Prefecture and City Tax

[Anonymous]

Just got a letter from my local Board of Education and was told that I have to pay a local tax, for the town I'm living in, and a prefecture tax, for the prefecture I'm living in. I did not have to pay this last year.

Now a little background info that might help explain my situation. I came to Japan on a WHV 2 and a half years ago and started at a little eikaiwa company. Finished working there about 6 months and lived on my own for about 8 months, doing company lessons and some private students as well. During this time I only paid taxes to the Japanese company that help setup my company classes.

Last April I began teaching as an non-Jet ALT and the only taxes I paid were automatically deducted from my monthly salary by the company that setup my ALT gig. It came to about 12 000 yen per month. My first year living in Mie-ken I did not pay any prefecture taxes or city taxes. But now they say that I must pay additional taxes on top of the money that is already taken away from my monthly salary. They (the BOE) say that the prefecture and city tax will amount to about 15% of my yearly salary. Seems a little high to me.

So my question is, what number can I call to get more info in English.
Is the first year living in a new prefecture "tax free?" If so then I could just move to a new prefecture every year and pay less tax?

Any help would be welcome . Thanks.

[Hiyodori]

You have to pay residence tax to the city/town/ward you are living on January 1st, no matter how long you lived there the previous year. Moving around doesn't get you out of local taxes. And although there is a lot of information available on national taxes in English, there is nothing specific on calculating local taxes that I have seen. Even Tokyo's website, home to many tax paying non-Japanese, just has general info:

http://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/e/living/li_07.html

How much is your salary? Even at the highest rates (applicable to amounts over 7 million yen for your salary *after* deductions and exemptions), you'll only be paying about 13%. The rates go from 2% to 3% (over 7 million yen) for prefecture tax, and from 3% to 8% (over 2 million yen) to 10% (over 7 million yen) for your local tax. Plus additional levies that your city may assess, but those rates are basically correct. Ask at your local city hall for more specific information.

The reason you didn't pay previously is that the government didn't know about your income. Paying taxes via the company that helped set up classes (basically paying 10% tax on income as a part timer) requires you to file a tax return each year. You'll almost certainly get a refund (10% is way too high to deduct from most part-timer's pay). Local taxes are only assessed based on your Japanese national tax return. Which is automatic if you work fulltime at a company, and which you must file yourself if you have part-time income.
Cheers