Use LINE to get an appointment at your tax office

[captainspoke]

Just a heads up. Was over at the tax office yesterday. I thought it was walk in, but they were handing out pieces of paper with a time slot. It was about 11am, the paper they were going to give me said 15:30-16:00. I turned it down (had stuff to do) but they then said you could reserve a slot via LINE.

This morning I googled "国税庁 LINE" and with a click or two a reservations sequence popped up--select your prefecture/city and so on, and you get to a calendar with available slots. I'm signed up for Friday, mid morning, a half hour window for when to be there. Will have to see how long it takes. Yes, you have to accept them as a LINE contact and so on, but this looks well worth it.

There will still probably be some waiting, but probably no long lines and take a number at various stages as in past years.

So if you intend to go to a tax office to file, check this out.

[unborderedlife]

Keep in mind that you can only make appointments between 2 to 10 days in advance. I tried last night to make an appointment for today, but couldn't select the date as it was less than 2 days away.

I just fronted up today (around 1:30pm) anyway, and there wasn't too much waiting time (maybe 15 mins). So I think busyness really depends on which tax office you go to. Of course, it's best to go well before the deadline in March, and avoid the weekends when they are specially open.

[captainspoke]

I went for my appointment this morning--now done for another year!

Probably the biggest difference is that is that there was no line of cars waiting to park. In the past, just getting into the lot could take an hour or more. Today--no waiting at all, the lot was maybe 3/4 full, and I got a space close up.

I was early for my reserved time, so waited about 10 minutes then right into the processing stations. It took about two hours total, but I wait for and use their help inputting everything. Also, a couple new bits this year. I asked about it and they ran thru the two ways to input/declare foreign dividends. The fellow at the first station had given me a preview, and said that the separate declaration was likely cheaper for me, and that's what I went with. I was surprised that the guy helping on the computer was willing to spend the time to basically alter and refill a bunch of fields just to compare--it took a while. Not really due to this change with the dividends, tho that helped, but this year's bill (national) is a small fraction of last year's, and I look forward to June when my residence tax and medical premiums will also be adjusted down.

[MajesticSoup]

Stupid question but what would I bring with me to the tax office to begin reporting gains from years where I neglected to report? (It was during years where there was zero guidance on how to report crypto, and I'd like to report those trades now if possible)

[kuma]

I went for my appointment this morning--now done for another year!

Probably the biggest difference is that is that there was no line of cars waiting to park. In the past, just getting into the lot could take an hour or more. Today--no waiting at all, the lot was maybe 3/4 full, and I got a space close up.

I was early for my reserved time, so waited about 10 minutes then right into the processing stations. It took about two hours total, but I wait for and use their help inputting everything. Also, a couple new bits this year. I asked about it and they ran thru the two ways to input/declare foreign dividends. The fellow at the first station had given me a preview, and said that the separate declaration was likely cheaper for me, and that's what I went with. I was surprised that the guy helping on the computer was willing to spend the time to basically alter and refill a bunch of fields just to compare--it took a while. Not really due to this change with the dividends, tho that helped, but this year's bill (national) is a small fraction of last year's, and I look forward to June when my residence tax and medical premiums will also be adjusted down.

I went yesterday. Was super-easy to get a Sunday slot and no queues. Done in less than an hour. (Prior to filing, my city had a free service for foreigners to meet tax accountants with a translator for half an hour to help us prepare; I attended that a couple of weeks ago, which helped.)

I also registered for the blue form from next year. I asked: if my freelance profit was only 500,000 yen (note: I also do full-time work), would I still get the 550,000 yen (paper filing) or 600,000 yen (electronic filing) deduction for using the blue form? Answer: yes!