Inheritance tax of Japan may levy on Non-resident of Japan
Even if you are not living in Japan nor have not come to Japan, it may be good to know inheritance tax of Japan.
In the case a property is located in Japan, even if the property was owned by Indian (ancestor. “Mr. D”. Named after “Dead”) who was living in America and his heir (Ms. H. Named after “Heir”) is living in India, Ms. H needs to pay inheritance tax to Japanese government.
So, Ms. H will come to Japan to pay inheritance tax.
Otherwise, Japanese government can not collect from this property in Japan.
In the case a Japanese national who is living in Japan inherits a property in India, she needs to pay inheritance tax to Japanese government.
Otherwise, she can avoid payment of inheritance tax by transferring all properties from Japan.
If Mr. D (Japanese) can transfer all his properties from Japan and he and his all heirs (Japanese) leave Japan and live outside of Japan for ten years or more, when he dies, his heirs do not need to pay inheritance tax for Japanese government.
Details are mentioned below.
Assumed that Mr. D has real estate in America and Ms. H inherits the property.
According to system of inheritance of Japan, if Mr. D or Ms. H has domicile in Japan (at the time of Mr. D’s death), Ms. H needs to pay inheritance tax in Japan.
So, if Ms. H does not want to pay inheritance tax for Japanese government, Mr. D need to remove all properties from Japan and Mr. D and Ms. H need to depart from Japan completely.
Even if Mr. D and Ms. H departed from Japan, if Mr. D died within ten years from his departure from Japan, his relation with Japan still continues.
So, Ms. H needs to pay inheritance tax relating to property in America for Japanese government.
In the case Mr. D and Ms. H departed from Japan and Mr. D died after ten years from his departure from Japan, if Ms. H is not Japanese national, her relation with Japan is not strong.
So, she does not need to inheritance tax relating to property in America for Japanese government.
In the case Mr. D and Ms. H departed from Japan and Mr. D died after ten years from his departure from Japan, if Ms. H is Japanese national, but if Mr. D died after ten years from Ms. H’s departure, her relation with Japan is not strong.
So, she does not need to inheritance tax relating to property in America for Japanese government.
On the other hand, in the case of a foreigner who has address in Japan (it means that they have resident card), there are other treatments.
In the case Mr. D has address in Japan, if Mr. D is not permanent resident nor spouse of Japanese national, but has other kind of status of residence (ex. engineer, student) and term of his reside in Japan is ten years or less during past 15 years, he is not included in a person who has address in Japan. And this applies to Ms. H. According to (Note 2). Assumed that Mr. D had not come to Japan. His daughter (Ms. H. non Japanese national nor spouse of Japanese ) was working in Japan as language teacher at the time of Mr. D’s death. In this case, Ms. H needs to pay inheritance tax only relating to property located in Japan for Japanese government. She is deemed that she does not have address in Japan.
