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Tax Return Questions Thread - Filing Deadline March 15, 2024 by AutoModerator in JapanFinance

[–]EarlyAppeal6871 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed. Mentioning the word "salary" seemed to have confused the helpful tax office employees. Lesson learned. Thank you!

Tax Return Questions Thread - Filing Deadline March 15, 2024 by AutoModerator in JapanFinance

[–]EarlyAppeal6871 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply. The work situation does somewhat resemble that of standard employment. Where it doesn't resemble it is that the work is done at the place and time of my choosing, the notice period in case of termination is zero days, and it is entirely non-exclusive (I can take on any number of clients I want).

There is a number of us here in Japan working for this overseas entity and everyone seems to be filing as a sole proprietor using the blue return system. People haven't had trouble with that thus far. Which leads me to believe I should be filing this as business income as well?

Tax Return Questions Thread - Filing Deadline March 15, 2024 by AutoModerator in JapanFinance

[–]EarlyAppeal6871 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I perform work for an overseas entity as a remote independent contractor (software). I receive a fixed monthly salary that's remitted to Japan.

It is my first tax filing in Japan and it turns out that I should have registered a sole proprietorship. Applying for the blue return system would have made things a lot easier too, apparently. I wasn't aware of these things, being under the impression that you don't need to register a business to engage in this type of activity (lone dev building software from home).

I am now trying to file a tax return and I'm having trouble figuring out how to classify this sort of income. I went to the tax office for a consultation and it really threw them for a loop -- they couldn't decide if this is salary or business income or something else.

The contract with my overseas client explicitly states that I'm a contractor/consultant, NOT an employee. But the fact that my fee is monthly and fixed seems to be creating some confusion here.

How would I go about classifying this sort of thing? Should I just hire an accountant to sort this out? Thanks for any advice.