2 articles
Every January I sit down to do 確定申告 (kakutei shinkoku) for BenStay, and every year I find some deduction I should have been using months earlier. The one that surprised me most wasn’t accommodation tax or depreciation — it was a retirement program many freelancers and small guesthouse operators in Japan may not have considered: 小規模企業共済 (Shoukibo Kigyou Kyousai), or Small Business Mutual Aid.
Every autumn my LINE fills up with the same question from freelancer friends: “should I do furusato nozei this year?” It can be financially attractive if you stay within your full-deduction limit — you donate to an eligible, designated local government, get local goods back (wagyu, rice, seafood, whatever), and the amount over ¥2,000 can be deducted or credited against your income tax and resident tax within statutory limits. But the mechanics change once you’re filing your own kakutei shinkoku instead of having an employer handle everything for you.