handled end to end. In English.
Salary over JPY 20 million, RSUs from an overseas parent, foreign tax credits, mid-year arrival or departure: a licensed Japanese tax accountant (zeirishi) with Big 4 experience prepares and files your return, working with you directly in English.
Led and signed by our representative tax accountant.
At Esperanza Consulting International Tax & Accounting Office, you work directly with a Japanese tax accountant (zeirishi) in English. We prepare and file Japanese income tax returns for foreign residents.
Most of our clients are foreign nationals living in Japan. You do not need any Japanese: we prepare the Japanese forms, file them, deal with the tax office, and explain each step to you in English. Everyone on our team speaks English and has lived and worked outside Japan for years.
Year-end adjustment does not settle everything.
Your employer's nenmatsu chosei (year-end adjustment) closes most people's tax year. It often cannot close yours if any of the following applies. In these cases you usually need, or will want, to file your own income tax return in Japan; we confirm which applies to you. (For the arrival/departure item: a mid-year arrival or departure does not by itself require a return if your Japanese employer runs year-end adjustment and you have no other income.)
Above this level, year-end adjustment does not apply at all, so your employer cannot settle your tax year. You settle it through your own return, which is also how any over-withheld tax comes back.
RSUs, ESPP, and stock options granted by a foreign parent company are generally paid outside Japan with no Japanese withholding, so payroll never settles them.
Only one employer (the one holding your dependant declaration) can perform your year-end adjustment. Salary from the other payer is settled through your own return, unless that salary plus your non-salary income comes to JPY 200,000 or less. (If you changed jobs during the year, your new employer's year-end adjustment can include your previous employer's salary.)
If you are a non-permanent resident and remitted funds to Japan in a year you had foreign-source income, remittance taxation can bring that income into scope.
Departure-year filing, quasi-final returns (due by the day you leave), and appointing a tax agent (nozei kanrinin) and notifying the tax office before you leave, so you can file on the normal timeline after leaving.
Foreign tax credits, over-withheld tax on salary from your resident period that your employer did not settle, and tax withheld on retirement payments made after you left Japan (by electing resident-basis taxation) are often recoverable through a refund return. Tax withheld on ordinary salary or bonuses paid after you became a non-resident is generally a final tax and cannot be reclaimed through a return.
How it works.
IN DETAIL: THE SEVEN STEPS
| Step | What you do | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tell us about your employer, your equity compensation, your arrival date | One e-mail |
| 2 | We confirm your filing category (A / B / C), give you a quote, then engage with you directly | Nothing |
| 3 | We send you a document checklist in English, then collect what is needed | Send documents |
| 4 | We set up your e-Tax account (including if you have no My Number card) | Nothing |
| 5 | We prepare your return, then e-file it | Nothing |
| 6 | We explain how to pay, or when your refund arrives, in English | Nothing |
| 7 | A short briefing on what to plan for next year | Nothing |
What we will ask you for.
Four items for everyone. The rest only if they apply to you. A My Number card is not required. We set up the e-Tax account for you.
- Residence card or passport
- My Number (the card itself is not required)
- Withholding slip (gensen choshu hyo) from your employer
- Japanese bank account for any refund
- Side business, self-employment, or rental income records
- Annual transaction report from a Japanese brokerage (including foreign shares)
- Dividend and interest statements
- Vesting and sale statements
- Grant agreement, grant date, and vesting schedule
- Proof of foreign income and tax paid (Notice of Assessment, etc.)
- Overseas assignment periods and workday records
- Remittance records, and your home-country filing status
- Life and earthquake insurance premium certificates
- Medical expense receipts, furusato nozei donation receipts
- Social insurance, iDeCo, and dependent details
Fees: a fixed-fee standard service, and bespoke engagements quoted in writing.
- What is included
- Compiling employment income and preparing the return
- Applying deductions (medical expenses, donations, etc.)
- Electronic filing via e-Tax
- Direct correspondence with you in English
- Filed copy and payment or refund instructions
- Everything in Tier A, plus
- Resident / non-permanent resident determination
- RSU and ESPP vesting from one overseas issuer (no sales)
- Apportionment of salary for overseas workdays
- Examples
- Sales of award shares, overseas brokers, foreign tax credits
- Non-permanent residents with remittances; departure-year filings and the exit tax
- Prior-year corrections; income or awards above ¥50 million
- Written pre-arrival tax opinions for families moving to Japan
Standard service fees are fixed and apply to continuing engagements, where we filed your previous year's return; a first engagement is 15% more, which covers setting up your records and e-Tax account. Equity vesting from one overseas issuer without sales falls in Tier B; sales, overseas brokers, foreign tax credits and the other bespoke examples are quoted individually, in writing, after a short questionnaire. Filing requests made close to the deadline may carry an additional fee. Your actual category and fee are confirmed for your specific situation. Listed fees apply to individual engagements. Where an employer introduces several employees, each is engaged and billed individually at the same fees.
Cross-border individual tax, in depth.
The licensed accountant who handles your case has a Big 4 background and works on these areas year-round, not as an occasional add-on to domestic practice.
- Resident, non-permanent resident, and non-resident determination
- Tax treaty application and the related filings
- Remittance taxation for non-permanent residents
- RSU, ESPP, stock options, employee stock purchase plans
- Grants from an overseas parent, with or without chargeback
- Vesting and sale timing across a move into or out of Japan
- Departure-year filing and quasi-final returns
- Tax agent (nozei kanrinin) appointment: we can act as your agent
- Exit tax (taxation on unrealised gains when leaving Japan)
- Residence tax after departure, and refund claims
- Review of tax filings and payment records, including residence tax, public pension and health insurance contributions
- Household income, pension projections and the guideline provisions applicable to your circumstances
- Application support provided directly by our licensed gyoseishoshi in the same office, under a separate engagement
Read more on the rules behind your case.
Detailed English guides to the areas that most often decide a foreign employee's Japanese tax position.
Start here if you are not sure which one applies to you. The topic map sets out the three residence tests Japan applies: one for income tax while you live here, a second for inheritance and gift tax when you receive property by inheritance, bequest or gift (from anyone, not only family), and a third for the exit tax when you leave. It also shows which guide answers your question under each.
Questions we are actually asked.
Can a tax accountant file my Japanese tax return on my behalf?
I have already left Japan. Can I still claim a refund?
I sold shares at a loss through an overseas broker such as Fidelity, Morgan Stanley at Work, Charles Schwab or E*TRADE, and at a gain in my Japanese tokutei account. Can the loss reduce the gain?
I don't have a My Number card. Is that a problem?
My company wants to pay the fee. Is that possible?
Do you handle the whole thing in English?
Where are you based? Do I need to visit an office?
▶ HR teams: the Japanese-language service page is here
General information as of 2026, not individual tax advice. Please contact us about your specific situation.
What you actually receive
- A written questionnaire. After your first message we send a short set of questions: residence and visa history for each person, the jurisdictions involved, what is held where, and the dates that matter. Nothing is quoted before we have the facts.
- One call, in English, if the facts need it. Used to confirm the timeline and the assumptions, not to sell.
- Written advice, signed by a licensed tax accountant. You receive the analysis in writing, signed by the licensed tax accountant (zeirishi) who handled your matter. A tax return or other follow-up work is included only where our written proposal says so; otherwise it is quoted separately.
Fees are fixed and quoted in writing before any work begins, and they follow the scope once the facts are known.
Where this page sits
Ask about your Japanese tax return
Tell us briefly about your situation for the year: how you were paid, and anything from an overseas parent company. A licensed tax accountant will reply directly, in English, and confidentially.
To quote by e-mail, tell us:
- Each period you have lived in Japan, including earlier stays, and your visa status in each period.
- Your employer, and whether your salary is paid in Japan, abroad or both.
- Equity awards: the type (RSU, ESPP, stock options), the broker (for example Fidelity, Morgan Stanley at Work, Charles Schwab or E*TRADE), and how many vesting, purchase, exercise and sale events there were in the year, as applicable.
- Other accounts outside Japan: the broker or bank, how many sales, and whether you received dividends.
- Whether your assets outside Japan were worth more than ¥50 million on 31 December.
- Your approximate total assets in and outside Japan on 31 December, even if you do not plan to leave Japan.
- If you may leave Japan: whether your securities and similar assets in and outside Japan, including any open margin or derivative positions, may total ¥100 million or more when you leave.
- Your nationality, and any US citizenship or green card.
We may come back with a few follow-up questions before we quote.
Are colleagues at your company in the same position? We take on groups of employees under separate individual engagements, so there is no vendor registration, no procurement cycle and no credit check on your employer, however many people are involved. Just say how many in the message below.