Feb 3, 2020
First Year in Japan American Taxes
I am filling my taxes online and I had a question. So this is my first year working in Japan and I started living here in March. During the first year, do any Americans remember how they filed their taxes so they don't have to pay double taxes during the first year?
Teacher, Traveler, Dancer -
Currently living in Gifu -
I love Japan, dance, cats, food, and fashion!
Best Answer
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on Feb 4
You shouldn't ever have to pay double taxes. If you use form 2555 to claim your foreign earned income, that's actually counted as a deduction (for an income of up to $105,000 I think). You might not even owe tax in Japan on your independent lessons (outside of your ALT job), as long as you're deducting all of your expenses (transportation, meals in cafes, supplies...) for that work. If you do pay tax in Japan, it's claimed as a deduction in the US too. Until you start earning crazy amounts of money, no problem, hah. My first year in Japan I didn't need to file taxes here as I only had an ALT job (didn't claim cash earned from very little side work) and tax was deducted from the company already. I was advised by a CPA to not claim foreign earned income at that time, but that felt sneaky. Now I do to show that I have an income. Simply because if I ever want to qualify for a home loan or anything like that in the states, it helps.
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on Mar 6
Hope you were able to figure it out, but you would only need to fill out a tax exemption form for the United States. My uncle is a tax accountant so I haven't personally done it, but I've seen other coworkers use online american tax websites to file for free. Unless your salary is ridiculously high, you won't need to worry about paying american taxes.
2 Answers