Tax Residency in Japan: The Three Categories

Last updated: 17 October 2026 · the Income Tax Act and the National Tax Agency’s guidance as of April 2026

Japan’s income tax law puts every individual into one of three categories: a resident (居住者), a non-permanent resident (非永住者) — a kind of resident, for people who are not Japanese nationals and have not been in Japan long — or a non-resident (非居住者). The category decides what Japan taxes: everything you earn anywhere, mostly what you earn in Japan, or only what you earn in Japan. It is not decided by counting days, and the 183 days people often quote is a different rule altogether. What a non-resident’s salary has withheld is covered in why 20.42% is withheld; this page is about which category you are in.

This is a general explanation of Japanese law. Your status is decided on your own facts, and a tax treaty can change the result: the tax office or a 税理士 (licensed tax accountant) is the person to ask about your case.

The three categories at a glance

Resident: an address here, or a year of living here

The Income Tax Act makes you a resident if you have your address (住所) in Japan, or if you have had a place where you actually live (居所) here continuously for 1 year or more. Your address is the centre of your life, judged on the facts: where you work, where your family lives, where your home is.

Because those facts can be hard to read on the day you arrive, the law presumes an answer. If you come to Japan for a job that normally needs you to live here for 1 year or more, you are presumed to have your address here, and so you are a resident from the day you arrive — even if you leave sooner than planned. Family who come with you and live on your income are presumed to have their address here too. Somebody who comes for less than that — a short assignment, a working holiday of a few months — is not presumed to be resident, and is usually a non-resident until a year has passed.

Non-permanent resident: the first five years

A resident who is not a Japanese national, and whose time with an address or residence in Japan adds up to 5 years or less within the last 10 years, is a non-permanent resident. Earlier stays count: a student year a decade ago and three years on a previous job are four years already. Japanese nationals are never non-permanent residents, however long they have been away.

A non-permanent resident is taxed on everything except foreign-source income (国外源泉所得) — and on foreign-source income too, if it is paid in Japan or sent to Japan. Foreign-source is a defined term, and not everything earned abroad is in it. In practice:

• Salary for work done in Japan is income from Japan, and is taxed in full, whoever pays it and wherever it is paid. For most people on a Japanese payroll, being a non-permanent resident changes nothing about the payslip.
• Interest, dividends or rent earned abroad are taxed in Japan only to the extent they are paid here or you bring money in from abroad. Money moved to Japan can count as bringing that income in, so a large transfer from an overseas account is worth checking before you make it.
• Shares and other securities sold abroad are the exception to watch. If you bought them on or after 1 April 2017 while you were a non-permanent resident, within the 10 years before the sale, the gain is taxed in Japan even if the money never leaves the overseas account. Securities bought outside that time — before you came, for example, or by 31 March 2017 — get the paid-in-Japan-or-brought-in treatment.
• Once your time in Japan passes the 5 years, you become an ordinary resident, taxed on income from everywhere, from that point on.

Non-resident: Japanese income only

Anyone who is not a resident is a non-resident, taxed only on income from Japan. A non-resident’s salary for work in Japan has a flat 20.42% withheld, with no deductions and no year-end adjustment, and that is usually the end of it. Somebody living abroad who comes to Japan for a few weeks of work is in this category.

The 183-day myth

Many people believe that spending more than 183 days in Japan makes you a resident, or that staying under it keeps you out. Japanese law does not count days that way: it asks where your address is, and presumes it from your job. Somebody who arrives in November on a three-year contract is a resident in November.

The 183 days comes from Japan’s tax treaties. A resident of a treaty country who works in Japan for a short time — as a non-resident — can have that pay exempt from Japanese tax if the stay is no longer than 183 days in the period the treaty sets, a year or any 12 months, and the treaty’s other conditions, which look at who pays you, are met. The days are counted including the day you arrive and the day you leave, and the exemption has to be claimed with a treaty form (租税条約に関する届出書), handed to the payer before the first payment after you arrive. It is a test for non-residents, not a test of residency.

The year you arrive or leave

Your category can change during a year, and then the year is split. For the part of the year you are a resident, you are taxed as one; for the part you are a non-resident, only on income from Japan.

• Arriving for a job of a year or more, you are a resident from the day you arrive. Pay from before you came, for work done abroad, is not taxed in Japan.
• Leaving to live abroad for a year or more, you are a non-resident from when you leave. Your employer can settle the resident part of the year in a year-end adjustment before you go, and anything not settled is done with a final tax return (確定申告). Salary paid later for work you did in Japan is still income from Japan. The guide to the final return and a tax agent covers that step.
• Resident tax (住民税) is a separate tax with its own date: it is charged by the city where you lived on 1 January. The guide to resident tax when leaving Japan explains it.

Questions people ask

If I stay in Japan for less than 183 days, am I a non-resident?

Not necessarily. Japanese law does not count days to decide residency: it asks whether your address, the centre of your life, is in Japan, and presumes it is if you come to a job that normally needs a year or more here. The 183 days comes from tax treaties, and is about whether a non-resident’s short-term pay can be exempt.

I have lived in Japan for four years. Is the interest on my savings at home taxed here?

If you are not a Japanese national, you are probably a non-permanent resident, and interest earned abroad is taxed in Japan only if it is paid in Japan or you bring it in. Once your time in Japan over the last 10 years passes 5 years, you become a resident like any other, taxed on income from everywhere.

I am on a two-year contract. When do I become a resident?

From the start. A job that normally needs you to live in Japan for a year or more makes the law presume your address is here, so you are a resident from the day you arrive, and your salary is withheld with the ordinary tables rather than at the non-resident rate.

Work out a resident’s take-home

Sources

• Income Tax Act (所得税法) — e-Gov: 第2条第1項第3号〜第5号 (resident, non-permanent resident — no Japanese nationality and an address or residence in Japan for 5 years or less in the last 10 — and non-resident) and 第7条 (what each is taxed on, including a non-permanent resident’s foreign-source income paid in Japan or sent from abroad). Japanese, opened 17 October 2026.
• Income Tax Act Enforcement Order (所得税法施行令) — e-Gov: 第14条 and 第15条 (presumed to have, or not to have, an address in Japan when a job normally needs a year or more there; family presumed with you) and 第17条 (a non-permanent resident’s gain on securities sold abroad is treated as foreign-source only if they were not bought while a non-permanent resident in the 10 years before the sale). Japanese, opened 17 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — 所得税基本通達 7-1 (securities bought by 31 March 2017 are outside the rule, as are those bought more than 10 years before the sale or while not a non-permanent resident). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2875 居住者と非居住者の区分 (address as the centre of life, residence of a year or more). Japanese, as of 1 April 2026.
• National Tax Agency — A3-9 租税条約に関する届出（短期滞在者の報酬・給与） (183 days in a year or any 12 months; the form goes to the payer before the first payment after arrival) and 短期滞在者免税の要件である滞在日数の計算 (both the day of arrival and the day of departure count). Japanese.
• National Tax Agency — No.2517 海外に転勤する人の年末調整と転勤後の源泉徴収 (leaving for a year or more makes you a non-resident; the year-end adjustment before departure) and No.1920 海外勤務と所得税額の精算. Japanese.