Before you start

My Number
Ward registration
Employment records or business accounts
A determination of your residence status for tax purposes

Step-by-step

1
Work out which of the three tax residence categories you are in
A non-resident is taxed only on Japanese-source income. A non-permanent resident — broadly, someone without Japanese domicile resident five years or less in the past decade — is taxed on Japanese income plus foreign income remitted into Japan. A permanent tax resident is taxed on worldwide income. The category shifts over time on its own and nothing announces it.
OnlineWho: You
2
Let the year-end adjustment do the work if you are a straightforward employee
Employers run nenmatsu chōsei in December, reconciling withholding against actual liability. Most Japanese employees never file a return at all — deduction declarations go to your employer rather than to a tax office.
Via employerWho: YouDecember
3
File a return if you have side income, foreign income or two employers
Filing runs mid-February to mid-March for the previous calendar year, at the tax office covering your ward. Filing online through e-Tax with the My Number card avoids the March queue entirely.
OnlineWho: YouFebruary–March
4
Budget for residence tax landing in your second June
Jūminzei is assessed on the previous calendar year's income and billed from June by Aichi Prefecture and the City of Nagoya together. Your first year produces almost nothing; the second is the real number and it arrives as a step change that catches nearly everyone.
OnlineWho: You
5
Check the foreign asset reporting obligation once you are a permanent tax resident
Residents holding overseas assets above a threshold must file an annual report of foreign assets. It applies to permanent tax residents rather than everyone, and the threshold is not high. It is easy to overlook precisely because it arrives at the same time as the change in residence category.
OnlineWho: You
6
Appoint a tax representative before leaving Japan
Leaving partway through a year can still leave residence tax owing on income already earned. Appointing a tax representative in Japan before you go is the clean solution, and it is also who handles your pension refund paperwork.
In personWho: YouBefore departure

Documents you’ll need

My Number
Gensen chōshūhyō — the annual withholding statement from your employer
Records of foreign income and overseas assets
Japanese bank details
Deduction certificates for insurance, mortgage or dependants

Things most newcomers don’t know

Nagoya is the only major Japanese city that charges its residence tax at a discount.

Since the 2012 fiscal year the city has levied the income-based portion of individual municipal residence tax five per cent below the standard rate — 7.7 per cent instead of 8 — and it is the only ordinance-designated city in Japan to do so. It applies to individuals only, not companies, and not to separately taxed capital gains. The mayor elected in 2024 campaigned on widening the cut to ten per cent; in October 2025 the city confirmed that was unaffordable for the 2026 fiscal year and the five per cent rate stands. In cash terms it is modest — the city budgets around JPY 10 billion a year across 1.2 million taxpayers — but an online residence tax calculator built for Tokyo or Osaka will slightly overstate your Nagoya bill.

Source: City of Nagoya

Residence tax follows where you live, not where the plant is.

A great many people in this region live in Nagoya and work in Toyota, Kariya or Anjō, or the reverse. Residence tax is billed by the municipality where you were registered on 1 January, so the Nagoya discount applies to Nagoya residents regardless of employer, and a move across a city boundary in December or January changes which authority bills you for the entire following year.

Source: City of Nagoya

Residence tax is billed a year in arrears, producing a second-year shock and an exit trap.

Jūminzei is calculated on the previous calendar year's income and collected from the following June. Your first year in Japan is nearly free of it; your second carries the full weight of the first year's earnings. Leaving Japan does not extinguish it either — you can owe a year's residence tax on money you have already spent, which is why departures need either settlement or a tax representative.

Source: National Tax Agency

Non-permanent resident status shields foreign income, and it expires without notice.

For roughly the first five years, a foreign national without Japanese domicile is taxed on Japanese-source income plus foreign income actually remitted into Japan, not on worldwide income. Past that threshold Japan taxes everything and the foreign asset reporting obligation begins. Anyone with overseas investments or property needs to know precisely when the switch happens, because nothing tells you.

Source: National Tax Agency

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting from your first year, when residence tax is almost nil.
Assuming a residence tax figure calculated for Tokyo or Osaka applies here — Nagoya's city portion is discounted.
Moving across a municipal boundary in late December and being billed by the wrong authority for a year.
Leaving Japan without settling residence tax or appointing a tax representative.
Not knowing when non-permanent resident status expires and worldwide taxation begins.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.