Annual salary amount too low for tax reporting?

TokyoJoeblow

TokyoJoeblow

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Ok, so as most of you know about 8 months ago I quit my main job due to issues with my former boss. The other school I'm working at is only giving me very little hours each week and most of my income is coming from a decent number of private students.

The income for the first half of the year will not be low due to working at the previous school, but there is an obvious drop in total income for the last half of the year due to quitting. But I might be alright since for at least half of the year I was making decent income?

My worry is that if I report the income of just this school, the total annual income amount will seem too low to report on my taxes...but if I report the income of the private lessons...won't that be illegal?

Please excuse any ignorance on my part as I'm still learning the tax system a little more each year. This will be the first year where the only school I'm officially working at isn't doing my taxes for me. So I'm planning to fill out an online tax form and tax discount application as well tomorrow.

I realize the due date is March 15th and I'm really cutting it close this year.
 
If it’s allowed under your resident status, it might be a good idea to register as a sole proprietor (Kojin Jigyo) so that your private lessons are above board. Having most of your income “off the books” could cause problems going forward, for example NTA asking where your money is coming from, or immigration concluding that you’re making too little to be a responsible member of Japanese society...
 
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fireman said:
If it’s allowed under your resident status, it might be a good idea to register as a sole proprietor (Kojin Jigyo) so that your private lessons are above board. Having most of your income “off the books” could cause problems going forward, for example NTA asking where your money is coming from, or immigration concluding that you’re making too little to be a responsible member of Japanese society...
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Yes, I could apply for this. Could I register as a sole proprietor at my local city hall or do I have to return to immigration to do this?

Still married but I have PR status, so should be no problem registering for this yes?

I can try going to city hall to register for this possibly tomorrow before I do my taxes online.

I have avoided buying any expensive items such as a new bicycle, a car (not that I need one now), game console, etc to avoid any blips on the radar for NTA, but I'm more worried about immigration just thinking I'm not earning enough money.

Would I most likely be alright since for half of last year, I was making a lot more money?
 
TokyoJoeblow said:
Ok, so as most of you know about 8 months ago I quit my main job due to issues with my former boss. The other school I'm working at is only giving me very little hours each week and most of my income is coming from a decent number of private students.

The income for the first half of the year will not be low due to working at the previous school, but there is an obvious drop in total income for the last half of the year due to quitting. But I might be alright since for at least half of the year I was making decent income?

My worry is that if I report the income of just this school, the total annual income amount will seem too low to report on my taxes...but if I report the income of the private lessons...won't that be illegal?

Please excuse any ignorance on my part as I'm still learning the tax system a little more each year. This will be the first year where the only school I'm officially working at isn't doing my taxes for me. So I'm planning to fill out an online tax form and tax discount application as well tomorrow.

I realize the due date is March 15th and I'm really cutting it close this year.
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if you want your private lessons to be an official income create a self business, go to the tax office (zeimushou) and ask for a kojin jigyou form.
also I don't see the problem if you report a low income, you already have the eijuken right ?
 
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TokyoJoeblow said:
Yes, I could apply for this. Could I register as a sole proprietor at my local city hall or do I have to return to immigration to do this?
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You do this at the tax office, but it's too late for the last year already. You can do it now for this year though.

Nothing illegal about doing or reporting private lessons, you have the status to do any kind of work. If you do that work and earn enough but not report it then it is illegal. Though you most probably won't get caught.

Immigration is not interested in you anymore as you have PR already.
 
e-smile said:
if you want your private lessons to be an official income create a self business, go to the tax office (zeimushou) and ask for a kojin jigyou form.
also I don't see the problem if you report a low income, you already have the eijuken right ?
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Well, even though I do have a decent amount of private students a lot of them are busy and miss lessons quite often. I'm hesitant to report the private lessons as an official business as I would have to remember all the times each student didn't show up to the lesson, which I didn't make any attendance sheets for (guess I can start doing that this year).

Would it be possible to report the private lessons as additional income that I do aside from my official part time job or am I required to report the private lessons as an official private business?

I guess filling out these forms online isn't a good idea and that it would be much safer to go to the tax office to talk details with the staff.

Of course I would want to report the private lessons in general since the total amount I earned last year for just my part time job is definitely too low on its own.

I just hope that the tax staff will be understanding when I explain that most of the money I earned was from private lessons. There are not many English schools in Shizuoka City and the smaller cities surrounding it and most of them are never really hiring new teachers. If they need me to explain that to them, I will.

You mentioned that reporting a low income is no problem if I have PR? I thought it would be the opposite situation...having PR would mean they expect me to be even more financially stable than I was when I had a Spouse Visa.
 
You have PR.

There is no income requirement.

Your only tax issue is that legally, not reporting the income from private lessons is tax evasion.

Practically, there's no paper trail, as your students pay in cash, so there's no way to prove tax evasion.

The only thing that the on-paper lack of income will affect is your income history for credit purposes.
 
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Sudsy said:
You have PR.

There is no income requirement.

Your only tax issue is that legally, not reporting the income from private lessons is tax evasion.

Practically, there's no paper trail, as your students pay in cash, so there's no way to prove tax evasion.

The only thing that the on-paper lack of income will affect is your income history for credit purposes.
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So since I have PR, my income could be incredibly low (say I don't report the private lessons) and there would be no issues with my taxes?

If say later on this year or in the future I get a full time job and start earning a lot more, could I repair any damage done to my credit?

I'm on the fence about whether or not I should report the private lessons now that you mentioned there is no income requirement since I have PR...
 
TokyoJoeblow said:
So since I have PR, my income could be incredibly low (say I don't report the private lessons) and there would be no issues with my taxes?

If say later on this year or in the future I get a full time job and start earning a lot more, could I repair any damage done to my credit?

I'm on the fence about whether or not I should report the private lessons now that you mentioned there is no income requirement since I have PR...
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I wouldn't advise you to intentionally break the law ;), but most people in your situation do not report cash-based income, and suffer no consequences.
 
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TokyoJoeblow said:
Of course I would want to report the private lessons in general since the total amount I earned last year for just my part time job is definitely too low on its own.
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it's too low for what ?

if there is one place you don't have to show off in it's the tax office man
 
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fireman said:
If it’s allowed under your resident status, it might be a good idea to register as a sole proprietor (Kojin Jigyo) so that your private lessons are above board. Having most of your income “off the books” could cause problems going forward, for example NTA asking where your money is coming from, or immigration concluding that you’re making too little to be a responsible member of Japanese society...
Click to expand...

e-smile said:
it's too low for what ?

if there is one place you don't have to show off in it's the tax office man
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I'm referring to fireman's earlier post. This was something I thought I needed to be concerned about. I guess having PR is what saves me from the stress of even worrying about it?

If so, I will just report my incredibly low part time job income and not report the cash-based income, which is significantly higher.
 
TokyoJoeblow said:
I'm referring to fireman's earlier post. This was something I thought I needed to be concerned about. I guess having PR is what saves me from the stress of even worrying about it?

If so, I will just report my incredibly low part time job income and not report the cash-based income, which is significantly higher.
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there is no law against not earning money, many Japanese fill 0 income, such is only a concern for foreigners who need to renew their residence card without a sponsor.
 
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e-smile said:
there is no law against not earning money, many Japanese fill 0 income, such is only a concern for foreigners who need to renew their residence card without a sponsor.
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Surprisingly, my entire time living in Japan I thought that not earning money was actually illegal (having PR or not) because immigration and the Japanese government in general don't want irresponsible types living here.
 
Ok, I'm asking strictly out of curiosity but would a foreigner on PR status be eligible for any welfare support in Japan or does this only apply to Japanese people or foreigners that have been naturalized and have Japanese citizenship?

I have no plans to actually apply though.
 
TokyoJoeblow said:
Ok, I'm asking strictly out of curiosity but would a foreigner on PR status be eligible for any welfare support in Japan or does this only apply to Japanese people or foreigners that have been naturalized and have Japanese citizenship?

I have no plans to actually apply though.
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The supreme court ruled quite a few years ago that municipalities are not required to disburse welfare to foreign residents.

Many municipalities still will, though. They just don't have to.
 
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Sudsy said:
The supreme court ruled quite a few years ago that municipalities are not required to disburse welfare to foreign residents.

Many municipalities still will, though. They just don't have to.
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then we shouldn't have to pay taxes either :censored:
 
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Sudsy said:
The supreme court ruled quite a few years ago that municipalities are not required to disburse welfare to foreign residents.

Many municipalities still will, though. They just don't have to.
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Shizuoka is a more conservative area with a lot of wealthy folks and there aren't many foreigners here, so chances for welfare here for a foreigner are probably low haha.

No idea, but I assume bigger cities like Tokyo or Nagoya would more likely offer welfare than say smaller cities like Shizuoka or Hamamatsu?
 
I would just assume any municipality I was in wouldn't offer it, and conduct my life accordingly.
 
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TJB you really can inspire someone to write a book on what someone should know while living in Japan. Don’t take this as an insult. Someone may have fed you wrong information & there certainly are others who may have incorrect answers to questions like yours.
 
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Well, my hayfever has been going nuts since yesterday. I wasn't able to get any sleep and the hay fever medicine, netti pot and air filter did nothing to help clear up my nasal congestion, so I couldn't get to sleep until 5am lol.

So with that along with the wind being really strong and a lot of pollen in the air, I'm not even going outside...even to go do something as important as my taxes.

I have decided to try out the online application for the first time:

https://www.keisan.nta.go.jp/kyoutu/ky/sm/top#bsctrl

Did anyone on here do their taxes online this year using this website?

My wife and boss claim it is painless and easy...we shall see because I'm going to give it a shot later this evening.
 
TokyoJoeblow said:
Well, my hayfever has been going nuts since yesterday. I wasn't able to get any sleep and the hay fever medicine, netti pot and air filter did nothing to help clear up my nasal congestion, so I couldn't get to sleep until 5am lol.

So with that along with the wind being really strong and a lot of pollen in the air, I'm not even going outside...even to go do something as important as my taxes.

I have decided to try out the online application for the first time:

https://www.keisan.nta.go.jp/kyoutu/ky/sm/top#bsctrl

Did anyone on here do their taxes online this year using this website?

My wife and boss claim it is painless and easy...we shall see because I'm going to give it a shot later this evening.
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I did it last year on that site with the shiroiro kizoku, it was easy. I have to do it this week with the aoiro one (I know I'm late).
 
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e-smile said:
I did it last year on that site with the shiroiro kizoku, it was easy. I have to do it this week with the aoiro one (I know I'm late).
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Well, it was a lot less painless to do online. It was great not needing to go outside into the sea of pollen to go to the tax office, only to wait in a long ass line. It is great because since it is all digital, I don't need to wait for print outs at the end. I just took screenshots of each page so I remember exactly how to do it next year.

I hope Aoiro is easy and convenient for you.
 
There used to be a site called gaijintax that would walk one through the self-filing. Here’s an archived version http://web.archive.org/web/20160306234351/http://gaijintax.com/ but with the formats changing over the years, try to use it as a guide would likely be useless.

What one can do legitimately is claim expenses unreimbursed by your employer... and out of whatever taxes that get withheld at source - if done correctly, you get most back in the form of a refund.

For fulltime salaried employees in Japan making under ¥20,000,000, the employer files the income tax return on their behalf BUT one can still file an additional amendment in parallel as well as post facto ( up to 3 or 5 years back , can’t recall ) ... those with secondary incomes like stock dividends, real estate rental income etc., but also consulting practices on the side.
 
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NorthTriangle said:
post facto ( up to 3 or 5 years back , can’t recall )
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Five years.

And be careful with outside income - your employer may notice the increase in your residence tax.
 
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