The leaving-Japan checklist
These are the evidence categories the NTA weighs, in the order it will look for them. Download the same list as a one-page PDF — no email needed.
Download the free checklist (PDF) ↓
Your new country
- Lease or proof of housingNames, address, dates and the living arrangement.
- New driver's licenceIf issued and applicable to your situation.
- Residence or immigration documentThe visa or permit that applies to your status — and whether it is permanent.
- Local bank statementEvidence of an account in your new country.
Japan
- Moving-out notification (転出届) at your city officeFile the 国外転出 notification with your municipality before you leave; it ends your resident registration, National Health Insurance and National Pension enrolment as a resident. Decide at the same counter whether to keep your My Number Card for overseas use (possible since 27 May 2024) or return it.
- Tax agent notification to the tax officeFile the Notification of Tax Agent for Income Tax and Consumption Tax with your tax office before departure if anything will need filing or paying after you leave — and a separate inhabitant-tax agent notification with your municipality.
- Inhabitant tax settledPay the current year's inhabitant tax in full before you go, or leave it with your inhabitant-tax agent; keep the receipts.
- National Pension decisionCompulsory coverage ends with your moving-out notification. Japanese nationals aged 20 to under 65 can continue by voluntary enrolment (任意加入); foreign nationals with six months or more of contributions can claim the lump-sum withdrawal payment within two years of leaving.
- Employer year-end adjustment and bank / brokerage updatesGet your employer's year-end adjustment done on your last resident salary, and tell your bank and broker you are becoming a non-resident so withholding and account status are correct.
Keeping a Japanese bank account does not by itself make you a resident — the NTA looks at where the base of your life is. See how the NTA defines domicile ↗
You prepare here.
You file with the NTA.
There is no single departure form — but there are four things the NTA and your municipality expect you to do, and their deadlines depend on whether you appoint a tax agent. This app does not connect to e-Tax.
1. File the tax-agent notification before you leave
Submit the Notification of Tax Agent for Income Tax and Consumption Tax (所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書) to the tax office for your address. It keeps your final return on the normal March 15 deadline and fixes your exit-tax valuation at the departure date.
2. Or file a pre-departure return and pay
Without a tax agent, lodge the pre-departure return (準確定申告) covering January 1 to your departure date, and pay it — plus any estimated-tax instalments (due 31 July and 30 November where the base amount is ¥150,000 or more) that fall after you leave — before your departure date.
3. Report the exit tax, or the deferral
If you meet the ¥100 million and five-in-ten tests, include the deemed disposal in that return with the prescribed asset schedules; to defer, attach the deferral election and provide security equal to the deferred tax and interest by the filing deadline.
4. Keep the file
Residency can be questioned years later, and the exit-tax deferral runs for five to ten years with an annual continuation filing by March 15. Keep the evidence, every notification and your entry/exit records.
Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau: procedures before leaving Japan ↗
The checklist PDF is free. For $27 we compile your answers and documents into a structured report; for $497 a member of our team reviews it and writes an opinion memo.
Get my departure report — $27 → Free checklist ↓