Juki Card and e-Tax

As you may have noticed, LP has been hard at work on articles about the Juki Card (AKA the Basic Resident Registry Card) system that has just been opened up to foreigners.

As we have mentioned before, in addition to containing your registered alias (tsushomei 通称名), the Juki Card can be used as an electronic identifications for official government transactions over the internet. Perhaps the most important of these transactions is the system for electronic tax filing, better known as e-Tax.

Tax Increases in Japan for 2013 and beyond

Feel that your pay packet is a little lighter these days? Perhaps it is a raise in your insurance, or maybe you bonus is a little smaller. While those maybe  a problem, pesky tax increases (zozei 増税) are also taking effect, so watch your wallet carefully.

After the Great Tohoku Earthquake, the already debt laden Japanese government needed to find a way to cover the monumental costs incurred by this unprecedented natural disaster. In order to help put the Tohoku region back together, a special "reconstruction tax" (fukko tokubetsu-zei 復興特別税) has been added and a planned five percent decrease to the corporate tax rate was scraped.

My Number: Welcome to Japan's new unified tax and benefit number system

Get ready folks, because come 2015, you will be the proud owner of brand spanking new My Number (マイナンバー) issued by the friendly folks at the Japanese Government. On May 24th, the three major parties in the National Diet finally got off their duffs and managed to put together a brand new law that gives everyone residing in Japan (foreigners included) a single unified identification number akin to a US Social Security number.

The so-called mai nannbaa-ho (マイナンバー法), or "My Number Act" (officially called the shakai hosho zei bango-ho 社会保障・税番号法 or "Social Benefits and Tax Number Act") will have far reaching effects on just about everyone who uses a government service (i.e. the whole country). Lets take a peek at what the law entails.

Annual Automobile Tax in Japan

Yes, folks, its that time of year. The time when posters of consternated anthropomorphic vehicles with cute faces get plastered all over government buildings and mysterious official envelops get dropped in your mail slot. It can only mean one thing...time to pay your annual automobile tax!

Stamp Taxes and Revenue Stamps in Japan

I have long wondered what the deal is with Japan's obsession with postage size "revenue stamps" (shunyu inshi 収入印紙) that you have to stick on just about every offical document. Anyone who has ever gone to the immigration office has had to a least by one or two of these expensive little suckers in order to get a visa renewed. Not to mention you probably have some reciepts laying around somewhere with stamps stuck to them. Lets take a look at what exactly these expensive postage stamps are for...

Six Questions About Buying a House in Japan

Many thanks to Ben in Hiroshima for today's post on buying a house in Japan. Ben is a new home owner and shared his buying experience in this exclusive AccessJ interview.

So you've got a job, a car, maybe you're even married, and you're thinking about taking another step forward in planting your roots in Japan: Buying a house to live in. House shopping will open up all kinds of questions: Do you want a マンション atop a 45-floor building or your own (perhaps tiny) plot of land to call home? What's your budget? Who will be living in the home? What silly neighborhood watch programs and trash disposal schedules are you willing to put up with?

The list goes on. But today, we'll start with some of the important financial questions. Grab your reading glasses and check out the interview below:

Medical Expense Tax Deduction/Refund

In Japan, most direct taxation is handled through your employer. However, regardless of whether you are self employed or work at a big corporation, there are still some deductions/rebates you can claim. One of the big ones is the medical expense deduction (iryouhi kosho 医療費控除). Here is how you claim it.