Taxes for JETS?

[Columbine]

So one of my old university pals is currently working in Japan as a JET and obviously she's being paid wages. But what we're wondering about is what tax she should be paying. The kicker is that she got some forms in the post being asking her to pay taxes from Sept 2007-May 2008 when she was a student at university in Japan. Her supervisor says it was only optional but then the Japanese Collections Agency called also asking for the money.

Is this legal or possible? She's being asked for about $2000, and was in Japan on a student visa. She wasn't earning at that time, and she's an American citizen. This is her first year working JET.

Basically, we understand why she might be asked to pay tax for ~THIS~ year, but why from the year before last? There are others from the same Uni out there as JETS already, and others applying to go out next year, and we're all now understandably worried that we're going to get lumped with an unexpected fee from our uni. days, or else that this is some kind of scam.

Thoughts?

[clintjm]

Originally Posted by Columbine

So one of my old university pals is currently working in Japan as a JET and obviously she's being paid wages. But what we're wondering about is what tax she should be paying. The kicker is that she got some forms in the post being asking her to pay taxes from Sept 2007-May 2008 when she was a student at university in Japan. Her supervisor says it was only optional but then the Japanese Collections Agency called also asking for the money.

Is this legal or possible? She's being asked for about $2000, and was in Japan on a student visa. She wasn't earning at that time, and she's an American citizen. This is her first year working JET.

Basically, we understand why she might be asked to pay tax for ~THIS~ year, but why from the year before last? There are others from the same Uni out there as JETS already, and others applying to go out next year, and we're all now understandably worried that we're going to get lumped with an unexpected fee from our uni. days, or else that this is some kind of scam.

Thoughts?

Sounds like a scam. What are they basing the $2000 on what hours worked? This your friend can surely defeat their premise. I'm sure scammers will even get collection agencies to do their work for them, unless the collection agency is the scammer. My sister-in-law gets "tax collection" scams every so often... its very popular.

I'm trying to think what government agency this person would have to start with to confirm its either a scam or a mistake. I imagine the prefecture Tax office (depending on the prefecture size) or perhaps City Hall (they can refer you). The easiest thing to do is contact the consulate general. Since tax systems are very complex, it is recommended that they contact their consulate general for assistance in this regard.

[Nyororin]

This is sounding a whole lot more like pension than taxes, especially with the amount. Was she paying her pension during the time she was a student? If not, then she WILL need to pay it as it has never been optional. Anyone living in Japan is required to pay, regardless of their visa or employment status. (Obviously tourists are exempt as they are not living in Japan.)

While a student with absolutely no income, you can file for a delay in payments - but you will still have to pay after you`ve been employed... Which is likely what has happened in this case. My husband and I both had to make back payments on our pensions once he was full time employed.

A LOT of employers/schools say that pension is optional when it isn`t and never has been. She can, however, file to have so many years of payments returned to her when she leaves Japan.

Either way, I`d say take the papers to the town hall and figure something out with them. If it`s a scam, they`ll let you know right away... And if it`s not, she`ll likely be able to pay it in payments instead of a lump sum.

[MMM]

I worked as a JET for three years, and after I got some paperwork from the City Hall. I think I had to send a form from the US proving I had moved away and they send me about $6000 dollars, so it sounds like it was the pension fund.

[Sangetsu]

Yes, it's from unpaid pension payments. She'll have to come up with the money and send it in. On the bright side, if she stays 3 years or less in Japan, she'll be able to get the money refunded to her after she leaves, as MMM did.

[Columbine]

Thanks for all your replies, everyone. I've passed the message along so hopefully it'll be resolved. I'm a little surprised to be honest, because pension payments for people on a student visa were never mentioned at all during the university application procedure, yet we had to cover a lot of other things. It also doesn't seem to have been mentioned by JET as no one out there had a clue they might have to pay this kind of money. A bit of a shock, needless to say, to be asked to cough up over £1000 out of the blue.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Thanks for all your replies, everyone. I've passed the message along so hopefully it'll be resolved. I'm a little surprised to be honest, because pension payments for people on a student visa were never mentioned at all during the university application procedure, yet we had to cover a lot of other things. It also doesn't seem to have been mentioned by JET as no one out there had a clue they might have to pay this kind of money. A bit of a shock, needless to say, to be asked to cough up over £1000 out of the blue.

I`d say this is something to take up with the school. They are responsible for passing this information on to international students.
Chances are, they figured that the majority of the students would be leaving Japan promptly after study, not heading on to employment within Japan, so didn`t want to mess with what would be more work for them. (Filing to pay pension, paying, then filing to receive the money back when the student leaves.)

I hope that your friend is able to get things straightened out. She should be able to make an extra bit of payment each month toward her back pension dues instead of paying it in a lump sum.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

I`d say this is something to take up with the school. They are responsible for passing this information on to international students.
Chances are, they figured that the majority of the students would be leaving Japan promptly after study, not heading on to employment within Japan, so didn`t want to mess with what would be more work for them. (Filing to pay pension, paying, then filing to receive the money back when the student leaves.)

I hope that your friend is able to get things straightened out. She should be able to make an extra bit of payment each month toward her back pension dues instead of paying it in a lump sum.

Seems like more than just our Uni was doing this, as other JETS who did a year at other institutions had no idea either. But yes, I can appreciate why they didn't bother, especially as a largish percentage students only did a semester's worth of study before returning home, or were there studying beginner's japanese. Seems bad that JET themselves didn't mention it though. Also interesting that of the two dozen or so JETS we know out there, currently it's only her who's gotten a demand for back-payments; hence why we were worried it could be a scam.

Anyway, I agree; I'm going to wait to hear how the story pans out, but then I might send a letter to both universities (definitely to my home institution) and ask that they pass the message onto students. Chances are that they don't actually know this happens.

[ozkai]

Originally Posted by Columbine

So one of my old university pals is currently working in Japan as a JET and obviously she's being paid wages. But what we're wondering about is what tax she should be paying. The kicker is that she got some forms in the post being asking her to pay taxes from Sept 2007-May 2008 when she was a student at university in Japan. Her supervisor says it was only optional but then the Japanese Collections Agency called also asking for the money.

Is this legal or possible? She's being asked for about $2000, and was in Japan on a student visa. She wasn't earning at that time, and she's an American citizen. This is her first year working JET.

Basically, we understand why she might be asked to pay tax for ~THIS~ year, but why from the year before last? There are others from the same Uni out there as JETS already, and others applying to go out next year, and we're all now understandably worried that we're going to get lumped with an unexpected fee from our uni. days, or else that this is some kind of scam.

Thoughts?

I used to pay tax from my many jobs in Japan.

Of course my private students were "tax free".

Tell him/her to go to their local ward office and enquire.

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by ozkai

I used to pay tax from my many jobs in Japan.

Of course my private students were "tax free".

Tell him/her to go to their local ward office and enquire.

Yeah, it's not that they're asking for tax for her current job; that's understandable, it was just they suddenly asked for money from when she was in Japan in 2007, over a year ago that seemed weird.