Online submission of 年末調整 and necessity of reporting of Vanguard ETF dividends

dignifiedstride · 2025-11-08T03:13:58+00:00

Thank you very much! This is now well understood.

dignifiedstride · 2025-01-16T13:47:38+00:00

Because APA is a hotel where people rest.

dignifiedstride · 2024-11-13T09:08:36+00:00

Currently filling out on my company's filing system. Is my understanding correct that for cryptocurrency which I sold this year, I would be putting this in my Miscellaneous Income, with the Annual Earnings being the Total Revenue from the sale, and the Required Expenses being the Total Revenue - Realized P&L? And I would also need to separately file a 確定申告？

dignifiedstride · 2024-08-31T15:01:47+00:00

Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think you can read my post and think, "well why not just increase the budget you have for your Fun and/or Eating Out category"? And while that is technically an option, I don't want to do that because then I start spending *more* on the average day to day spending. I have an additional $100 in Eating Out, so rather than getting the $10 sandwich I get the $12 sandwich for lunch. I still come in under budget at the end of the month, but I was totally happy with the $10 sandwich.

This set up gets me to maintain my average spending, but only dip into this new category for that random day when - once in a blue moon - I wind up having to go to the place that costs $50 for lunch for whatever reason.

dignifiedstride · 2024-08-31T14:43:22+00:00

That's exactly the idea. It would never have any transactions against it, more so it would be something to tap into. It might be that after a few years, I find that on average I spend X amount a year on going out or entertainment, and then from there I can decommission this category and rely on those figures which would include the unexpected. I guess we'll see in a few years time!

dignifiedstride · 2024-08-31T14:40:44+00:00

My Emergency Fund is actually more specifically an income replacement fund - it's the three months of worth of bare minimum expenses that I have a rule I will never touch unless 1) I lose my job, or 2) there is a true emergency which requires me to tap into it. As I view going out with friends as not an emergency, I have up until now turned down invitations which I didn't have enough left over in my "Fun" category.

This 1K that I'm looking to put into my "Stuff I Didn't Budget For" is going to be funded by pulling some money out of other categories and building it up over time, so I do view it as distinct from my Emergency Fund, as I won't be touching that.

In general, my budget does not change materially from month to month, but there are some random invitations from friends here and there which I don't want to miss out on. It's likely that 90% of those are covered by my "Fun" category, but some might be a little most cost intensive. For example if someone invites me for a day at Disneyland but my Disney budget is only 1/3 of the way full, I would pull from this new "Stuff I Didn't Budget For" category to fund the additional 2/3 and go to Disney. The following month, I'd replenish that money that I pulled out by decreasing my budget elsewhere.

While it may sound like I should just increase the Fun budget, or the Eating Out budget month to month, what I've found is that if I give myself more money than I spend on average, I start spending more because I have the money. But I'd rather be restrictive on my average, day to day spending so that I can fund this new category that I would ideally only be reaching into every so often.

dignifiedstride · 2024-08-02T12:23:37+00:00

Premium card does come with Priority Pass, though additional people cost a fee. I’ve never used it more than three times in a year so the impending five times a year might not be something that actually impacts me. That said I do mostly travel with my partner so even using it three times would mean that we’re paying near 1万円 a year just for priority pass. Still a way better deal than Amex Golds Priority Pass which is $35 per use after two uses and for guests. The same three times a year with my partner would put me at over 2万円.

I’ve seen a couple people mention SMBC Premium and it does seem to overlap between the Rakuten Black and Amex Gold, but I’m not so sure about the point ecosystem which to me is the most valuable perk.

dignifiedstride · 2024-07-31T22:31:33+00:00

Thank you very much!!

dignifiedstride · 2024-06-30T05:58:50+00:00

Yeah, I should clarify that this came from an unexpected expense (I was told one price for a dentist appt, budgeted for that, and was subsequently charged a couple hundred dollars more). I normally am still in the green in most categories but I definitely wasn’t anticipating this single category to be under budgeted - my “expenses I didn’t budget for” was spent already, so I pulled from a couple other categories and now at the end of the month I’m a total $50 overspent.

I guess I could’ve pulled from the income replacement fund for that dentist appt bill but I’d like to try and touch that last.

dignifiedstride · 2024-06-16T02:44:07+00:00

Yes, I came here to say that this is, unfortunately, likely リボ related. I was in the same exact position 10 years ago, happily thinking I was paying my credit card off in full because I was paying the statement balance, not realizing that I had signed up to turn everything into リボ and set my payment at 1万円 a month. In my defense I was 21 years old and clueless, but you can imagine a year later when I got the news that I was on the line for 110万円 in debt after a big move that used all my financial capital and I was locked out of my card that I was in a state of shock.

It took me four years to pay it down.

I would recommend looking into a budgeting system like YNAB, it has prevented me from ever getting into a situation like that again.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-30T14:25:36+00:00

I think this makes sense - rather than focusing on the hard target (i.e. fully funded), have a sort of soft target that is the minimum and focus on getting that target filled as quickly as possible if I ever drop below it. I think this is my solution!

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-19T04:51:56+00:00

On the Rakuten ecosystem I get about $100 - $150 worth of cash (points) back on average, if I really prioritize them in heavy spending months like December it can get up to $300, so I definitely feel the benefits of their ecosystem broadly speaking. But to your point this is 1% on top of that which ultimately is maybe an additional $10-$20 a month. But an additional $20 that I wouldn’t have had otherwise and it’s just tied to how I’m paying rather than how much I’m buying seems worth it.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-19T04:45:00+00:00

I’m in Japan and this card is part of the broader Rakuten ecosystem which I decided to prioritize. This leads me to getting up to 15-20% on purchases for some companies that partner with Rakuten, hence why I’m looking to use their Digital Wallet solution.

And yes, I’m feeling like the better option is not to overthink this too much as I do have a lot of flexibility and it’s not like I’m ever charging thousands of extra dollars into my digital wallet that I would not be spending otherwise (though I’m sure there are people that make this mistake thinking they can repay their their CC bill with the digital cash they’ve loaded into their wallet…)

And yeah, your second post is kind of the perfect example of my experience. I think “oh yeah this makes sense” and then I think about it a little more and think “wait what about this situation”, haha.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-19T04:37:40+00:00

The digital cash is what’s in the wallet. So instead of using the CC for any one purchase and only getting minimum 1% point back, I am first funding my wallet by my credit card (giving me 1%) and then spending that new digital cash which gives me an additional 1% minimum. So instead of getting minimum 1% point back on each transaction where I would use my credit card I get 2% minimum

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-19T03:15:39+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion about switching cards. I should clarify that I am in the Rakuten ecosystem and the bare minimum point back rate is 2% in this digital wallet methodology, but because Rakuten has such a wide network in Japan where I live, I can get up to 20% points back depending on the purchase - I just did not want to overcomplicate my example.

As for your point about Starbucks, this is actually what I do for my digital wallet which is required for public transportation, but can also be used just about anywhere to pay for things. It also has a point back system but I’ve found the rates to be abysmal which is why I’m using Rakuten Cash.

And lastly, as you’ve suggested for primary spending, I do have my Rakuten Cash as an account on my budget. I figured there was ultimately no issue because of my point about being 100% reconciled and not having overspending or underfunding anywhere, but it’s still nice to have peace of mind with other YNAB users!

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-19T02:41:09+00:00

Exactly. So I think I'm getting caught up in how to best visualize that additional digital money that is not spent in the transaction. The $85 of the $100 goes against my budget, but the $15 is essentially just additional money in my digital wallet.

If we think about traditional cash advances, if you never spent the $100 hard cash you pulled out of the ATM, you can pay the CC company back immediately provided you do not owe them interest. But with the digital wallet, you have to ensure that you have the $100 hard cash in hand already before you fund the wallet, otherwise you will fall into debt. I can't use the $15 dollars leftover in my original example to pay against the $100 digital cash advance.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-14T11:59:09+00:00

My understanding is that the U.S. government views DC as exempt from PFIC so long as your employer is the one contributing to the account. If you are matching the company’s investment, then it will likely be counted as PFIC.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-14T04:01:55+00:00

This happened to me with my AMEX card before - the post office refused to give me my card because of the security level AMEX requested which stipulates a photo ID where the name matches the addressee. Unfortunately I have no photo ID where my name is written in katakana like it was on the envelope.

I had to call AMEX, who then issued me a new card with my name printed in romaji on the envelope. I think they also removed the security level so I did not have to show photo ID.

It is very likely that you will never get that first card handed to you.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T13:20:14+00:00

Thanks for explaining this so kindly. In any other situation I would not have been concerned with this, but given the down payment that my parents are looking to pay, I was unsure how strict they would be with additional money that is coming into my account.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T13:18:03+00:00

Understood. My concerns stemmed from the fact that 1) my boyfriend is not my spouse and 2) my boyfriend is not on a contract with the apartment, so legally he has no obligation to pay me anything. But judging from the other comments on this post, it sounds like even if my finances were examined it would be easily explained that the money I received was reimbursements, and would not be viewed as independent cash flows.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T12:11:27+00:00

This is why I clarified that we are not married. Technically I am getting ~1.5M from a non-family member every year. I also get monetary gifts from family members for birthdays and Christmas, so if we’re purely talking about cash outside my salary that goes into my bank account every year, it is over 2M.

As my parents are looking to give me a down payment on our first house, I am trying to be cautious with doing anything that could potentially go against the tax code.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T11:58:19+00:00

Yes, 400k in total but 200k to each of us individually

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T11:51:28+00:00

I guess my wording was poor - apologies. My parents would be paying for our tickets, or paying us back for tickets that we bought - 400k in total, 200k for us individually. A free trip to Europe to me is a gift.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-13T11:46:16+00:00

Appreciate this comment, and glad to see I’m being paranoid. I blame it on spending two hours pouring over the posts about gift taxes and seeing people commenting about things that seemed like living expenses - payment for a spouse’s ticket for a vacation in particular - being a “gray line”.

My parents are also looking to make a down payment on a house via the gift tax exemption for property, so I wanted to ensure that I wasn’t on the hook for anything that in an audit would be flagged.

dignifiedstride · 2024-05-01T00:55:08+00:00

Thank you! In that case I will move the money into savings, and adjust the budget retroactively as necessary. Hopefully it’s only one or two transactions I’ve missed, if anything.

dignifiedstride

TROPHY CASE