RetireJapan

Totally NOOB here. I've been living and working in Japan now for over 2 years, but before that working for a long time in the US, so most of my assets are in US based accounts. I have never brought money into Japan other than some small credit card spending that I do here on US based credit cards. However, partially considering that investing my accumulating cash in Japan is challenging for a US citizen due to all the restrictions (as well as other factors of course), I'm now considering buying a mansion here. To do that, I might need to supplement my Japan cash with some money transferred over from the US. I see lots of posts in these forums regarding what is the least costly way to transfer money, i.e. Transferwise, etc. However, at a more basic level, are there any tax or other implications, either in the US or in Japan, of me moving money, say for example $50kUSD, from the US to Japan? If I do this, is Japan going to want to see some sort of history regarding where this money came from, etc, and are there tax implications? Anything that I should be aware of? If there is a post or keyword that I should search for to find previous discussions, let me know. I searched, and did not find anything. Thanks!

Your Japanese bank will ask where it’s from and what it’s for. The tax people may or may not do the same. Basically, as long as you have no earnings sourced outside of Japan in the year you bring it over, there should be no tax to pay. If you do have overseas earnings (including interest), Japan will expect you to declare these for income tax.

Yep, Beaglehound is right, moving money to Japan doesn’t trigger anything as it relates to taxes.

If you’re making money on investments in the US, even collecting dividends, it might be worth a swing over to the tax forum on this site.