Side jobs - tax and deductions (photography)

[persat]

Hi all,

I did some paid photography work earlier this year, and being an upstanding non-citizen I want to pay tax on it. I've got a separate full time salaried job and normally don't file a tax return. I think all I need to do is to file a tax return next year and list the photography income under "miscellaneous income", right?

So far so good, but I read you can deduct expenses from the income before calculating the tax. And if the total income after deducting is less than 200,000 yen you don't have to file a return or pay any tax. I'm planning on buying a camera and lenses this year, which if I deduct will take the total to less than 200,000. So no tax? If so great!

My real question is though... can I deduct the camera in this way even though I bought it after the income was paid? Or, do I need to have some more photo income later in the year after buying the camera? The NTA tax guides don't seem to say anything about this... anyone have any experience? Thanks!

[captainspoke]

Just a minor note, there are some comments on this over on reddit.

[persat]

Ah yes, I cross posted this there and got some good answers, thanks for linking for reference! In short the consensus seems to be that its fine to deduct in this way for items under 100k, anything over 100k has to be deducted as depreciation per year instead of total amount.

[StockBeard]

It used to be easier a few years ago, where you could ballpark your expenses, and as long as you weren't obviously cheating, they wouldn't care.

I have been told that nowadays, for any expense report, you have to file the blue (?) form* which from my perspective is too close to running an actual business. I'm not an accountant, so I've decided for now to not report my expenses for my side gig. My loss, but I'd rather pay more taxes than have to deal with a process I don't particularly enjoy.

* If I'm wrong on that I'd love to be corrected. My wife told me that a while ago, at which point I stopped declaring expenses.

[RetireJapan]

It used to be easier a few years ago, where you could ballpark your expenses, and as long as you weren't obviously cheating, they wouldn't care.

I have been told that nowadays, for any expense report, you have to file the blue (?) form* which from my perspective is too close to running an actual business. I'm not an accountant, so I've decided for now to not report my expenses for my side gig. My loss, but I'd rather pay more taxes than have to deal with a process I don't particularly enjoy.

* If I'm wrong on that I'd love to be corrected. My wife told me that a while ago, at which point I stopped declaring expenses.

I am neither a tax expert nor play one on TV, but that does not sound like my experience at the tax office eighteen months ago: http://www.retirejapan.info/blog/summon ... tax-office