Japanese inheritance tax and life insurance

[novalis]

Hi everyone. I am in the process of taking care of my will in Japan. I want to lower the inheritance tax that might be imposed upon my children when they inherit my estate. I have heard that shifting cash and securities funds into life insurance can dramatically reduce this tax liability. I would be very grateful if anyone with knowledge or experience of this could give me advice. Many thanks for any pointers or suggestions.

[RetireJapan]

If you have the amount of money where you might want to think about inheritance tax mitigation strategies (100m yen+?), then it probably makes sense to get professional advice.

You should be able to talk to an accountant or tax lawyer for an hour and get them to walk you through everything for a very reasonable fee.

[novalis]

Many thanks for this comment. I'm not in the ¥100+ bracket, but I still want to mitigate my tax liability as much as possible. Cheers!

[RetireJapan]

Many thanks for this comment. I'm not in the ¥100+ bracket, but I still want to mitigate my tax liability as much as possible. Cheers!

But that is the point. Unless you have that kind of money, your family is unlikely to be affected much by inheritance tax (90%+ of estates in Japan are not taxed at all). And many inheritance tax avoidance schemes can have a high cost (either monetary, time, or opportunity cost).