As the year comes to a close in Japan, it is common for employees of private companies and government to fill their year end tax adjustment forms. In case you are self employed then there is a separate process called the final return/kakutei shinkoku. However, if anyone misses out on the year end tax adjustment, they can submit the details during the final return/kakutei shinkoku as well. In this blog post i will give an overview of what year end tax adjustment is and how to fill the form before submission.

What is Year End Adjustment

Under the Year End Adjustment, an employer is supposed to calculate the amount of income tax payable by the employees, and compare it with the tax amount withheld in advance from the salaries and bonuses paid to the respective employees during the year. If there is any shortage, such shortage shall be withheld additionally from the last salary/bonus. If there is any excessive amount, such excess shall be refunded to the relevant employee/s by the employer.

Due to the withholding tax system, most of the employees in Japan do not need to file a tax return. In fact, employees only need to file a tax return if at least one of the following conditions is true.

  • if they leave Japan before the end of the tax year
  • if their employer does not withhold taxes (e.g. employer outside Japan)
  • if they have more than one employer
  • if their annual income is more than 20,000,000 yen
  • if they have side income of more than 200,000 yen
What is needed

Below are a list of documents that may be needed depending upon your current situation. However, the below first and second form must be submitted by everyone who is eligible for year end tax adjustment.

  • Dependent declaration or MARUFU form / 給与所得者の扶養控除等(異動)申告書
  • Basic exemption form and Exemption for spouse form and Exemption of income adjustment amount form / 給与所得者の基礎控除申告書 兼 給与所得者の配偶者控除等申告書 兼 所得金額調整控除申告書
  • Exemption for insurance premium form / 給与所得者の保険料控除申告書
  • My number or individual number
  • Documents to be attached if applicable
    • Remittance statement
    • Dependent relationship certificate – English translated copy
    • Dependent passport copy
Method to fill the documents

First let us look at the Dependent declaration or MARUFU form / 給与所得者の扶養控除等(異動)申告書 . Below is a picture of the form.

The highlighted area in the red frame in the above picture is what will be the must be entered area for anyone who is eligible for tax adjustment. Since your respective company will be providing the above form, the area adjacent to the the red frame will be pre filled by your company. The section below the red frame is optional based on your present situation. The documents to be attached as mentioned in the earlier section will be applicable based on your entry here.

The next form to be submitted by everyone is Basic exemption form and Exemption for spouse form and Exemption of income adjustment amount form / 給与所得者の基礎控除申告書 兼 給与所得者の配偶者控除等申告書 兼 所得金額調整控除申告書. This has been introduced from the year 2020. Below is a picture of the form.

Even here the minimum areas to be filled is marked in red frame. Other areas can be filled if applicable only.

The remaining form ,i.e, the insurance premium form needs to be submitted by one who is paying for any life insurance, earthquake insurance, social insurance other than that being paid at company, small business mutual aid premium etc. This may not be applicable to most of the foreigners working in Japan so i will not go into the details here. However, you can go through the reference links below that explains in detail on how to fill each of the form.

Submission

Some companies send out the above forms to the employees by post that needs to be filled by the employees and sent back with all the necessary documents. However, some companies provide online service. Here they provide user name and password to the employees to login wherein the employees can perform the process online. Once completed the employees can take a printout, sign and submit the documents offline.

References :

Further Reading :