Supports Cross Border Professionals and Families After the death of a participant, a retirement plan or IRA will be distributed to the participant’s beneficiary or beneficiaries. The beneficiary(es) take distributions as a beneficiary of an “inherited plan/IRA.” The...
Enjoy Your Cross-border Life While Avoiding Japan’s Gift and Inheritance Taxes For the U.S. Citizens
Supports Cross Border Professionals and Families Many foreigners leave Japan after living there for some years. They discovered that Japan's gifting and inheritance tax regime is substantially more punitive than those in their home countries. In particular, this is...
How You Can Avoid Being Inheritance/Gift Taxed in Japan-Choose the Right Status
Supports Cross Border Professionals and Families In the 2021 tax reform, the Japanese government gave breaks to foreigners in gift and inheritance tax. They wanted to promote the employment of highly-skilled foreign talent in Japan. In this article, I highlight...
401(k) when Abandoning Green Card
Supports Cross Border Professionals and Families You should read this article if you have a green card and wonder what to do with your US 401(k) in your home country. If you do not need to renew your green card, you should abandon your green card by filing an...
Mistakes of Not Officially Abandoning Your Greencard
Supports Cross Border LifeStyle If you hold your green card for a certain period, you will remain a U.S. resident for tax purposes until you officially abandon your green card. I want to highlight significant mistakes you can avoid. Obtaining a green card and...
Implementing Updated Operating Leasing Standards for Your Properties
Accounting for Leases: Accounting Standards Codification 842: Overview of Operating Leases Main changes from prior standard: Under Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) 842, operating leases will still be called “operating leases,” so you may ask why...
Superfund Excise Taxes
June 21, 2022 Superfund Excise Taxes In 1980, U.S. Congress established the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), this was also known as the Superfund. This fund was enacted to finance government-led cleanups, and remediation...
How To Avoid Paying U.S. Gift Taxes
Supports Cross Border LifeStyle If your family members or friends who live overseas want to give you a gift, and you are a U.S. resident, there are a few things that you must keep in your mind. The purpose of this article is to explain these key points. In this...
Major Pitfall of US-Japan Inheritance-appreciated assets
Supports Cross Border LifeStyle When a U.S. resident leaves appreciated assets to his heir, the heir will not pay taxes in most cases. A U.S. resident can take advantage of his unified credit ($12.06 million for 2022), and the heir can take advantage of the step-up...
Tax Difference between a U.S. citizen and a Greencard holder
Supports Cross Border LifeStyle What are the tax differences between a U.S. citizen and a green card holder? This question is one of the frequently asked questions. I want to shed some light on this article's seemingly simple but complex and profound question. Income...
Three Things You Must Do Before Returning to Japan Permanently
Supports Cross Border LifeStyle This time, I would like to introduce three points that I would like you to do before returning to Japan permanently or that you should seriously consider implementing. Changing the authentication system U.S. financial institutions...
FBAR and Japanese Financial Accounts
By Koh Fujimoto Cross Border Individual Tax Practice Per the Bank Secrecy Act, you must report certain foreign financial accounts every year by filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) on Form 114. There are numerous unique financial accounts in...
Pier & Associates Joins Forces with CDH
ITASCA, IL (January 1, 2022) — CDH, P.C. (CDH), a leading international accounting and advisory firm, has united with Pier & Associates, Ltd. (Pier), an Illinois-based full-service accounting firm. Strategic growth is a primary initiative for both CDH and Pier....
Foreign Pension and the U.S. Exit Tax
By Koh Fujimoto Support cross-border life In this article, I will discuss how the IRS will treat your foreign defined benefit plan under its exit tax regulations. I will also discuss briefly the treatment of a defined contribution plan. This article is helpful if you...
Common Issues when Opening Bank Accounts in Japan for U.S. Citizens and Green Card Holders
By Koh Fujimoto Support cross-border life When U.S. green card holders and U.S. citizens open bank accounts in Japan, they face increasing difficulties. In this article, I describe the types of issues, reasoning why they face such issues, and how to cope with them....
Cross Border Inheritance Case Study
By Koh Fujimoto Support cross-border life Cross Border Inheritance gives headaches even to professionals. My mission is to explain the essence of the matter in plain English. I consider the U.S. federal tax only here in this article. Case A U.S. citizen mother has two...
US Citizens Owning a Japanese Company – US Tax Compliance Risks
By Koh Fujimoto Support cross-border life If you are a US citizen who owns a Japanese company, you are subject to the very complex U.S. tax rules. Without going through the details of the rules, I focus on the danger of not consulting with appropriated tax...
IRS Whistleblower Rule Applies to FBAR Penalty
Support cross-border life If IRS finds that you willfully did not report your foreign financial accounts in FBAR, under the 31 U.S.C. 532(a)(5)(c), the maximum penalty you face is higher of $129,210 or 50% of the amount in 2021. [i] This is a very serious penalty...
Help Your Japanese Spouse Retire in Japan by Using iDeCo
Support cross-border life From May 2022, if your Japanese spouse participates in Japan’s National Pension, he or she becomes eligible to participate in iDeCo. [i] (I am going to use “she”.) iDeCo’s name came from an Individual-type Defined Contribution pension plan....
Receiving Japan’s National Pension should not trigger the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)
Support cross-border life This chart is on the website of the Japan Pension Service. [i] In this article, I want t to explain why the WEP provision of the Social Security system should not reduce your U. S. Social Security benefits simply because you are receiving the...
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