Japanese Tax for Chefs Working Abroad: Non-Resident Status

When a Japanese restaurant company sends a chef to an overseas restaurant, the first question for payroll is whether the chef is a resident or a non-resident for Japanese income tax. The answer changes the year-end adjustment before departure, withholding after departure and how bonuses are treated.

This guide sets out how Japanese income tax applies to a chef working abroad as an employee, based on the National Tax Agency's Tax Answers and published Q&A. The content was checked on NTA pages in September 2026 (some pages state that they reflect laws as of 1 April 2026).

1. Residents and non-residents

Under the Income Tax Act, a resident is an individual who has an address (jusho) in Japan, or who has had a residence (kyosho) in Japan continuously for one year or more up to now. Anyone else is a non-resident. "Address" means the centre of the person's life, judged on objective facts.

For a Japanese chef working in an overseas restaurant, the question is whether they are an ordinary resident or a non-resident.

2. How overseas workers are judged: the presumption of address

According to the NTA, a person who goes to live abroad and takes up an occupation that normally requires living abroad continuously for one year or more is presumed not to have an address in Japan. A spouse or dependants who share their livelihood and live abroad with them are presumed the same way.

In practice:

• An employee transferred to an overseas branch, or seconded to an overseas subsidiary, for a planned period of one year or more is generally a non-resident.
• If the plan is for less than a year, they generally remain a resident.

The NTA explains that, unless it is clear from the outset that the stay abroad will be less than a year, the person is as a rule presumed to be a non-resident. Writing the planned period into the secondment order or contract is the starting point for the judgement.

3. When the plan changes

Overseas assignments often run longer because an opening slips or a successor is not ready, or end early. The NTA's published Q&A treats these cases as follows.

In neither case does the category change retroactively. Record internally the date the plan changed, so you can explain the basis for the judgement later.

4. What the company does before departure

Year-end adjustment

According to the NTA, when a resident who has filed the dependants declaration and whose pay for the year is ¥20 million or less is transferred abroad for a planned period of a year or more, the payer must carry out the year-end adjustment (nenmatsu chosei) by the date of departure.

• Insurance premium deductions, such as social insurance and life insurance, cover only amounts paid up to the date of departure.
• Dependant and spouse deductions are judged on the situation at departure. The income of the spouse or dependants is estimated for the full year based on the situation at departure.
• Ask the employee for the insurance premium deduction declaration, the dependants declaration (or a change declaration if anything has changed), and the combined basic deduction and spouse deduction declaration.

Final return and tax agent

An employee who must file a tax return, for example because their pay exceeds ¥20 million or they have certain other income, and who leaves without appointing a tax agent, must file a return (junkakutei shinkoku) by the time of departure.

If they will still need to file returns or receive tax documents in Japan after leaving, they appoint a tax agent (nozei kanrinin) and submit the notification of appointment to the tax office. The agent can be a company or an individual. A chef who rents out a home in Japan while abroad, for instance, may need one.

5. Salary and bonuses paid from Japan after departure

After the employee becomes a non-resident, withholding differs for employees and officers.

If you make the head chef a director of the local company, check whether they also hold an office at the Japanese parent, because the treatment can differ. Where an employee becomes a non-resident partway through a pay period of one month or less, withholding is not needed even if the period includes work in Japan, unless the whole amount relates to work in Japan.

The NTA's pages also note that from 2027 withholding will cover income tax, the special defence income tax and the special reconstruction income tax. Check the NTA's guidance at the time for rates from 2027.

6. Where tax treaties come in

If both Japan and the other country treat someone as resident, the tax treaty sets out how to decide which country they are resident in. In the example the NTA gives, an individual is assessed by permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality.

A treaty between Japan and the country of work may also exempt income from Japanese tax. As an example, the NTA says Japanese income tax may be exempt if the person spends no more than 183 days in Japan in any 12 month period, is not paid by a Japanese employer, and the pay is not borne by a branch in Japan, with all conditions met (conditions vary by treaty). This comes up when, say, the head chef of an overseas restaurant comes back to Japan for a while to help at a head office event.

The Ministry of Finance publishes the list of Japan's tax treaties. Treaties are in force with the United States, Australia and the UAE, for example.

7. Resident tax and local taxes

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, individual resident tax (juminzei) is charged by the municipality where the person has an address on 1 January of the year, on the previous year's income. Leaving partway through a year does not cancel that year's resident tax. Explaining how the departure date affects next year's bill avoids confusion.

Income tax and social contributions in the host country are set by that country's law. Becoming a non-resident in Japan does not mean no tax is due abroad. Check local tax with a local adviser.

8. Checklist for payroll

1. State the planned period in the secondment order or contract (a year or more, or less).
2. If a year or more, complete the year-end adjustment by the date of departure.
3. For anyone who must file a return, arrange a final return or a tax agent.
4. For bonuses paid in Japan after departure, identify the part of the calculation period worked in Japan.
5. For anyone who is also an officer, check the treatment of officer remuneration separately.
6. If the plan changes, record the date the change became clear and review the category.
7. Brief the employee on resident tax and on overseas residence registration (Passport Act Article 16, stays of three months or more).

For social insurance, see pension and health insurance for chefs working abroad. For secondment versus local hire, see secondment vs local hire, and for building pay around take-home amounts, pay design for chefs working abroad.

General information, not tax advice. Residence depends on the facts of each case. Check the NTA and other official sources below, verified in September 2026, and consult the tax office or a licensed tax accountant.