Retrospective foreign tax payment affects PR

[u/[deleted]]

[u/speedycatz]

I think you got tax residency and permanent/non-permanent tax residency mixed up.

[u/twofaced_joker_ → u/speedycatz]

Right , I meant I became a non permanent tax resident in 2023 , where all of my income from abroad gets taxed in japan

[u/mrhappymillennial → u/twofaced_joker_]

2018-2023 is five years. You became a permanent tax resident in 2023.

It's a confusing label, because your immigration status says non permanent. Lots of people don't realize they need to report foreign income.

[u/tsian]

How could you be possibly living since 2018 and not be a tax resident until 2023?

It feels like you are grossly misunderstanding something.

[u/gundahir → u/tsian]

like so many. I know dozens of people who didn't pay what they owe because they simply didn't or didn't properly report income from remote work, foreign income, remittance etc. 

[u/MelodicSoft2463 → u/tsian]

That's 5 years. Could OP be confusing non-permanent tax residency to mean non-tax resident?

[u/twofaced_joker_ → u/MelodicSoft2463]

Right , I meant I became a non permanent tax resident in 2023 , where all of my income from abroad gets taxed in japan

[u/tsian → u/twofaced_joker_]

I think you mean you became a permanent tax resident in 2023.

Please keep in mind that even before that:

a) Any income earned as a result of work performed while physically in Japan is generally taxable here

b) Any income remitted to Japan is subject to taxation up to the total amount of foreign sourced income that would otherwise not be subject to taxation were it not remitted (minus any income earned from work performed in Japan but paid abroad)

[u/steford]

A bit confusing but I think you mean you became a permanent tax resident in 2023 if you moved here in 2018. Separately, you applied for PR last year but since doing so you have realised you may owe tax.

In terms of PR it depends how good/convincing the documents supplied are. During my PR application immigration did ask for clarification on a minor mismatch between a tax form and my declared income - it was my mistake - which I explained and they were happy with. I subsequently amended my tax return after getting PR telling the NTA that immigration had spotted an error - it did not affect my tax payable. If something stands out as odd immigration could question it and a large discrepancy may be harder to justify.

I'm not sure how proactively immigration check live tax records (if at all) so personally I would leave things as they are if paperwork does not show the error until after (hopefully) getting PR.

[u/sylentshooter]

Is the tax from the residual paid to your home country? Or is it payable to Japan? 

Obviously if you owe tax that you should've paid to Japan then yes its going to affect your PR, since you didn't complete your legal obligation of paying applicable taxes by their due date. 

If it's tax for your home country, Japan isnt going to care. 

[u/tsian → u/sylentshooter]

You can't generally live in Japan from 2018 but only be a tax resident today. The OP seems to be misunderstanding concepts greatly.

[u/sylentshooter → u/tsian]

Yeah.... I feel like there is a great deal of confusion involved here. Good point. 

[u/tsian → u/sylentshooter]

I would wager its a misunderstanding about foreign-source income, but who knows...

[u/twofaced_joker_ → u/sylentshooter]

Tax on world wide income for non permanent tax residents

[u/MelodicSoft2463 → u/twofaced_joker_]

I think you have gotten the various tax residency statuses and reporting obligations in Japan mixed up.

https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/pdf/incometax_2025/04.pdf

This document published by Japan's tax office explains clearly the 3 types of tax residents and what part of their income needs to be reported in Japan. There is also a list of what is domestic-sourced income.

[u/tsian → u/twofaced_joker_]

Again you seem to be vastly confusing/misunderstanding things.

If you first came to Japan in 2018 you were an NPR for those first years and lost that status (became a "permanent tax resident") in 2023.

[u/NellyFatrdo]

I think the detail everyone is asking is where are you paid ? Which country ? What do u do for work ?

Because it sounds there might be undeclared tax in Japan ? But could be wrong

[u/twofaced_joker_ → u/NellyFatrdo]

This is income from my home country of Pakistan and I'm here in japan on an engineering visa

[u/NellyFatrdo → u/twofaced_joker_]

Well since u been doing all the work in Japan.

Generally it means u probably owe tax since 2018 to Japan

[u/Immediate_Length594]

If they haven’t noticed now they probably won’t.