The internal affairs ministry has started a survey of all municipalities on the collection of the individual resident tax from foreign workers who left Japan in 2024.
The resident tax is collected every fiscal year based on the previous year’s income.
In the most recent regular session of parliament, problems were highlighted regarding some foreign workers leaving Japan without paying outstanding taxes after completing their stay periods.
The ministry will consider measures over such unpaid taxes after understanding the situation through the survey covering the period between Aug. 1 and Sept. 1.
The survey will check the number of cases and the amount of unpaid taxes.
It will also look into the situation on the use of a lump-sum collection system in which employers pay workers’ resident tax that could not be deducted from their wages.
In addition, the survey will confirm the number of cases of the use of tax agents who manage taxation procedures for foreigners leaving Japan.
Some foreign workers are believed to return to their countries without paying mandatory taxes as they do not understand the Japanese taxation system. The ministry included in its survey questions about municipalities’ efforts to notify them of the system.
AloJapan.com