RetireJapan

Am preparing to move house this year, receiving a Japanese bank home loan to help. Early next year I will claim the 1% home loan tax refund, but the form (住宅借入金等特別控除額の計算明細書, https://www.nta.go.jp/tetsuzuki/shinkok ... h29/05.pdf) looks rather intimidating. I know that the bottom line is you generate a figure which goes on your tax return to claim the refund, but all the calculations and notes seem complex. Does anyone have experience of actually completing this form or does anyone know of any completion instructions/explanations in English? I managed to apply for, and get approved for, the loan with all the documents and forms that that entailed, but this is a little beyond me at the moment!

I know I have plenty of time (don't need to do this until January next year and need some info which my bank will send me at the end of the year for some of the figures), but any help from anyone who has really done it would be appreciated. I like to be prepared!

The Japanese lawyer's website (http://lawyerjapanese.com/tax-informati ... -in-japan/) was a little helpful, but lacked detail about how to actually calculate and complete the form (simply saying "conduct complex calculation) - plus his English was difficult to understand.

Thanks in anticipation.

I don't have any experience with this, but personally, I'd wait a while (for the tax office to catch up on things and recover from the filing season), and then go talk to them.

You might want to have some initial contact to see if you can come across someone knowledgeable, and if not, try again a couple months later.

I'd then go back again in early January, just as soon as you can get the necessary numbers and paperwork together, and have them help you pre-complete the form, or at least have a look at your draft.

edit: Also, if this is part of the eFile system, you may only have to enter the numbers in the correct places and the calculations will be done automatically. (this is speculation, but maybe worth considering or asking about)

Hi Ricardo,
I have done this for a couple of years now and they keep giving me the tax refund so I guess what I am doing is correct enough.

That said I forget off the top of my head...

First thing, you’ll need these ten slips of paper sent to you by your local tax office I think - there is a form for each of the ten years that you are eligible, so each year you need to submit the form for that year.

Second thing, you need you loan balance certificate from wherever you have taken out your mortgage. You will get this around November, I think.

You can then use both to apply for the tax refund via either nenmatsu chosei at year end or kakutei shinkoku.

What I remember is that once you filled out the form once, take a photo because the information is mostly the same again for the next year. I have just such photos on my iPhone
So I can refer to those and let you know how I have filled out, in my case.

Thanks

Helpful

Any chance you could PM me your photo? Feel free to cut out the personal info

I suspect most of the boxes are not needed

I am curious if there are any other home taxes or credits available for buyers. For example, in the USA you could get a substantial tax credit for investing in solar panels or other green initiatives. Does anyone know how to search for details like that? And are there prefecture or city level incentives as well?

Update:

The form was actually pretty simple to fill in. As I suspected, most of the boxes were not needed.

The calculation was simple and easy to transfer to my main tax return form.

I got confirmation of my refund today.

All relatively straightforward.