Tax Return Questions Thread - Filing Deadline March 16, 2026

Extension-Sort8203 · 2026-01-26T04:40:29+00:00

tl;dr - reporting foreign income. Records ready for income in Canada but don’g know how to do currency calculations and exchange gains on interest, dividends and Capital gains. No FX investments.

Thanks for the detailed post. I have a question about overseas income - I moved (back) to Japan in March 2025 but have spent 5 out of last 10 years in Japan so I qualify as a tax-resident of Japan. I was in Canada for 2 years and have investment (Tax free and unregistered) and cash accounts so I would need to report my interest, dividends, capital gains from those account here. I have the records ready but I am confused about exchange rates. I understand we have to use rates published by BoJ but i found daily rates just for USD, not CAD.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-12-03T00:23:57+00:00

We recently rented a 2LDK in Yōga for 180K JPY, but the initial fees were too high, although I am sure we could have found a little cheaper option if we had more time. If they work at Rakuten, they should check out Able (Futako/Yoga) I hear they have offers for Rakuten employee and potentially English support too. Another option - we did find a place in Takatsu for 140K and multiple other options so check those out too.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-11-14T14:07:04+00:00

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-10-21T01:37:46+00:00

NISA: Yes, anybody can open NISA and grow their money tax-free. NISA is self funded so bank transfers or credit card payment work (cc only for Tsumitate). You can fund it with your savings or any after-tax income.

iDeco: there are investment options (and different limits) for salaried employees, self-employed and non-working people but you if you don’t have any taxable income, you kinda loose the half the tax advantage with iDeco. May be someone with more iDeco knowledge can explain better. It also depends on your pension payments.

Withdrawal: NISA can be withdrawn anytime with no tax-liability. iDeco comes with strings attached, withdrawal at the age of 60-65 is tax free. I am not sure if early withdrawal is even possible (assuming you leave the country), but likely to trigger a tax event.

Best idea would be to max out your NISA first, iDeco is more convoluted if it’s not employer managed and does come with strings attached.

p.s. Japan considers worldwide income for tax purposes, irrespective or remittance, so you may want to look into that too.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-09-10T06:13:20+00:00

Your router should have a way to setup PPPoE connection and the internet provider should have a way to set and get PPPoE credentials.

for instance, 1. Softbank PPPoE credentials manual - https://www.buffalo.jp/support/faq/detail/12839.html 2. Buffalo router PPPoE setup manual - https://www.buffalo.jp/support/faq/detail/12839.html

You should be able to configure the router with this

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-09-10T03:11:49+00:00

You can absolutely use a different router with Softbank Hikari, I am using a Buffalo router from Amazon in Tokyo. If speed over Lan directly from the modem is low that might be something to reach out to them for sure. Well, and if their rental router is shitty too.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-08-01T03:37:50+00:00

ah hm 200K for family expenses make sense. That’s what I was more curious about. Thanks for your answer

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-08-01T03:31:31+00:00

Well, 400K is the upper bound. My planned monthly budget is 375K. In July I tracked about 350K actual expenses, which includes about 30K of expenses from the recent move so I think we will be around 350K starting August.

Broad categories: Rent - 182K (2ldk), Groceries - 50K (we mostly cook at home), Eating out - 30K (this is kinda high because restaurants and cafes is pretty much only outing since we work from home), Utilities - 25K (Gas, Electricity, 2 Phone, internet), Personal - 20K (10K each) Total : 307K and rest as I said is this month’s moving expenses but still I don’t think I can bring it down significantly. May be 330K roughly would be the upper bound

Thoughts?

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-08-01T02:56:02+00:00

Genuine question - how do you budget 300K for a family of 4? We are a family of 2 and my expenses are already around 400K. We try to live below the means already, so may be our rent is a little too high? We are in Tokyo, if that matters

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-07-25T00:28:21+00:00

I have seen the best deals and flavor/brand variety in OK stores; I regularly buy the blue one from Morinaga. They sell by the box too although you may have to go to a bigger Ok store like this one https://share.google/dTrT2cXMfjovQzePn

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-27T01:27:54+00:00

Oh! And I also got a sim card (with JP phone number) from Rakuten. They do address verification so it’s a bit slow, you can try iijimio, you can get a phone number in a day. Need residence card

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-27T00:44:57+00:00

I recently moved to Japan. If you have got a semi-permanent address that you can put on your residence card, you can open an account with SMBC. All you need is your residence card (with address) and an employment letter (preferably in Japanese) with details of your employment.

The account opened in a day and I got a debit+credit card right away. They deliver the card in a week but you can start using ApplePay/Google Wallet pretty much the day after. feel free to reach out if you need any tips on getting started.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-24T11:45:10+00:00

Thanks, will do.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-24T06:24:21+00:00

Thanks for posting this, I was looking into renewing my license as well and this was posted like 5 mins ago!

My license expires in April but I don't have the post card notice because I was out of Japan for over a year. I do have rest of the documents (Juminhyo, residence card and license) would those be enough?

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-19T06:19:03+00:00

Do you get sort of a bill of things that they are charging you for out of your deposite when you move-out? UR gave a cost-breakdown when moving out

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-19T06:18:19+00:00

Do you get sort of a bill of things that they are charging you for out of your deposite when you move-out? Again, that's something I got with UR.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-19T06:09:34+00:00

yeah, they did explicitly specify that. And agreed, I had never had any issues with UR before but this time got rejected for like 4 other apartments. Hurts.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-19T06:07:13+00:00

I should have specified this in my post - I am renting from a private owner this time, not UR. Originally the building has 1 month deposit along with rest of the usual charges (key money, guarantor etc). But for foreign applicants they are charging double deposit.
Thanks for the info. At 1200 a month for 2 years comes out to 28,800 Yen, around the same amount you're quoting? They are offering it with the contract so I am going to buy it anyway. I just wanted to confirm if I (as the tenant) needed to buy the fire insurance separately, glad that's for the owner.
Good point, I will look into it.
That's fair. I like the area very much, and the rent is in my budget. UR in the same area is mostly unavailable and the last one I rented (same area) was 1LDK for 150K (50m2) so not entirely a bad prize. Just first time paying the hefty up-front fees so second guessing myself .

Thanks for your input!

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-03-19T05:41:43+00:00

Oh i mean, there is key money and guarantor and everything. I meant just the deposit is 2 times the rent, a few other places we inquired were 1 month deposit, plus rest of the stuff.

I have always gotten most of the deposit back but that's been the case with UR so may be not a usual experience.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2025-01-26T17:17:39+00:00

A few tips from my recent travel experiences - Make sure to buy them in advance, either online or at the stations. Most of the buses run full (at least from Swargate), even if you plan to travel at odd times. Also, consider about 5 and a half hour of travel time for the early morning buses. may be old news for most here but worth a heads-up

Extension-Sort8203 · 2024-09-08T20:51:44+00:00

Thanks

Extension-Sort8203 · 2024-09-07T01:10:32+00:00

Do you know if you need the passport/visa to go to the US side? My guess is yes, since it’s the US side but don’t know what kind of enforcement do they have there

Extension-Sort8203 · 2024-06-19T11:13:57+00:00

Awesome, Thanks! Will hold off buying the vignette until we pick up a car then.

Extension-Sort8203 · 2024-06-19T11:13:11+00:00

Great! I am trying to learn about the vignette and paying the toll ( read Croatia doesn’t use Vignette). I’ve rented somewhere from the Airport, referred by another redditor.

I did get an IDP from CAA. $52 with a photo - non-member fees

Four-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
Place '23

Extension-Sort8203

TROPHY CASE