by Melissa Villarreal
***DISCLAIMER: The following information is only a guide. No one affiliated with this website is in anyway responsible if problems occur with your tax affairs. For the most accurate information, please view www.irs.gov.)*** Getting the Forms When first arriving in Tokyo, most of you probably will have checked a box asking to receive tax forms to your address in Japan. If you can't remember if you did this or not, fear not! All the forms can be easily downloaded from the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov). First Years For a nifty timetable, click here. One really snazzy form that the IRS provides is the Foreign Earned Exclusion Income form. However, to be eligible for this exclusion, U.S. citizens must meet a physical presence test of a full year in a foreign country. Alas, first years do not meet this requirement; nevertheless, there is another wonderful form that all you first years can fill out that will allow you to meet this physical presence requirement and save you money on your taxes. Form 8822
First, you should use this form to report your Japanese address to the IRS. It's quick, easy, and mildly painless. Form 4868 and 2350 ***Note: First years arriving before Aug. 15th should use Form 4868 and first years arriving after Aug. 15th should use Form 2350.***
This form allows you to have an extension on paying your taxes to meet the physical presence requirement. Normally, this needs to be filled in by April 15th, but Americans filing from abroad receive an extra two months to file their returns, so the form should be sent to the following address by June 15th: International Revenue Service
Philadelphia, PA 19255-0002 USA
*Note: If you need to pay taxes, you will have to pay them before April 15th or it will be considered overdue, and you will have to pay extra money later. 1st and 2nd Year ALTs Form 6166 and 8802 Starting in 2004, the Japanese Government began requiring that first and second year US JETs file a Certificate of US Residency (form 6166) with their local Japanese tax authorities to qualify for an exemption from Japanese income taxes. Form 6166 can be obtained by first filing an Application for United States Residency Certification (Form 8802), the link can be found below. *Note - CIRs are not required to file this form, as their CO's pay income taxes for them. Please use the following links to download the necessary forms and other related information. (All links are to Internal Revenue Service provided .pdf pages) > Instructions for US Residency Certification (Form 8802の説明書) > Application for US Residency Certification (Form 8802) > Links to other general information about income tax for US taxpayers overseas > CLAIR explanation
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Year JETs Form 1040 and Form 2555 EZ First years must file these forms a year after they arrived in Japan (but before Aug. 15th for Form 4868 users) to meet the physical presence requirement. (Form 2350 users must send it in based on the time allowed by the IRS.) Second years + must file these forms before June 15th. (Note: Form 1040 EZ cannot be used in conjunction with Form 2555 EZ. Use the regular Form 1040.)
You should receive a gensenchoshuhyo ("Statement of Earnings" sort of like a W2 Form) from your supervisor around the end of the year. You will need to translate the important points (like gross income), convert your salary into US dollars (write it on the copy), and attach it with your federal and state 1040 Forms. Also, note that you must report all your Japanese income on Form 1040 (for more detailed information check out the General Information Handbook). Before mailing, write "American filing from abroad" on the top of both your federal and state 1040 tax forms and mail them and all the necessary information to the address below: International Revenue Service
Philadelphia, PA 19255 USA
Forms and instruction forms can be downloaded at http://www.irs.gov.
|