RetireJapan

Hi friends,

I've got some bonds ETFs at Firstrade on which the clearing agent had withheld 10% US income tax all through 2023, and which I had declared to the Japanese tax office in my kakutei shinkoku last month.

Then in late March, it seems that Firstrade's clearing agent decided that since those were bonds ETFs, 10% US withholding tax was too high and made substantial refunds of the taxes withheld on those bond ETF dividends paid during 2023.

My question is this. Since I need to submit a revised kakutei shinkoku to square these refunded withholding tax amounts with the Japanese tax office, should I declare the refunds converted into yen at the exchange rate of the date of the refunds (ie. late March 2024) or at the respective exchange rates of the taxes originally withheld during 2023?

Ideas, anyone?

I called the National Tax Agency's 国税相談専用ダイアル at 0570-00-5901 to find out.

They said that since the US WHT refunds were tied to specific ETF dividends all through last year, I need to calculate the yen value of the refunds at the USD-JPY exchange rates on those specific dates. Straight from the horse's mouth.

Thanks for checking, and for the follow-up. (about what I would have expected, but still...)

It was good to get an authoritative answer, since I'd never had to file for US WHT adjustments.

I'm still not sure why APEX Clearing started partially refunding taxes withheld on bond ETFs though, as I'd never come across this kind of thing before.

I guess though I will probably need to resubmit my kakutei shinkoku and gaikoku zeigaku koujo filings every year going forward, if APEX continues doing this, as Firstrade is still withholding the usual 10% taxes from the dividends on the bond ETFs I hold there.