This is actually happening. I’m writing my first entry about living in Japan and it’s about leaving Japan. From here on, I’ll then see if I can work my way back, up until the time I moved to Japan and how I got here — by getting a job as an ALT.

But first, today’s story: my preparations before leaving Japan, documents edition.

I had decided to leave Japan over a year ago. It was also around this time then that I told my boss that I planned to leave. In November last year, I submitted my resignation and began asking old contacts if they had short contracts for until July 2019. As the stars aligned for me, it was the company that brought me here that signed me for the contract I needed, coincidentally, my last contract in Japan.🍀

Fast forward to today and I’m three items away from completing my “Leaving Japan To-Do List.”

Things to Do Before Leaving Japan (Chai’s List)

• Transfer rent and utility bills to Steph’s name
• Get a temporary voice and SMS sim card
• Cancel au (phone) contract
• Pay remainder of Residence Tax amount
• File Moving Out Notice
• File Health Insurance Quit Form
• Transfer bicycle registration to Steph’s name
• Complete application for Pension Lum-Sum Withdrawals
• Submit “Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer’s Tax Affairs for Income Tax and Consumption Tax”

Things to Do Today

• File Moving Out Notice
• File Health Insurance Quit Form
• Submit “Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer’s Tax Affairs for Income Tax and Consumption Tax”

Things to Bring

• Moving Out Notice
• Health Insurance Quit Form

• Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer’s Tax Affairs for Income Tax and Consumption Tax

• zairyuu card
• My Number card
• inkan (personal seal)

Submit “Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer’s Tax Affairs for Income Tax and Consumption Tax”

The biggest goal for today was to submit the document naming Steph as my tax agent (所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書). Biggest because I didn’t know where to submit it and because taxes will be the most complicated of my post-departure to-do list. Also, because it is tied to my pension lump-sum withdrawal that is a huge amount of money. If I play my cards right, I may receive a refund on the tax imposed on my lump-sum withdrawal.

I was naming Steph as my tax agent so she could deal with tax matters on my behalf when I left.

Prior to submitting the document, I got myself a copy of it from the NTA website. And then I got Steph to translate the items for me. However, without a Japanese-fluent sister, people who need to submit this document can find a guide for it right here:

This is Page 63 of the 2018 Tax Guide. This section of the guide is specifically for individuals leaving Japan.

I actually took my printout to my city’s satellite office before filling it in because I wanted to find out first if I could submit my document there and I wanted to save on call charges. 😁 Unfortunately, they didn’t know where it should be filed. So I ended up calling the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau 06-6941-5331 to find out. It turns out, it was very simple to with that one call.

From knowing the tax office with jurisdiction over my tax filings, my sister and I headed off to the next city, walked to the tax office and filed my Declaration Naming a Person to Administer the Taxpayer’s Tax Affairs for Income Tax and Consumption Tax. Quick and Simple!

File Moving Out Notice

File Health Insurance Quit Form

After my tax thingy, my next priority was to file my Moving Out Notice and my Health Insurance quit form. I did both at my city’s satellite office so even if they couldn’t help me with my tax thingy, at least I got to cross off two more items from my list because of them.

The forms were available at the same office and I already got mine almost a month ago. Back then, the staff advised me to file my forms 14 days before my departure. Today, I decided to squeeze out more from my visit and get more things done.

So I sat down, explained to the staff that I was leaving Japan, and showed him my forms.

My Moving Out Notice looked like this:

Anyone who’s filed administrative documents with city offices in Japan would find some of the fields familiar.

It’s just the usual:

• name
• contact number
• address
• birthday
• gender (男•女)

The rest were filled by the staff helping me after he made a copy of my zairyuu card. He also needed my My Number card.

When that was done, he explained that I wasn’t enrolled in the National Health Insurance so I didn’t need a quit form.

Request for a Certificate of (Residence) Tax Payment (Nozei Shomeisho)

Finally, I squeezed in one more item that wasn’t on my list but I just tried to request for. It might be useful to me someday such as when I try to apply for a visit visa to Japan in the future.

When I got it, my nozei shomeisho or certificate of tax payment looked like a big receipt on colorful paper. I wasn’t fully prepared to request for it (meaning I didn’t explain what I needed properly) so I just got a certificate showing the amount I paid at that office. The rest of my residence tax had been deducted by my previous employer.

Now, the certificate might not look ideal but I’ll max its use somehow.

And that’s it! All that’s left for me to do is close my bank accounts and return my zairyuu card and My Number card.

I am nearing the end of my journey in Japan.

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The truth is, I got through most of my paperwork in Japan without having my sister to translate for me. There are blogs about these processes and, for really sensitive matters such as taxes, the government does provide guides in English.

To make it easier, this entry also has a comments section for those who have questions about living in Japan or the exit procedures. Ask away!

Cheers!