Tax Return - Rakuten Securities

[FIRE-Rookie]

Hey peeps,

I use Rakuten Securities to manage my portfolio and recently I have traded some shares in "General" account instead of the "Specific" account.

For those who don't know the difference.
General account means that Rakuten doesn't touch the tax money and I have apply for them myself.
Specific account means they offer tax-withholding service on your behalf.

I tried to call the Rakuten securities support and ask them to deduct the difference from my balance but they refused and told me that I have to apply for taxes for these stocks myself.

Newbie here since my employer always handled taxes from my salary directly. I know I still got like 10 months but I prefer to finish things off early. Anyone has an idea where to get the documents? how to prepare them in advance? When and how to submit them?

I don't feel like paying an accountant 10,000 yen for something that will potentially cost me 2,000 yen.

Thanks in advance!

[Viralriver]

Just as a heads up, it'll cost a lot more than 10k. I'm going through this right now for last year's filing with an accountant and she's charging me around 60k. Albeit, this is for a tokutei rakuten account, furusato nouzei, mercari sales and a couple of other random things. I can't help much more than that right now.

[Chris]

You can do it online here: https://www.keisan.nta.go.jp/kyoutu/ky/sm/top#bsctrl

The E-Tax system is pretty easy to navigate and if you cannot read Japanese, Google Translate is your friend. You will need to follow the instructions to declare Capital Gains/Loss and Dividend income. (But if you have successfully navigated Rakuten-Sec's UI then E-Tax's UI should be a wakl in the park )

To be honest if you're going to go into the realm of general trading you should really first know what taxes you will incur and how to correctly declare them - Don't play with fire, until you know how to put it out.

If you don't want to deal with taxes, then just stick to your NISA.

[FIRE-Rookie]

Just as a heads up, it'll cost a lot more than 10k. I'm going through this right now for last year's filing with an accountant and she's charging me around 60k. Albeit, this is for a tokutei rakuten account, furusato nouzei, mercari sales and a couple of other random things. I can't help much more than that right now.

Wait wait wait....you said a couple of things that really took me by surprise!
I get you pay for Tokutei rakuten auditing and filing.

But why you are are paying for Furusato Nouzei? They have the "one-stop" system where the city hall you donated to essentially does the work for you. I didn't know about it till they mailed me about it.

And also I get you are being honest but why pay for Mercari sales?
I understand that Amazon FBA sellers have to declare revenues over 10M but I can't imagine Mercari ever generating that kind of funds. (Please correct me if I was wrong)

[FIRE-Rookie]

You can do it online here: https://www.keisan.nta.go.jp/kyoutu/ky/sm/top#bsctrl

The E-Tax system is pretty easy to navigate and if you cannot read Japanese, Google Translate is your friend. You will need to follow the instructions to declare Capital Gains/Loss and Dividend income. (But if you have successfully navigated Rakuten-Sec's UI then E-Tax's UI should be a wakl in the park )

To be honest if you're going to go into the realm of general trading you should really first know what taxes you will incur and how to correctly declare them - Don't play with fire, until you know how to put it out.

If you don't want to deal with taxes, then just stick to your NISA.

Never knew about that, really a newbie
I will take a look into it later, thanks Sir

That being said, I am maxed out on NISA but I figured I need to get some "education" on the market so I am just using a tiny part of my portfolio applying an old school investing method called "Magic Formula" which essentially "forces" me to buy stocks every quarter. The learning curve has been increasing so far and even making mistakes about taxes is part of the learning curve.

I am the kind of the person who can read a textbook and understand nothing but once I get my hands dirty, there is where the learning gets actualized. To put into your analogy, I am the kind of kid that you would tell "If you touch the fire, you will get burned" so I actually go around putting my pinky in the fire and get 3rd degree burn and realize "oh, well what do you know? Chris was right!"

[adamu]

But why you are are paying for Furusato Nouzei? They have the "one-stop" system where the city hall you donated to essentially does the work for you. I didn't know about it till they mailed me about it.

The one-stop system is for people who will not do a tax return. The idea is that all else being equal, they just need to adjust your residence tax.

However, if you do a tax return, the one stop system declarations become invalid. And annoyingly, it seems that you need to get a separate certificate for each of your donations, to file with your tax return.

[FIRE-Rookie]

The one-stop system is for people who will not do a tax return. The idea is that all else being equal, they just need to adjust your residence tax.

However, if you do a tax return, the one stop system declarations become invalid. And annoyingly, it seems that you need to get a separate certificate for each of your donations, to file with your tax return.

I am sorry if I was not clear. I was talking in the context of tax withholding so "re-adjusting" the residence tax still remains part of the taxes I still owe the government.

That being said, you offered a new piece of information that I will not aware of before. In case I apply for a tax return in the future, I will be sure to recall the Furusato Nozei certificates separately.

[Viralriver]

Just as a heads up, it'll cost a lot more than 10k. I'm going through this right now for last year's filing with an accountant and she's charging me around 60k. Albeit, this is for a tokutei rakuten account, furusato nouzei, mercari sales and a couple of other random things. I can't help much more than that right now.

Wait wait wait....you said a couple of things that really took me by surprise!
I get you pay for Tokutei rakuten auditing and filing.

But why you are are paying for Furusato Nouzei? They have the "one-stop" system where the city hall you donated to essentially does the work for you. I didn't know about it till they mailed me about it.

And also I get you are being honest but why pay for Mercari sales?
I understand that Amazon FBA sellers have to declare revenues over 10M but I can't imagine Mercari ever generating that kind of funds. (Please correct me if I was wrong)

Mercari is on the order of ~3m, plus my My Number card is linked to it, so being careful since I'm applying for PR soon. Since I am filing this, one stop on furusato is null & void unfortunately.

[eyeswideshut]

You know what - thanks so much for raising this issue as I realized I had not set my account in Rakuten to Tokutei and it seems to default to Ippan if you don't specifically apply for it. I am still working it out but it seems you can change your account to Tokutei in a given tax year if you have not made any sales (dividends are OK retroactively). At least this is my understanding. Anyway I have made the application and will see what happens. Hopefully it will be retroactive.

Just do your own taxes on etax and then take the printout to the tax office and ask them to check it for you. They are usually pretty helpful. No need to hire an accountant unless you have really complicated taxes. Even if you overpay a little bit it is cheaper than using an accountant.

[RetireJapan]

I am still working it out but it seems you can change your account to Tokutei in a given tax year if you have not made any sales (dividends are OK retroactively). At least this is my understanding.

I made the mistake of buying my first shares in a general （一般）account. This cannot be reversed. If you have a tokutei account you choose to buy shares in it at the point of purchase. I still have the option of purchasing things in my regular account now, although I am careful not to select that option.