Japan tax residency for foreigners: non-resident, non-permanent resident and full resident

Japan tax residency for a foreigner comes down to one question: is your life based in Japan? As of October 2026, you are a resident (居住者) if you have a domicile (住所) in Japan or have lived here for a year or more. A job of a year or more usually makes you a resident from the day you arrive. Then, for your first 5 years in Japan (counted over the past 10), you are a non-permanent resident (非永住者), and most foreign income is taxed only if it reaches Japan.

What are the three tax residency categories in Japan?

Japan’s income tax puts every person into one of three groups. Where your life is based, your nationality and your time in Japan decide which one.

The National Tax Agency (国税庁) calls the last group “residents other than non-permanent residents”. It is often called “permanent resident” (永住者) for short. That name causes confusion, as explained below.

When do you become a Japan tax resident?

The test is your domicile, meaning the base of your life (生活の本拠). The tax office judges it from facts: where you live and work, where your assets and family are, and your nationality. If you have no domicile, you still become a resident once you have lived in Japan continuously for a year, counted from the day after you entered.

Most foreigners don’t wait a year. Under the presumption rules (住所の推定), a person who comes to Japan for a job that normally needs a year or more here is presumed to have a domicile in Japan. A spouse or dependent relatives who live with them are presumed the same. So if you arrive on a 3-year work contract, you are usually a resident from the day you arrive.

The National Tax Agency gives a counter-example. A technical intern enters on 20 August, does a month of training, works on a contract that ends the next 20 August and goes home by then. That is not “a year or more”, so the intern is generally a non-resident for the whole stay.

Who is a non-permanent resident, and what foreign income is taxed?

You are a non-permanent resident if you are a resident, you don’t have Japanese nationality, and your time living in Japan adds up to 5 years or less in the past 10 years. Earlier stays inside that 10-year window count: separate periods are added together. You switch to full resident on the day after your total reaches 5 years.

As a non-permanent resident, Japan taxes:

• all your income that is not foreign-source, such as your Japanese salary,
• foreign-source income paid in Japan, and
• foreign-source income paid abroad that you send to Japan.

Money sent to Japan is matched first against non-foreign-source income paid abroad that year. The National Tax Agency’s example: you were paid 250 abroad of income that is not foreign-source and 100 of foreign-source income. If you bring 260 into Japan, the first 250 is treated as the non-foreign-source money, and only 10 is taxed as remitted foreign income.

One exception has applied since April 2017: gains from selling securities abroad (on a foreign exchange, through a foreign broker or from a foreign account) are taxed whether or not you send the money to Japan if you bought those securities while a non-permanent resident in the 10 years before the sale. Securities bought before 1 April 2017, more than 10 years before the sale, or while you were not a non-permanent resident stay under the remittance rule.

Money you send home from Japan is not “remitted to Japan”. The rule is about money coming in. See sending money from Japan for transfer costs.

Is the tax “permanent resident” the same as a PR visa?

No. This is the most common mix-up. The tax categories ignore your status of residence (在留資格). They look only at nationality and time spent in Japan.

• A work, student or spouse visa holder who has lived in Japan for more than 5 of the past 10 years is a full resident, taxed on worldwide income.
• A person who got permanent residency (永住許可) but has lived here 5 years or less in the past 10, is still a non-permanent resident for income tax.

If you hold savings, rental property or investments abroad, the 5-year point matters more than the date on your residence card. From then on, foreign interest, dividends, rent and gains are taxable in Japan even if you never bring the money here.

How are non-residents taxed in Japan?

A non-resident pays tax only on Japan-source income, usually by withholding.

Special measures and treaties lower some of these rates. For salary, the 20.42% is flat. Non-residents can’t submit the dependents form (扶養控除等（異動）申告書) and get no year-end adjustment. In principle the withholding settles the tax, so no return is needed. A tax treaty with your home country may reduce or remove the tax. You claim it with a treaty form (租税条約に関する届出書) through your employer or other payer.

The same 20.42% is why tax is taken from the Employees’ Pension part of the pension refund: by the time it is paid, you are a non-resident.

What happens in the year you arrive or leave?

You can be a non-resident and a resident in the same calendar year. Japan then adds up the resident-period income (using the non-permanent rules for any non-permanent period) and the Japan-source income of the non-resident period, takes off deductions, and applies the normal rates to the total.

A trip abroad doesn’t end your residence if it is clearly temporary. Signs include a spouse or family left in Japan, a home kept for your return, or your belongings stored here.

When you leave for good, three things matter:

1. Your last return. If you must file for income from 1 January to departure and you haven’t appointed a tax agent, file and pay before you leave. The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau says no procedure is needed if your only income is one main salary, fully withheld, and up to ¥20 million. A medical expense or housing loan deduction needs a return or an agent.
2. A tax agent (納税管理人). Appoint one if Japanese income continues after you leave, such as rent from a flat in Japan, or if you want a refund later. File the appointment form (所得税・消費税の納税管理人の選任・解任届出書) at your tax office. The agent can be a person or a company in Japan.
3. Prepaid tax (予定納税). If last year’s self-assessed tax was ¥150,000 or more, this year’s prepayment is fixed on 30 June. If you leave after that without an agent, it is due when you leave.

Resident tax (住民税) is a separate local tax with its own 1 January rule. See resident tax in Japan. Employees who quit mid-year should also read about the year-end adjustment and tax return, and NISA holders should check what happens to NISA when you leave.

How do I get a Japan tax residency certificate?

If another country asks for proof that you are a Japanese tax resident, usually to claim a tax treaty reduction there, ask your tax office (税務署) for a residency certificate (居住者証明書).

• Send or bring two copies of the certificate plus the request form (交付請求書) to the tax office’s administration section (管理運営部門).
• Use the other country’s form if it has one. Otherwise use the National Tax Agency’s form for treaty countries.
• Attach a Japanese translation of anything in a foreign language.
• In person, bring ID such as your My Number Card, driver’s license or passport. By mail, write 居住者証明請求在中 on the envelope and include a stamped return envelope.

The certificate generally can’t show your income amount or a validity period. Issuing it can take some days.

Can I claim a credit for tax paid abroad?

Yes, as a resident. The foreign tax credit (外国税額控除) lets you deduct foreign income tax from your Japanese income tax, up to a limit based on your share of foreign income. For a non-permanent resident, only foreign income paid in or sent to Japan counts toward the limit.

How does tax residency affect inheritance, gift and exit tax?

These taxes use different tests, so your income tax status doesn’t carry over.

• Inheritance and gift tax use a “temporary resident” (一時居住者) rule: a person in Japan on an activity-based status of residence (別表第一, such as a work or student visa) who has lived here 10 years or less in the past 15 years. Holders of permanent residency or a spouse visa are treated differently. See inheritance tax for foreigners and gift tax for foreigners.
• Exit tax (国外転出時課税) applies if you leave holding securities and similar assets worth ¥100 million or more and have lived in Japan more than 5 of the past 10 years. Time spent on an activity-based status such as a work or student visa (Appendix 1 of the Immigration Control Act) doesn’t count toward those 5 years. Time on a permanent resident or spouse status generally does.

Residency questions turn on facts, and the tax office decides. For your own case, ask your tax office or a licensed tax accountant (税理士).

More guides

Resident tax for foreigners · Year-end adjustment and tax return · Inheritance tax · Gift tax · NISA for foreigners · Leaving Japan checklist