?When can I get my tax back?
You can apply for the previous 5 tax years.
?Can I get a tax refund from Japan?
As long as you’ve been in the country for more than a year, yes you can.
?How much money will I get back?
It depends on your individual circumstances, but on average our customers get back a tax refund of ¥111,000*. Ultimately the tax office has the final say in how much you get back, but we will try to get you back as much overpaid tax as is legally possible.
?How long will it take to receive my Japanese tax refund?
The total estimated time for your Japanese tax rebate is two to four months. As soon as we receive your tax refund will we contact you to organize the best way to deliver it to you.
?What happens during this time?
Once we receive your documents it will take us around five working days to prepare you Japanese income tax return – this includes checking your documents, estimating your refund, completing your forms and sending them to the tax office. Once they are at the tax office your application will take around eight to sixteen weeks to process. As soon as they send it out to us, we’ll send it on to you. All you have to think about then is what you’re going to spend it on.
?Where’s my tax refund – it seems like it’s taking a long time?
If It seems like your tax refund is taking a long time to process, the best thing to do is to contact your case manager. They will be able to look up your file and inform you of what’s delaying your case. Sometimes it takes longer for tax refunds to reach people if they’re missing documents or if there are delays at the tax office. We will make sure to call the tax office regularly to try and get your tax refund as quickly as possible.
?How do I know what's happening with my tax return?
You can find out through your personal TaxTracker account. It allows you to see every step of your application.
If you’d rather talk to someone about your case you can call your closest Taxback.com office or talk to one of our tax team in live chat.
?What are the advantages of using taxback.com?
Thousands of people choose our service because:
?How much will it cost?
For Japanese refunds we charge 20% of the refund received plus handling fee, subject to a minimum processing fee of 7171¥ + handling fee.
Seeing how much you could get back is free though.
?Why the minimum fee?
The minimum fee enables us to offer you all of the services you need and value, such as round the clock support, tax training for your case manager so they can keep up with the latest tax laws in order to get you the maximum tax refund possible and maintaining your personal online Tax Tracker account.
?I paid into a pension fund – can I get a refund from that?
Yes, even if you're a foreigner working in Japan. We can apply for this refund up to two years after you've left Japan and our average customer gets back a Japanese pension refund of ¥600,000.
?What do you need in order to apply for my pension refund?
To apply for your pension refund from Japan, we'll need a copy of your pension book or pension number.
?What about tax I paid on my pension refund?
When you receive your Japanese pension refund the Japanese Social Insurance office deducts 20% worth of tax off your pension reimbursement. Thankfully we can claim that tax back up to five years later for you. On average this refund is around ¥122000, so apply today.
?What do I do if I lost my payment documents or I never got them?
No worries, our document retrieval service team can find them for you or get replacements for a small additional fee. Just email japan@taxback.com to let them know.
?What is a Gensen-Choshu-Hyo?
This is the official tax form that you get from your employer at the end of the tax year outlining your earnings and the amount of tax you paid that year. We need this form to claim your Japanese tax rebate. If you’ve lost it or haven’t been issued it yet, we can get it for you; email japan@taxback.com for more information.
?What's the difference between filing my tax return and getting my tax refund?
A tax return is document declaring the liability for taxation while a tax refund is the overpayment made for a particular tax. We file your tax return in order to apply for your tax refund.
?Can you guarantee that I'll get the refund amount you estimated for me?
No, we can’t, but we do guarantee to get you back the maximum legal tax refund possible by checking and double checking your application and applying all tax benefits and treaties you’re entitled to. Ultimately though, how much you get back depends on the tax office.
