Form-by-Form Map: Who Files What
Six reader profiles cover nearly every foreign resident facing Japanese tax paperwork. Find yourself in the flowchart, read your profile section, and you will know which form, which deadline, and which deductions apply.12
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the National Tax Agency site. This article is general information, not tax advice; for your specific case, consult a licensed zeirishi (tax accountant).
Overview
The map runs from the lightest touch (no filing at all) to the heaviest (two parallel returns). Blue-versus-white choice and departure timing are the two decisions with hard deadlines, so check those first even if the rest of your profile looks simple.
The flowchart: find your profile
Start at the top and follow the branch that matches your situation. Each terminal node names your filing path; the profile sections below add the deadlines and documents.123
Profile by profile
Salaried, no side income, no special deductions
File nothing. A single payer withholds across the year and the December year-end adjustment completes the settlement.4 Your only duties are submitting the dependent and deduction declarations to your employer on time and archiving the withholding slip.
Salaried with side income, two employers, or special deductions
File the 確定申告 (kakutei shinkoku, "final tax return") between February 16 and March 15. The triggers are total earnings over 20,000,000 yen, single-source salary plus other income over 200,000 yen, or multiple salary sources whose non-primary slice plus other income tops 200,000 yen.12
First-year mortgage holders and medical-expense claimants join this group even with clean single-source salary, because those deductions travel only by filed return.1 Download the forms from the NTA portal; the creation corner assembles the return from your inputs.
Sole proprietor and freelancer: blue vs white
Individual business, real-estate, or forestry income offers two tracks. The 白色申告 (shiroiro shinkoku, "white return") needs no approval and carries no perks. The 青色申告 (aoiro shinkoku, "blue return") demands proper books and prior approval, and pays for the effort with deductions and loss relief.3
Approval timing is the gate. Apply by March 15 of the year you want blue status; a business opened on or after January 16 of that year applies within two months of opening instead.3 Miss the window and the year defaults to white with no appeal.
The deduction tiers reward digital filing (as of 2026-04). Double-entry books with balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement attached and filed on time earn up to 650,000 yen with e-Tax filing or qualifying electronic ledgers, up to 550,000 yen on paper, and up to 100,000 yen for simplified bookkeeping across the three income types.3 Ledgers stay on file for seven years in principle, with invoices and quotes kept five.3
Blue filers also carry net losses forward three years (five for specified disaster losses) or carry them back against the prior year when that year was also blue.3 White filers get none of this, which is why the approval deadline matters more than any other line on this page.
File the blue approval in your first partial year even while revenue is small. The deduction and loss carryforward then stand ready when income grows.
Corporate owner: two returns, not one
Incorporation splits the paperwork. The company files under the corporation-tax regime for its own earnings, and you file an individual return for your officer compensation and any other personal income.5 Neither return substitutes for the other, and the company books close on the corporate clock while your return follows the calendar year.
Owners in this position almost always need professional books and a zeirishi from year one. Treat that engagement as part of the incorporation cost.
Departing resident: file before leaving or appoint a representative
Leaving Japan mid-stream does not cancel the departure year's return. Either file the year-to-date return before departure or appoint a 納税管理人 (nozei kanrinin, "tax representative") to receive documents and file after you go. The site's final-year-tax coverage walks the full sequence, including the residence-tax tail and pension reclaim that follow the income-tax filing.
Decide this before booking one-way travel. The appointment paperwork belongs to the departure checklist, not to the airport farewell week.
Pension-only retiree: often no filing at all
Retirees living on domestic public pensions skip filing when all three lines hold: annual pension receipts of 4,000,000 yen or less, all of it subject to withholding, and non-pension income of 200,000 yen or less.1 Cross any one line and the ordinary filing duty returns.
Good to know
Blue approval has a hard deadline; miss it and white is automatic
March 15 of the target year, or within two months of opening for new businesses.3 No extension, no retroactive election. Calendar the application alongside the business registration itself.
The e-Tax habit is worth 100000 yen of deduction
The gap between the 650,000 yen and 550,000 yen tiers turns on e-Tax filing or qualifying electronic ledgers (as of 2026-04).3 For most freelancers that gap exceeds the cost of learning the portal once.
Separated-taxation income needs the third form
Gains on land, buildings, and listed shares attach the separated-taxation third form to the return.6 Forgetting the attachment while reporting the gain is a classic first-filing error.
Losses you want to carry forward need the fourth form
The loss fourth form carries the amount into following years.6 A loss reported without the form shelters nothing tomorrow.
See also
- Blue-Form vs. White-Form Tax Returns
- Registering as a Sole Proprietor (Kojin Jigyounushi)
- Corporate Accounting and Tax Filing
- Final-Year Tax Filing and the Nozei Kanrinin
- Sole Proprietor Income Tax: Computing the Number