ADVICE on ward tax

[Maths Dude]

Hakuman sounds like he has Charisma Man burn out. There there old chum.

[Reddeville]

Now for it - Hakuman is gonna be surprised but I thought it was cool that he actually made a detailed response. No problem with that. I know every country has its laws and regulations that make life difficult for foreigners but to tell you the truth the only real problems I have here are with as you guess, the ward tax and the pension.

I don`t think my reasons are unreasonable - sorry, poor use of English vocab. there. I think ward tax stinks because of the way it`s administered - I wouldn`t have much of a problem with it if it was just taken out of the general tax revenue. That does happen in some countries. Like NHK - I stopped paying but if they took it out of general tax revenues I wouldn`t bitch about it. In our home countries we also pay for shit we don`t use.

It`s just the Japanese way of collecting taxes that really pisses me off. But the pension is something I`m never going to change my mind about. The prospect of most foreigners staying here 25 years to collect is remote - good luck to those like Hakuman who have a Japanese spouse and good reasons to be here for that time. I was conned into paying it when I entered the Health system and I still don`t see why if I am helping securing the future of Japan`s senior citizens I shouldn`t be respected for it instead of the reverse.

Again - my main point is against `You`re Gaijin - but when we want your money your`e a citizen!` Make up your mind. My local city hall plumbs the depths of incompetency and employs too many people who forget the so called manners of the Japanese every time a foreigner walks in there. Those people can walk into an active volcano for all I care.

[hakuman]

Hakuman sounds like he has Charisma Man burn out. There there old chum.

Dude, I was born charisma man. And THEN I came to Japan.

[Captain Japan]

The penalties on late payment are high so I suggest you work out what you want to do quickly. If you are planning on staying in Japan then you can't avoid ward tax. This is not the NHK guy]
As many people have noted paying is obligatory. A friend of mine who didn't pay had the money taken from his bank account without his knowing.

But then I was reading an article in the Asahi over the weekend. It was a generally horrible article about a woman who is famous for shopping and simultaneously getting away with the debt she racks up:
Weekend Beat: She shops, therefore she is

Writer Usagi Nakamura sat at a cafe alfresco in Tokyo's Omotesando area, took a drag on a menthol cigarette and admitted, "I'm bad at numbers."

It is this talent-or lack of-that has made Nakamura one of the most talked about women in the country, and lead to her moniker, the "debt queen."

Calculating how much this math-challenged individual owes is futile. Even she says she has no idea. But guesstimates abound. Let's put the figure in the tens of millions of yen. Regardless, it's this insouciance-her seeming indifference to making things add up, not to mention her penchant for serial plastic surgery-that has garnered her a legion of fans.

Nakamura, 47, may not care, but one interested party that certainly wants to get paid is Tokyo's Minato Ward. She hasn't paid her residential taxes in a good long while. As it accumulates, the ward tacks on an additional annual interest penalty of 14.6 percent.

So how does she get away with it? She's famous, and not hiding the fact that she owes. How? Or does she simply not keep money in an account that the ward can get at?

[Mulboyne]

It was a generally horrible article about a woman who is famous for shopping and simultaneously getting away with the debt she racks up

Japan Times covered her in this interview on host clubs

For 14 months from mid-2001, she was totally absorbed in one of the host clubs in the Tokyo entertainment district of Kabukicho, the industry's "holy ground." Surprisingly (or maybe not), Nakamura spent a total of 15 million yen on her favorite host over that period.

[Mulboyne]

Still the same off-topic topic.

MDN: Happy shopper tries hand at becoming a happy hooker
Authoress, TV personality and self-proclaimed "queen" of shopping Usagi Nakamura, age 47, was looking for a writing project that would get her some attention...[She] adopts the nom de guerre of Junko Suzuki, and arranges to get herself hired to a "delivery health," a type of outcall sex service which dispatches women to waiting customers at apartments and hotel rooms, where they dispense oral sex and a menu of other services which typically culminate in male orgasm but fall short of actual intercourse...more...

[Taro Toporific]

Still the same off-topic topic.
MDN: ... Usagi Nakamura... "let's face it: now I'm an old bag of 47, and my sexual values have plummeted." And at that age, she ... arranges to get herself hired to a "delivery health," a type of outcall sex service ...

Jan. 12, 2003, The Japan Times: Jan. 12, 2003
Interview with Usagi Nakamura:
"I do know that a Ferrari and a Toyota Corolla are different]Illusion ......VS ...... Lusion[/size]
<--Usagi Nakamura

[Captain Japan]

I'm bumping this thread because I have a question. Is there an online tax table available for the wards of Tokyo?

I changed jobs. At my old job the tax was taken from my salary. At the new one I'm paid offshore. A few months ago the Meguro Ward people sent me some invoices. Trouble is, they have no idea how much I make now (because it is paid offshore). I guess they are just using my old salary to calculate the tax and sending me the bill.

Is there any online tax table for Meguro Ward? Or should I just go to the ward office and try to figure out it?

[Captain Japan]

Oh, and if the ward people can find me they can find Nakamura. What's the deal? She's making fun of them.

[IkemenTommy]

The quickest way to get that answer is contact the HR of the old company. Even the most incompetent HR like that of my last workplace knows about taxes. I recently switched jobs, and I had to pay the ward tax until the end of the fiscal year (April) and that was not cool. I tried to evade it in every way possible but the big brother is watching.

[drpepper]

Ward Taxes are based on the previous years income so that is what they are basing it on (before your salary went offshore). In case many people have not noticed you didn't pay ward tax your first year here because of this same thing, it kicks in the second year cause they have something to base it on. Used to be all the one-year contract English teachers used to get away with just starting 'new' each year, with a new visa and new contract. My friend didn't pay those taxes for nearly 10 years.. not so anymore I think though.

[Captain Japan]

Illusion ......VS ...... Lusion
<--Usagi Nakamura

Since most of this lady's popularity seems based one excess or another, I'd probably guess that she exaggerates a little in her blog...
Shopping diva screws up courage for a public screwing
Mainichi

Japan's self-professed "queen of shopping," author and essayist Usagi Nakamura, is on a roll. After submitting some extremely explicit accounts of her experiences while working as an outcall sex service worker, and then subsequently relating several tragicomic efforts to buy a man's body to sate her lusts, she has found a new tack with which to entertain Shincho 45 (December) readers.

To wit, she made the scene at one of Tokyo's "happening bars" -- where unrestrained horniness among patrons is the name of the game -- and engaged in sexual intercourse before a live audience.

It was a weekend evening, she writes, and the "hapubaa" (happening bar) was unusually crowded, with a mixture of couples and some male patrons who came in alone, and who were prowling around the bar wearing nothing but their jockey shorts.

When Usagi complained that none of the bar's patrons offered much in the way of physical appeal, her companion Takanashi challenged her, saying "Aren't you just blowing steam about getting it on in here?"

"Like hell I am," countered the infuriated Nakamura. "I'm the kind of woman who matches her words with her actions. And just to prove it, I'm going to ball the next guy who propositions me, just so you can watch!"...more...

I wonder if she ever had to pay her ward tax.

[kurokohi]

Hey, just joined, this forum rocks and hope you can answer my questions. Came back to Japan this year and need some advice.

I left Japan in Feb 2006. I paid my bills - rent/electricity/water/gas/phone - but didn't pay city tax after Jan 2006 and health insurance after October 2006.

At Immigration in 2006 I didn't hand in the gaijin card because I thought I was coming back later that year. Instead got a job home and came back here because I lost it with the recession.

I haven't heard from my old ward office. My new one didn't say anything about old tax and health insurance but maybe the bills from the old place are gonna start coming soon? I now live very far from my previous residence.

Can anybody tell me what the penalties are likely to be? I know there was a tax increase when I was out of Japan. Or maybe my old ward office isn't going to catch up with me - but maybe that's too pessimistic. Will there be penalties for the health insurance too?

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've always wondered what the rules are about residence tax. If you leave Japan before a bill is issued, are you still supposed to pay it?

[rooboy]

:neutral: Hey, just joined, this forum rocks and hope you can answer my questions. Came back to Japan this year and need some advice.

I left Japan in Feb 2006. I paid my bills - rent/electricity/water/gas/phone - but didn't pay city tax after Jan 2006 and health insurance after October 2006.

At Immigration in 2006 I didn't hand in the gaijin card because I thought I was coming back later that year. Instead got a job home and came back here because I lost it with the recession.

I haven't heard from my old ward office. My new one didn't say anything about old tax and health insurance but maybe the bills from the old place are gonna start coming soon? I now live very far from my previous residence.

Can anybody tell me what the penalties are likely to be? I know there was a tax increase when I was out of Japan. Or maybe my old ward office isn't going to catch up with me - but maybe that's too pessimistic. Will there be penalties for the health insurance too?

So did your old ward come after ya? And think ya meant 'after October 2005' cause you say you left in Feb 2006. So what happened?

[rooboy]

I've always wondered what the rules are about residence tax. If you leave Japan before a bill is issued, are you still supposed to pay it?

I reckon you do. You pay up to the date you're gonna be a resident from what I know but maybe old hands can tell ya differently.

[GomiGirl]

I reckon you do. You pay up to the date you're gonna be a resident from what I know but maybe old hands can tell ya differently.

My mother left in June and she was sent a bill for Ward tax after that for earnings last year. She had left money with me to pay it which I did.

[IparryU]

I reckon you do. You pay up to the date you're gonna be a resident from what I know but maybe old hands can tell ya differently.

the old hands just delay things... when someone else actually gets it done, the registered address will get a bill.

not to mention, several people move throughout different ku (or to another shi) and it will eventually catch up.

after you pay, depending on how "good" your tax adviser is, you could get it refunded by foreign tax credits, etc.

I make very minimal yen income and still get refunds each year that basically get me back the money i paid for ward tax... really depends if you got a tax guy/gal that does a good job rather than the cookie cutter tax form that the local tax offices do... (fuck you Azabu tax office)

[gaijinpunch]

My mother left in June and she was sent a bill for Ward tax after that for earnings last year. She had left money with me to pay it which I did.

So have they made it possible to actually pay your taxes/bills after leaving Japan without entrusting someone else to do it? Stupidest fucking system ever.

[Greji]

My mother left in June and she was sent a bill for Ward tax after that for earnings last year. She had left money with me to pay it which I did.

You mean your had Mums swamping out the pub for ya and youse didn't even pay her taxes?

That's a Sheelagh for ya. Good thing Mums went home, before you'd had her hawking used cell phones out in front of eki, if'n she'd stayed.....

[GomiGirl]

You mean your had Mums swamping out the pub for ya and youse didn't even pay her taxes?

That's a Sheelagh for ya. Good thing Mums went home, before you'd had her hawking used cell phones out in front of eki, if'n she'd stayed.....

She was here on an expat gig with an international school. Earned more coin than I do.... a sweet deal she had including a pad in Minami Aoyama.

but her cell phone was one of mine from the office. So I was a very dutiful daughter. In exchange, I had free babysitting for nearly a year.

I really miss my Mum and Dad.

They are coming back in a few months though for Christmas. I might see if they want to come to the snow for a few days. They don't ski but they LOVE to baby sit.

[GomiGirl]

So have they made it possible to actually pay your taxes/bills after leaving Japan without entrusting someone else to do it? Stupidest fucking system ever.

Nope - the bill comes by post and as I had all the mail redirected to my house I get any bills.

Not sure what would happen if there was no mail redirection or for people who have no next of kin in Japan? Or for those that didn't have their companies holding the tax responsibilities for staff after they have left either the job or the country.

I haven't checked as to whether the bills could be sent OS. But then once you are OS, why would you bother sending money back. (Unless you were my parents of course who are scrupulously honest.)

Immigration and taxes are not linked AKAIK, so not paying after you leave wouldn't have much effect on your ability to return either on short term visas or a new work one.

Tis a huge loophole that most FG's exploit I am sure. I wonder what sort of monies this equates to in lost ward revenue?

[Doctor Stop]

Tis a huge loophole that most FG's exploit I am sure. I wonder what sort of monies this equates to in lost ward revenue?

It's minor compared to the unpaid ward taxes from the indigenous people. Minato-ku may be an exception though.