Remittance of refunded (foreign) fine: Taxable?

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suntori
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Remittance of refunded (foreign) fine: Taxable?

Post by suntori »

I recently got a refund of a previously paid fine in my home country as it has been retro-actively canceled this year.
I transferred some of this money to my Japanese bank through Wise.

I am not sure if I need to report it as an income and pay tax on it, it is not money I earned due to services, sales, dividends, but it is money I somehow received; I am not 100% how to figure out if this is income or not.

I do not have any other, actual foreign income whatsoever so I am dealing with this as an isolated case. I have been living less than five years in JP.

Would anybody be able to point me in the right direction?
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RetireJapan
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Re: Remittance of refunded (foreign) fine: Taxable?

Post by RetireJapan »

A refund of your money sounds like it would just be your money: treated like savings.

You don't have to pay tax on moving your own money to Japan unless you also had income abroad during the same year.
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suntori
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Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:25 am

Re: Remittance of refunded (foreign) fine: Taxable?

Post by suntori »

Thank you Ben,

I thought so too, so I guess if the tax office comes asking I will just show them the refund decision, should be OK!
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