This article is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. Read the Japanese original（日本語版を読む）
Yes, you do. Under the 入管法 (Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act), whether something counts as work is judged by where the labour is provided. So even if the other party to the contract is a company abroad and the payment goes into an overseas account, as long as you are working at home in Japan it is treated as work carried out in Japan. You need 資格外活動許可, you must keep to up to 28 hours per week, and you must file a proper tax return.
A spouse on 「家族滞在」 wants to take remote work from a company abroad.
Yes. Whether something counts as work is judged by whether the labour is provided inside Japan.
「家族滞在」 is a status of residence that assumes you live on the income of the supporting person who works in Japan, and it does not in itself allow you to work in Japan (to carry out activities for payment).
Under the 入管法, work is judged by whether the labour is provided inside Japan. The following circumstances do not change that judgement.
As long as you are providing labour at a computer at home in Japan, it is treated as work carried out in Japan. Doing this work without obtaining 資格外活動許可 in advance carries a risk of being treated as 資格外活動 (activity other than that permitted under the status of residence) in breach of the rules.
Yes. Even where you are paid for each finished piece of work, the hours you actually worked are counted.
If you obtain 資格外活動許可 you can do remote work for a company abroad. Even then, the "up to 28 hours per week" limit that is a condition of 包括許可 (blanket permission) applies just the same.
With crowdsourcing and contract (freelance) work from home, payment is often not by the hour — you are paid for each finished piece of work, for example — so the record of hours actually worked easily becomes vague. But for screening and for tax purposes, what is asked is how many hours you actually worked to finish that piece of work.
If you take work from several companies abroad, you must add up all of those hours and keep the total within 28 hours per week. Working full-time hours on the basis that the hours are self-reported anyway is a clear breach of the law.
Depending on what the work involves, you may need 個別許可 (individual permission) for activity other than that permitted, rather than 包括許可. For details, please see "資格外活動許可について" on the website of the 出入国在留管理庁 (Immigration Services Agency of Japan).
Yes. If you have an address in Japan you are a resident for tax purposes, and income earned abroad must also be declared.
A foreign national who has an address in Japan (or who lives here for 1 year or more) is a "resident" for tax purposes. A resident has a duty to pay tax in Japan not only on income arising in Japan (domestic source income) but also on income earned abroad.
So even if you are paid into an overseas account, income above the basic deduction and similar thresholds must be declared in Japan. In the tax return season each year, from February to March (2月から3月), declare income from companies abroad as miscellaneous income or business income at your nearest tax office, and pay income tax and resident tax.
If the tax and tax-payment certificates do not match how you actually live, that counts against you in screening.
If you are thinking about a 永住許可申請 or a 帰化許可申請 (Application for Naturalization), the tax and tax-payment certificates for everyone in the household for the last few years are checked.
Suppose you never declare your income from remote work abroad, the income column on your resident tax certificate stays at 0 yen (0円), and yet you move large sums of living expenses from your personal overseas account into Japan. That can raise the question whether you have filed and paid your tax properly, or whether you are working beyond the range allowed for activity other than that permitted, and it may count against you in a 永住許可申請.
3 things, in order: obtaining permission, recording your working hours, and filing your tax return.
Thinking "it is all handled in an overseas account, so Japanese law has nothing to do with it" is a dangerous blind spot when it comes to keeping your status of residence. As long as you provide labour from inside Japan, you are covered by Japan's 入管法 and its tax law.
They do apply. Whether something counts as work is judged by where the labour is provided, so as long as you are working at home in Japan it is treated as work carried out in Japan.
They are counted by the hours you actually worked to finish that piece of work. If you take work from several companies, you must add up all of those hours and keep the total within 28 hours per week.
Yes. If you have an address in Japan you are a resident for tax purposes, so you have a duty to pay tax in Japan on income earned abroad as well.
Yes. Depending on what the work involves, 個別許可 for activity other than that permitted may be needed, so please check the guidance from the 出入国在留管理庁 in advance.
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This page is a translation of the Japanese original. Where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails.