Anonymous
2003-01-09, 03:10 PM
Hi guys, I'm sure this has been covered before, but my search didn't find me any results.
I have a working holiday visa. I have been offered a job (a fun job) but the compensation is a little slack. The company pays all expenses - travel, meals, accomodation (in shared room), and a monthly salary of 110,000.
They expect me to work 6 days a week, 5 hours a day. So I would earn approx 3800 per day, or 760 per hour. They say the tax rate is 20%, which means the 110,000 becomes 88,000 per month.
I was just wondering if there is a legal minimum wage, and if the tax rate is correct for such a low paying job?
TMH.
Hiyodori
2003-01-09, 03:42 PM
Travel to and from work is normally a benefit in Japan. You will have to determine yourself what the value of a shared accomodation is worth, and that will vary depending upon things like location and cleanliness. At minimum you should add 30,000 yen to your monthly income. Means included -- does that mean all meals? Although some people may be able to live on 1000 yen/day cooking all their own simple meals, you might want to figure that the value of meals at 50,000 yen/month. Suddenly your income jumps up to 190,000 yen/month, which is not bad for doing a part-time job on a WH visa.
And there is no minimum wage for your job, which is treated as part-time. Most part time jobs with hourly wages and no shakai hoken (health insurance, pension, unemployment insuarnce) deductions will take out 10% of your pay as tax. I don't remember the exact law reference, but non-Japanese people in Japan for a short time and getting paid by the hour/class/show should legally have 20% deducted from their pay. You are of course allowed to file a tax return during the next year (Feb. 16th to Mar. 15th), and will likely get a refund of some tax paid. You can even file from outside Japan.
Figuring that you'll work approximately 133 hours/month, with an income valued at 190,000 yen, it works out to almost 1430 yen/hour before tax. Whether or not it's enough for you and your goals in coming to Japan on a working holiday visa is something you'll have to answer for yourself. I'd rather have a less regular job and be able to travel around for longer periods. If you're mainly here to work, then I think you will be able to find a higher paying job, though without the fringe benefits (and "fun job" seems like a big one to me!)
Cheers,
Hiyodori