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 changes over time on its own and nothing announces it.
OnlineWho: You
2
Let the year-end adjustment handle it if you are a straightforward employee
Employers run nenmatsu chōsei in December, reconciling withholding against actual liability. Most Japanese employees never file 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 and billed from June by Hyōgo Prefecture and the City of Kobe together. Your first year produces almost nothing; the second is the real figure and arrives as a step change alongside the National Health Insurance increase.
OnlineWho: You
5
Claim the earthquake insurance premium deduction if you pay one
Premiums for earthquake cover attract a national income tax deduction up to an annual ceiling, with a smaller one against residence tax. Earthquake insurance in Japan can only be bought attached to a fire policy, never standalone, and the sum insured is set between 30 and 50 per cent of the fire policy's — capped at JPY 50 million on the building and JPY 10 million on contents. The certificate your insurer sends in autumn is what you attach to the year-end adjustment.
Via employerWho: YouNovember–December
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
Insurance premium certificates, including earthquake cover

Things most newcomers don’t know

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, and arrives in the same month your health insurance premium jumps for the same reason. Leaving Japan does not extinguish it either, which is why departures need settlement or a tax representative.

Source: National Tax Agency

Hyōgo levies a forest tax of its own, and there is now a national one too.

Since the 2006 fiscal year the prefecture has added a JPY 800 annual green levy to the JPY 1,000 standard per-capita portion of prefectural residence tax, funding forest and disaster prevention work; it was extended again in September 2025 to run through the 2030 fiscal year. From the 2024 fiscal year a separate national forest environment tax of JPY 1,000 sits alongside it. Neither is large. Both appear on the bill, and both are why a Kobe residence tax notice does not reconcile line for line against one from Osaka or Tokyo.

Source: Hyōgo Prefecture

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 should know exactly when the switch happens, because nothing tells you it has.

Source: National Tax Agency

Furusato nōzei lets you redirect part of your residence tax and receive goods for it.

The hometown tax scheme allows you to donate to any municipality other than the one you live in, deduct almost all of it against residence and income tax, and receive a return gift — typically regional food or drink. Hyōgo's own municipalities offer Tajima beef and Nada sake, though as a Kobe resident you cannot claim from Kobe. It is entirely legitimate, used routinely by Japanese colleagues, and almost unknown among foreign residents.

Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting from your first year, when residence tax is close to nil.
Being surprised that residence tax and the health insurance premium both jump in the same June.
Leaving Japan without settling residence tax or appointing a tax representative.
Paying earthquake insurance premiums and never claiming the deduction against them.
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.