registered address. Not city hall. Not the ward office. The zeimusho. You can find your assigned office at the National Tax Agency website using your postal code.

If you left Japan before March 15: You must appoint a tax agent (納税管理人, nozei kanrinin) before departure. This is typically an accountant or, in some cases, a trusted individual registered with the tax office. Without a tax agent, your obligation does not disappear. It accumulates penalties in your absence.

e-Tax: The NTA's e-Tax system allows online filing without a physical visit. You need a My Number Card and a compatible IC card reader, or you can use the smartphone-based verification method introduced in recent years. Based on common experience, the interface is in Japanese only, and the setup process for IC card authentication catches many first-time filers off guard. Budget an evening to configure it properly.

Step-by-Step Checklist: Filing by e-Tax

• Confirm your My Number Card is active and PIN is not locked
• Download the NTA's kakutei shinkoku creation software or use the browser-based tool
• Gather all gensen choshuu hyo before starting (the form requires specific figures)
• Enter income from each source separately
• Add deductions: NHI premiums, pension payments, life insurance certificates
• Review the calculated tax liability before submitting
• Submit and save the submission confirmation number
• Pay any balance due via bank transfer or convenience store payment slip by March 15

The Documents You Need Before You Sit Down to File

Do not start the filing process without these in hand. Starting without them means stopping halfway, and half-completed returns cause more problems than delayed ones.

Gensen choshuu hyo (源泉徴収票) from every employer. This is the withholding slip that shows your annual salary and the tax already deducted. Every employer who paid you during the tax year must provide one. If a former employer has not sent yours, contact their HR or accounting department in writing by January. If they are unresponsive or have dissolved, file an inquiry with the relevant Labor Standards Office. You can also use the NTA's online system to estimate income using bank records if the slip genuinely cannot be obtained, but this requires additional documentation.

If you have a gensen choshuu hyo and cannot read the fields, the Gensen Withholding Slip Decoder translates every line into plain English.

Overseas income statements. Bank statements, payslips, contracts, or official income certificates from foreign employers. These need to show the amount earned and the currency. You will convert to yen using the TTM (telegraphic transfer middle rate) published by the Bank of Japan for the relevant year.

NHI payment receipts. National Health Insurance premiums paid during the year are deductible. City hall can issue a payment certificate if you no longer have receipts. This is worth requesting. On a mid-range salary, NHI deductions can reduce taxable income meaningfully. See the health insurance guide for what counts toward deductions.

Pension payment records. If you are enrolled in the National Pension (kokumin nenkin), your annual payment amount is fully deductible. Japan Pension Service mails a 社会保険料控除証明書 (shakai hokenryo kojo shomeisho) in October or November each year. Do not throw it out.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline or Do Not File at All

Here is the part nobody tells you when you first arrive: the penalties for non-filing are not gentle, and they interact directly with your immigration record.

The non-filing surcharge (無申告加算税): If the NTA determines you were required to file and did not, a 15% surcharge is applied to the unpaid tax amount. If the unpaid tax exceeds ¥500,000, the portion above that threshold is taxed at 20%.

Delinquency interest (延滞税): On top of the surcharge, delinquency interest accrues daily from the original deadline. The rate is set annually by the NTA. For the first two months it is lower, then escalates. On a balance of ¥300,000 unpaid for 12 months, the combined interest and surcharge adds up to a real number.

Concrete example: A Canadian English teacher on an Instructor visa earns ¥3,200,000 from their primary school board and ¥280,000 from a private tutoring side practice. The ¥280,000 exceeds the ¥200,000 threshold. They do not file. Two years later, the NTA cross-references their My Number records with payment data. The teacher owes back tax on ¥280,000, plus a 15% surcharge on the unpaid amount, plus approximately two years of daily interest. The total penalty can easily exceed ¥100,000 beyond the original tax owed.

The zairyu card connection: This is where people mess up badly. Unpaid taxes are recorded in municipal tax records, which are checked during visa renewal and permanent residency applications. Based on common experience and Immigration Bureau documentation, outstanding tax obligations are flagged during PR screening and can delay or complicate renewal of status. The PR Risk Checker can help you assess whether existing compliance gaps are likely to affect your application.

For anyone considering permanent residency, the Japan PR 2026 guide details exactly how tax compliance history factors into the assessment.

Warning Box: Honestly, the zairyu card renewal flag is the consequence that surprises people most. You might expect a fine. You might not expect the immigration officer asking why you have unpaid resident tax from three years ago. They do ask. The records follow you.

What if you realize you should have filed last year? File a late return (期限後申告, kigengoshi shinkoku) immediately. Proactive late filing results in a lower surcharge than waiting for the NTA to contact you first. If you file before the NTA initiates an investigation, the 15% surcharge applies. If you wait until after they contact you, additional penalties stack on top.

What if your income was all from one employer and you thought nenmatsu chosei covered everything, but it turns out it did not? Contact your employer's HR department first. Confirm in writing whether nenmatsu chosei was completed for you. If it was not, you are responsible for filing independently. The employer's failure to complete it does not transfer their liability to you for penalties, but the filing obligation is still yours.

Your next step: Locate your gensen choshuu hyo from every employer who paid you this tax year, confirm whether your employer completed nenmatsu chosei, and check whether any of the four filing triggers above apply to your situation. Do this before the end of January. Waiting until February 16 when the filing window opens means you will be solving document problems at the same time as filing deadlines.

Do I have to file if I only worked part-time and earned under ¥1,030,000? Not necessarily. If you had a single employer and they completed nenmatsu chosei, you are generally covered. But if you had multiple part-time employers and none completed adjustment on your behalf, your combined income needs to be reviewed. The ¥200,000 side income threshold applies per source beyond your main employment.

Can I file in English at the tax office? Some major urban tax offices have multilingual staff or interpreter services available on specific days during the filing season. Based on common experience, this varies significantly by location and is not guaranteed. Bringing a Japanese-speaking friend or hiring a tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi) who handles foreign clients is a more reliable approach.

If I already paid taxes through payroll deductions, do I still owe more? Possibly. Payroll deductions are estimates based on your salary at that employer only. If you have additional income sources, the total tax owed may exceed what was withheld. The kakutei shinkoku process calculates the actual liability and either results in a refund or a balance due.

If you are working through your tax documents and cannot read the figures on your payslip or withholding slip, the Payslip Decoder translates Japanese payslip fields into plain English, including the deduction lines that feed directly into your kakutei shinkoku. It does not replace an accountant, but it stops you from entering the wrong numbers because you misread a kanji.