Leaving Japan: the questions people actually ask

Yes. Under an agreed review engagement, our team reviews your residency file and supporting package, provides a written advisory opinion and recommends revisions. That is our opinion — not an NTA determination and not a written answer from the tax office.

No. Japan has no residency-opinion request. You self-assess whether your domicile has left Japan, and the forms that matter are the moving-out notification at your city office and the tax-agent notification at your tax office. The only formal route to a written view is the advance written inquiry procedure, which is designed for specific transactions and is rarely used for personal residency. NTA: advance written inquiry ↗

Yes, but only above a high threshold. If you hold ¥100 million or more of securities, investment-trust units, silent-partnership interests and unsettled margin or derivative positions, and you have lived in Japan for more than five of the last ten years (time on a Table 1 visa such as a work or study status does not count), you are deemed to have sold them at market value when you leave. Real estate, cash and crypto held directly are not covered assets. NTA Tax Answer No.1478 ↗

Yes. Appoint a tax agent before you leave, file the return by March 15 with the deferral election and asset schedules, and provide security equal to the deferred tax and interest. Payment is then deferred for five years from departure, extendable to ten by a notice filed by March 15; interest tax accrues during the deferral. If you return within the period still holding the assets, the tax can be cancelled by an amended return within four months of returning; if you sell for less, the tax can be recomputed on the lower price. NTA: exit-tax system ↗

Not filing the tax-agent notification. Without it, your final return and all tax — including estimated-tax instalments due after departure — must be filed and paid before you board, and if you are in the exit-tax net your assets are valued three months before your planned departure rather than on the day you leave. The second trap is inhabitant tax: it is charged on the previous year's income by where you lived on January 1, so leaving in February still leaves a full year's bill to settle. Tokyo RTB leaflet ↗

No blanket rule requires it. Accounts and assets in Japan are among the objective facts the NTA weighs for domicile, alongside your home, occupation, family and nationality. Keep what you need, tell the institution you are a non-resident so withholding is correct, and be able to explain it. Rental income from Japanese property stays taxable in Japan and is a common reason you need a tax agent.

Compulsory National Pension and National Health Insurance coverage end when you file the moving-out notification. Japanese nationals aged 20 to under 65 can keep contributing to the National Pension by voluntary enrolment through their last pension office in Japan. Foreign nationals with six months or more of contributions who have not reached the ten-year pension qualifying period can claim the lump-sum withdrawal payment within two years of losing coverage, with a maximum of 60 months counted. Japan Pension Service: moving abroad ↗

Not for ten years. A Japanese national who had a domicile in Japan at any time within the ten years before a death or gift remains subject to Japanese inheritance and gift tax on worldwide assets, whether as the person giving or the person receiving. Non-Japanese nationals who leave are generally taxed only on Japan-situs assets, subject to the same look-back rules. Plan gifts and estates around this tail, not just around income tax. NTA Tax Answer No.4138 ↗