Japan gets details on 2 million offshore accounts to combat tax evasion

Abe was in the Panama Papers dealing with this massive tax evasion and nothing was done. As usual the Japanese bureaucracy is late to the game and ill-informed and will not pursue the biggest culprits.

Hope they will publish some names.

We could see some surprises. I am sure some famous politicians are part of it

Abe was in the Panama Papers dealing with this massive tax evasion and nothing was done. As usual the Japanese bureaucracy is late to the game and ill-informed and will not pursue the biggest culprits.

LDP cronies and Japanese bureaucrats are pretty much the richest people in Japan at this point, while Yakuzas were eviscerated by Obama's sanctions in 2009. This only leaves the Japanese politicians as the richest ones in the room.

Japan's economic situations are getting worse each year, so it is not a surprise to see Abe and his cronies are trying to flee Japan with their assets and wealth.

Anyone with any sense won't be hiding offshore assets in back accounts under their own names. They'll be in trust accounts, holding companies etc with no identifiable links to Japan. and won't feature in the rsults.

That would be the Chinese using Japanese names. It happens that Chinese elites and wealthy business people usually use Japan as a gateway to launder their money outside.

I met a Japanese manager of five Kabukeicho prime real estates in 2015, and he revealed to me that his bosses are Chinese mainlanders, Hong Kongers, Macanese, Taiwanese. The Chinese took over the whole Kabukeicho steadily since the 1990s. Chinese mainlanders are a recent phenomenon who swiftly took over most of the real estate assets in the district. These people are largely provincial Communist officials and business cronies tied with the officials. They have too much money, so they dump a portion of them upon the Japanese real estate markets. This Japanese manager presents himself as the CEO who operates and "owns" the real estate assets in the district, while it's the Chinese bosses who really own them.

Chinese business elites use multiple sources and ways to launder money worldwide as the CCP is getting more adamant on regulating capital flows. One of the smartest ways that I saw Chinese businessmen did was that they used the RMBs to purchase massive quantities of oil in Thailand, then they sold all the oil at the higher price to gain the USDs.

They won’t see my name!

Anyone with any sense won't be hiding offshore assets in back accounts under their own names. They'll be in trust accounts, holding companies etc with no identifiable links to Japan. and won't feature in the rsults.

If you filter out the 'working' company accounts used by the foreign arms of Japanese firms, what they've most probably got is the remnants of 40 odd years of Japanese people on temporary overseas placements, working holidays and forgotten accounts.

"There is a chance they include many overseas assets of the wealthy class,""

Freaking Sherlock Holmes this guy. lol

It's about time Japan cracked down on it's own citizens. Will anybody be brought to court though?

Shinzo Abe, Hironobu Abe, Tomohiko Nagase. At least they were involved in Panama Papers. So it's a standard, but a double standard

hope the tax office tracks down those individuals and makes them cough up, at the moment every penny is needed

Whoever has access to this information could have a successful career in blackmail or favoritism.

These are the people who ought to be paying tax - IN FULL. Track them down and sting them hard, nice tax people!

While people are saying "get those tax evaders", I hope it is realized that they are not necessarily evading any tax laws, and furthermore that the J Gov wants to get their tax claws into your personal OS assets for at least five years after you have left the country. So I don't know that it is a wise thing to get excited about these controls they are implementing and thinking that you will see anything other than your hard work being taxed twice. But some of us already know how it ends.

Whoever has access to this information could have a successful career in blackmail or favoritism

Yes, the Gov

wayan UbudToday  07:02 am JST

hope the tax office tracks down those individuals and makes them cough up, at the moment every penny is needed

For the Olympics mayhaps...

BertieWoosterToday  04:09 pm JST

These are the people who ought to be paying tax - IN FULL. Track them down and sting them hard, nice tax people!

Careful what you wish for, Bertie! I seem to remember when the tax laws were updated a few years ago (Taro Aso was behind this, of all people!), they were made 10 years retrogressive and into the future, so even if you leave Japan, you will, theoretically, be liable for taxes for quite a while, and if you received any monies in the last ten years, from when the updated law was promulgated, you should have declared them.

Many countries (for example, The whole of EU and the UK, minus Cyprus) have signed joint agreements with Japan, to help us honour this law. How kind.

And here is the reason names will not be published :-)

Hope they will publish some names.

We could see some surprises. I am sure some famous politicians are part of it

This affects you if you're a Japan resident with overseas assets. The best thing to do is report your Japanese My Number number to your foreign bank or brokerage, which will use it as your foreign tax ID number. That will keep the Japanese tax office happy should they look into your financial status, and off your back in terms of an audit, since they wont suspect you of hiding assets.

Apparently more and more foreigners with overseas holdings are getting audited and nailed recently.

@JeffLee: Giving your MyNumber to an overseas bank is like posting your American Social Security number on a hacking site on Tor Browser.

Recall, America has not joined this group of well over 100 countries. And, the StateDepartment requires the FBAR to be filed and Japan can see that. Unless you are loaded, no need to tell the JAPANESE government about your meager assets overseas in America.

JeffLeeToday  01:56 pm JST

This affects you if you're a Japan resident with overseas assets. The best thing to do is report your Japanese My Number number to your foreign bank or brokerage, which will use it as your foreign tax ID number. That will keep the Japanese tax office happy should they look into your financial status, and off your back in terms of an audit, since they wont suspect you of hiding assets.

Apparently more and more foreigners with overseas holdings are getting audited and nailed recently.

Sorry, I have to disagree with you. Only overseas assets over 50 million yen need to be reported to the Japanese tax office. My home country is repeatedly asking me for information so they can report it to Japan, to which I have always steadfastly refused, stating the given reason. So far, so good. I would not advise giving your My number voluntarily, only if and when it becomes compulsory.

On a side note, my overseas bank is also constantly requesting me to fill out a FATCA. I'm not an overseas American (the specific target group), I've never been to America and I live in Japan, for chrissakes. Again, I steadfastly refuse, on those grounds.

Sleepless nights for those Japanese and foreign residents who do not do their compulsory yearly foreign asset reports. ( over 50 million yen in cash or other assets) Possible jail terms await you.

And as to giving your MY Number to foreign banks. My foreign bank gave me a choice to provide the number or lose access to my Internet banking with them. Perhaps I could have argued with them or taken them to court over this in my home country I am not sure, but if you are paying your correct taxes and declaring what you are supposed to and so on in an account linked you and your Japanese address, not quite sure what is the point. The tax department has powers to get your banking information from the foreign banks if they deem necessary.

If you want to hide these thing, then obviously you need to do it with accounts not in your name or linked to you and/or your Japanese address or any Japanese connection.

And as to giving your MY Number to foreign banks. My foreign bank gave me a choice to provide the number or lose access to my Internet banking with them.

Which country specifically? Also, does that mean that you can still go to the local branch and access your money from there?

Perhaps I could have argued with them or taken them to court over this in my home country

Again, which country?

or lose access to my Internet banking

That means I still have access to paper banking and just use checks to. Problem solved

If or when they catch up with some of these companies and individuals will they be back dating any of the tax payments? will they be told to pay all of it in one go? will they be given time to pay? if any of theses accounts found and they donate to the political party thats in power now, will they be given any dispensation? i wounder if any brown paper bags will be handed out as to say dont look to hard at my account/s.

Good Move, and i think that many of the violators are probably public servants or members of the current and former governments, guaranteed.

@OreiO

 I would not advise giving your My number voluntarily...

My Canada bank said I needed to report it to them. My overseas brokerages require a "foreign tax ID" number from non-residents, which in Japan's case is My Number. Sure, you can refuse to report it, but that could raise a red flag. They may freeze your account and the Japanese or local tax authorities may start investigating your accounts if legally required info about yourself is missing.