Do I have to file at home while living in Japan?
For most people the answer turns on whether the ties that made them resident have actually ended. For a US citizen or green-card holder it does not: the return is due in Japan exactly as it would be at home. Everything else on the file follows from which of those you are.
Is there a treaty between my country and Japan?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in Japan. Where is the rent taxed?
In Japan, because that is where the property sits. The complication is the base: gross-rent withholding takes no account of mortgage interest, tax or repairs, so a leveraged property can face tax on turnover. An election onto net profit, where it exists, is what fixes that — and it has its own timing.
How long can I live in Japan before my foreign income is taxed there?
Japan does not treat all residents alike. It distinguishes non-permanent residents from permanent ones, and the effect is to limit the foreign income within the charge for an initial period after arrival. That is a point about the taxable base rather than the rate: two people on identical salaries can face different Japanese tax simply because one has been in the country longer. The practical consequence is that the length of a posting changes the answer, so an extension that looks like a human resources matter can bring income into charge that was previously outside it. Check it before the extension is signed.
Do I still file a Canadian return while teaching in Japan?
It depends on whether you remained resident in Canada, and that is decided by ties rather than by where you sleep. Teachers on a defined contract often keep a great deal behind them, a home, a partner, accounts, provincial health cover, and stay Canadian resident throughout, filing on worldwide income with credit for the Japanese tax. Others genuinely sever and file only a departure-year return. The two outcomes look nothing alike, and the difference is settled by evidence assembled at the time rather than by a decision made afterwards. Work it out before the first contract year ends.
My Japanese employer withholds tax, do I still need to file anything?
Withholding by an employer and a filing obligation are different things, in Japan and at home. Local withholding may well settle your Japanese position for a straightforward salary, but it says nothing about your home country. If you remained resident in Canada, or if you hold a US passport, the salary goes on that return too, with relief claimed for the Japanese tax already taken. Relief is claimed rather than automatic, and it requires records of what was actually withheld. Keep the annual statement your employer issues: reconstructing it later from payslips is slow and rarely complete.
I moved to Canada from Japan, is my Japanese pension taxed here?
If you are resident in Canada, Canada taxes your worldwide income and a Japanese pension is part of it. Japan may also tax the same payment at source. The treaty article covering pensions decides which country has the first claim and how the other relieves the charge, and different kinds of payment can fall under different articles, so it pays to identify precisely what the payment is before assuming an answer. Most of the practical work is matching what the Japanese payer actually deducted to the credit claimed in Canada, across a currency and a year end that do not line up.
Do I have to report my Japanese bank account to the CRA or the IRS?
Once holdings abroad pass the reporting threshold, yes, and the obligation comes from holding the account rather than from earning anything on it. Canadian residents report specified foreign property on T1135; US citizens report accounts on FBAR alongside the return, wherever they live. Salary paid locally into a Japanese account builds a balance quickly, and a mandatory local pension or savings arrangement can count as well. This is the obligation expats meet by accident most often, precisely because nothing about it is triggered by tax being owed. The reports fall due whether the position is profitable or not.
Does the length of my posting to Japan change what I pay?
It can change what Japan taxes, which is a larger change than a change of rate. Because Japan separates non-permanent residents from permanent ones, time in the country affects how much foreign income falls within the Japanese charge. An extension therefore alters the base rather than merely the arithmetic applied to it. On the home-country side, length of absence feeds into residence in a different way again: it is evidence about your intentions and ties, not a switch that flips on a set date. Both sides move when a posting is extended, and they do not move together.
How do I report a foreign pension on a US return?
As pension income, gross, with foreign tax available as a credit. Two extra layers catch people out. A treaty position on the pension may need to be taken and disclosed in its own right. And the plan itself can be a reportable foreign financial asset, sometimes with a further reporting regime if it is treated as a foreign trust — obligations keyed to holding the plan, not to drawing from it. Which layers apply depends on the country and the plan type. See the pensions and annuities article.
Do US citizens living abroad have to pay US taxes?
They have to file, every year, on worldwide income — the United States taxes citizens wherever they live. Whether they end up owing is a different question: the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, the foreign housing exclusion and the foreign tax credit frequently reduce the bill to nil while leaving the filing obligation fully intact. Foreign account and asset reports run separately and carry their own penalties. See US citizens living in Canada.
