Certificate of tax residency in Japan (for double tax treaty purposes)

[kuma]

If you ever need proof of Japanese tax residency for double tax treaty purposes, use this form/certificate -- your local tax office will complete their section on the spot for a small fee: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/t ... mei_02.pdf

Initially I didn’t know about this form/certificate and tried getting the Japanese authorities to sign and stamp a form from the UK in English, which understandably they didn’t want to do, even when translated into Japanese.

If anyone’s interested, I could write a fuller account of my experience applying for (a) a refund on double tax already paid, and (b) exemption on UK withholding tax from specified sources via Form Japan-1 DT:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... n-1-DT.pdf

[RetireJapan]

I'm always interested in stuff like that for the blog, as it hangs around on search engines and makes it easy to point people at when questions come up in the future

[adamu]

PDF links tend to rot and vanish mysteriously after some time.

Here's the page the first PDF is linked from: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/t ... e/9210.htm

And just in case that rots too, the name of the form is 居住者証明書

The 2nd PDF (Japan-1-DT) https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... japan-1-dt

[kuma]

It may be a bit dull for a blog post, but I will write this up in due course. I’m not quite at the end of the process yet as the withholding tax exemption certificates haven’t yet reached the payers I listed on my form.

Thanks, adamu, for the point about PDFs and rotting links and for providing more stable links.

[RetireJapan]

That would be great!

[kuma]

Not forgotten; still waiting for the process to be complete.

[kuma]

This is going to be one of those HMRC things that run and run. I'm still having UK tax withheld due to HMRC's delay in issuing tax exemption certificates and am having to claim another double tax refund. I found out about this just before the end of my winter vacation, and was able to do a smash and grab raid on the tax office for the certificate.

Interestingly, the tax office offered a choice of two certificates: (1) certificate of residency for tax treaty purposes; (2) certificate of residency for purposes other than tax treaties.

When the process is complete, I'll do a consolidated write-up of the process.

[kuma]

If anyone’s interested, I could write a fuller account of my experience applying for (a) a refund on double tax already paid, and (b) exemption on UK withholding tax from specified sources via Form Japan-1 DT:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... n-1-DT.pdf

Well, for what it's worth, the update is that:

1. HMRC refunded the double tax I'd paid within a few months of the claim (ie processed Part D of my form correctly)
2. HMRC wrote back after about a year to say they couldn't exempt me from UK withholding tax at source (ie Part C of the form). No reason given in a very short letter.

This strikes me as odd. The guidance notes state:

Purpose of form Japan 1 DT
Form Japan 1 DT allows you to apply under the UK/Japan Double Taxation Convention for relief at source from UK Income Tax on pensions, purchased annuities, royalties and interest paid from sources in the UK. If pension, interest or royalty payments have been made with UK Income Tax deducted, complete form Japan 1 DT to claim repayment of the UK tax deducted from income paid on or after 1 January 2007.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... japan-1-dt

Thus, they are telling me that yes, I am eligible to receive refunds on double tax already paid (jumping through the hoops each year to submit paperwork with a stamp from my local Japanese tax office, and submitting the claim via snail mail to the UK), but no, they can not/will not issue certificates of exemption from UK withholding tax that would allow the relevant payers to cease withholding tax at source... which is the primary stated purpose of the form. I have contacted my payers (large organisations with an international base of payees) who report that exemption certificates should be issuable from HMRC. Sigh. I suppose I'll quote that purpose back to HMRC and wait another year for a reply, and manually process my next claim in the interim... being sure to supply them with details for bank transfer, but bracing myself for the difficult-to-process 'warrant' of last time, despite them having my full details.

Despite frustrations, great that the double tax is (eventually) eliminated; a shame it's so taxing.