Useful Information

National tax

2022.08.13

National tax

Today, let’s learn about national tax!

If you want to know about the summary of tax, please visit this website
→≪https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/tax0730en/≫

If you want to know about local tax in detail, please visit this website
→≪https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/local-tax0730en/≫

National tax

National tax is a tax which you pay to central government. This tax includes income tax and consumption tax.

  • Income tax

Income tax will be calculated based on your income. The higher income you earn, the bigger amount of tax you will have to pay. Your income tax can become cheaper if you have dependents or if you have a spouse. This tax is deducted from your monthly salary.

  • 源泉徴収（げんせんちょうしゅう）Withholding tax

Withholding tax is a system in which a company deducts income tax from the salary. The company where you are working will pay the income tax to the government on behalf of you.

  • 確定申告（かくていしんこく）Tax return

Tax return is that you declare the salary in the previous year to central government (tax office) and confirm the amount of your income tax in the year. Those who have own businesses (self-employed, farmers and freelancers) calculate their income, costs, and the amount of taxes and directly declare the result to the tax office. If you work as an employee at a company, you do not have to do it because the company deducts your income tax from your salary and pay it to the government. Instead, if you work as an employee, you will have to do “year-end tax adjustment”.

If you earn more than 20 million yen in a year or work at more than two companies, you will have to file your tax returns. Also, if you paid a lot of medical expenses in the year, or if you have more dependents (suppose or children) compared to the previous year, or if you earn less compared to the previous year, you should file your tax returns because you will be able get a refund by doing so.

If you have dependents in your home country, you may have an exemption for dependents if you file your tax returns. Exemption for dependents is that you can get an exemption of income tax if you have family members (children or parents) who are older than 15 years old and their income is less than the designated amount.

 

When you file your tax returns, you will need the following;

  1. Filing tax returns statement (you can find it at a tax office)
  2. Documents to certify your income in the previous year. (a withholding statement or a proof of payment)
  3. Personal identification (resident card, special permanent resident certificate etc.)
  4. The documents which are required to get the exemption of dependent (birth certificate of your dependent who are in your home country or a proof of international money transfer etc.)
  5. The documents which are required to get the exemption of insurance fee (certificate of deduction of insurance fee)
  6. Name stamp or signature

Please file your tax returns from February 16th to March 15th.

  • 年末調整（ねんまつちょうせい）Year-end tax adjustment

If you are working at a company as an employee, the amount of your income tax is roughly calculated based on your expected income. Since the amount is calculated roughly, it is usually different from the amount which you actually have to pay. Year-end tax adjustment is the procedure to check whether the roughly calculated amount of tax you have paid and the actual amount of tax you should pay in the year is the same. If you have paid more than needed amount, you will be able to get a refund when you do the procedure of year-end tax adjustment.

On the document of year tax adjustment, you will fill in your income you get in the year and the expected income of next year. If you have dependents (such as children) or a suppose, or if you pay life insurances or earthquake insurances, you will be able to get further exemption by mentioning about that.

  • Consumption tax

Consumption tax is a tax you have to pay when you buy or use any kinds of products and services. This tax is included in the payment when you buy something at a store or pay for any services.

  • Please also refer to the following page

tax https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/tax0730en/

local tax https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/local-tax0730en/

About pension system in Japan https://social-b.net/baiyu/en/pension20220214en/