Wiring money out of Japan

[Mike Oxlong]

Sorry to hear about your folks. Not too sure about the transfer. A quick search brought this up, in case you hadn't seen it.

https://tokyocheapo.com/business/financ ... -to-japan/

[Wage Slave]

I have had a really shitty year with both my Mom and now my Dad passing away within months of each other. We just opened their wills and found out that we will receive a modest amount of money. I am wondering how I can send it to myself here in japan without having to pay a tax or penalty? Or will I just have to bite the bullet and get stuck paying some kind of inheritance tax. Any advice would be appreciated. I looked online but could only find how to send money different wiring companies.
I just wired C$11000, and got the 5th degree by my bank here. Who sent the money, what will it be used for etc. I didn't think it was any of there business. But I had to tell them.

Sorry to hear that. We had a longish discussion of the inheritance tax thing here:

https://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=30700

I bumped it as well. Basically if your share is less than 30 million Yen you are clear. And you do not even have to report that you got it.

As far as transferring money into Japan, goes I have found it gets better as you go along and:

1. Doing spaced out transfers of (just) less than a million seems to cause less alarms to go off. May not be really true though.
2. Adding a note "From Savings" to the transfer seems to help. May not really be true though.
3. Settling on one reputable company (In my case World First) and doing their anti money laundering stuff which includes source (savings/inheritance), reason (kids education and other needs) and a rough plan (ie about how much per year) seems to keep the horses quieter here. I still sometimes get a little query, but 99% of the time the money just lands in my account without comment.
4. I use Shinsei - I don't know whether that helps or not but it might because they are a bit more internationally savvy than a standard Japanese bank.

I'm afraid anti money laundering regulations for the little guy are now a fact of life so you are going to get a decent amount of compliance at both ends. Nothing to be done I'm afraid except cheerfully comply.

[canman]

Thanks Wage Slave. That info seems promising.

[Scipio]

Wage is right about the amount of inheritance you can receive before you have to pay tax. However the problems with Japanese banks and money transfers is not something that you have only experienced. The truth is that Japanese laws to protect against money laundering have allowed the xenophobic demons of the Japanese psyche to run wild within the Japanese banking institutions. It's a real problem and very frustrating. I also bank in Hong Kong, New Zealand and the USA, and don't have 20% of the problems of money transfer, both ways, that I get with Japanese banks; it's almost like they're collectively willing for a new age of financial Sakoku for Japan.

The way I got around it was just to bring large chunks of sterling, Kiwi dollars and US dollars with me, every time I visited those countries. If you bring more than 1 million Yen of currency with you, when entering Japan, you have to declare it. I have always declared it and although their Yen equivalence has been between 1.5 - 2 million yen, apart for a confirming question or two about the amount, I have never had any problems with Japanese customs. I suspect that one thing that neutralizes any alarm is I am bringing the currency into Japan, in their foreign denominations.

Then when the money has entered Japan, I get favorable exchange rates in Ueno, when the time comes, and convert them to Yen. Then, in dribs and drabs, I place the money in my Japanese bank accounts. It seems long winded, but it really saves on the hassle of foreign money transfers and dealing with Japanese banks. Over the last 2 years I've transferred Y20,000,000 this way because I think in 2020 the Yen will strengthen to 2012 levels with Sterling, The Kiwi and the US dollar and the HK dollar will give up its US dollar peg.

[wagyl]

Anybody who thinks that this level of fiscal scrutiny is unique to Japan is living in an expat bubble.

Opening a bank account in almost any non-tax-haven country in recent years includes questions about tax liability in foreign countries, as well as questions about the source of the funds to be deposited.

[matsuki]

Anybody who thinks that this level of fiscal scrutiny is unique to Japan is living in an expat bubble.

My issue is when sending international bank wires....US accounts can be done online with a simple form. Never had one rejected.

JP banks, finally able to be completed online but each wire is scrutinized and several of mine have been rejected. With MUFJ - Wiring money to my own US account, moving money to my US savings is apparently not an acceptable reason for a bank wire. Wiring money for purchases or to have USD for travel is met with demands for invoices and the amount for travel is questioned to the level where one's privacy is not being respected. With Kiraboshi Ginko, it's even worse. To be fair, I've had far better luck recently with Shinsei but their system is limits the monthly amount that can be wired to a preregistered recipient.

[wangta]

Anybody who thinks that this level of fiscal scrutiny is unique to Japan is living in an expat bubble.

My issue is when sending international bank wires....US accounts can be done online with a simple form. Never had one rejected.

JP banks, finally able to be completed online but each wire is scrutinized and several of mine have been rejected. With MUFJ - Wiring money to my own US account, moving money to my US savings is apparently not an acceptable reason for a bank wire. Wiring money for purchases or to have USD for travel is met with demands for invoices and the amount for travel is questioned to the level where one's privacy is not being respected. With Kiraboshi Ginko, it's even worse. To be fair, I've had far better luck recently with Shinsei but their system is limits the monthly amount that can be wired to a preregistered recipient.

Yet Australian bank Westpac recently at last came under scrutiny for its money laundering over some time and like other financial institutions that do the same - eg HSBC elsewhere - prosecutions are not happening. Or you can still register shell companies in Delaware, the state that ex Vice President and demented hypocrite Joe Biden comes from, and not reveal too much about the real owners/beneficiaries, likewise in New York, despite a few changes made by the Obama Govt that didn't go far enough - probably not coincidentally because Joe Biden was the VP then.

All the over scrutiny of the likes of you and others making honest use of the money they honestly saved is simply to pluck the low hanging fruit while corporate and other scumbags continue to launder money and hide it. Why do people even buy the bullshit that the government wants to stop money laundering blah blah blah. They could do it tomorrow if they wanted. They would rather double tax the rest of us and steal our honest savings under pretence of financial regulations.

The politicians are in it like Flynn - there's a reason for the Clinton, Obama and other foundations including the one set up by Aussie cricketing cunt Glen McGrath whose wife died of breast cancer some years ago and guess what, he set up a foundation, and it's more likely to be making him money and setting up his children and children to become wealthy.

This is the reality about many 'charities' and nearly all 'foundations' - they rely on Joe Public being stupid enough to give some of his already taxed money to them for 'charity' which is then spent in ways he would never dream of and is funneled into making the starters of the charities more money. Irish cunt Bono told us to give to Africa while he was hiding his money and still is in the Netherlands etc. Fuck em all and starve the beasts.