Foffion

Hi,
we need to send ¥3500000 (£20000) to the UK for the spouse visa. My husband told me that if we do a bank transfer of more than ¥1000000 then we have to pay 20% tax. Really??????
I thought about doing many bank transfers from my husband's bank, his mother's bank, his brother's bank and my bank so that we don't have to pay 20% tax. Do you think this is possible or illegal?
My husband says that if I send more than ¥1000000 per year, I have to pay 20% tax.
What about just taking the cash to the UK on the airplane? I know I have to declare the money at the airport, but do I have to pay taxes at the airport?
Any advice would be appreciated, thank you very much.
Vivien Someya

BritInParis

Tax to whom and for what purpose? If you bring more than 10,000 Euros or equivalent in cash into the UK you'll need to declare it at the airport.

Pulaski

I don't know about the tax, but I recommend that you don't break your transfer into multiple transfers to get under any particular threshold amount because it can cause you all sorts of problems if it (even) looks like you're trying to circumvent some limit, restriction, or reporting requirement.

Jamie17

Bitcoin?

Nicky2303

you don't necessarily have to pay tax (unless this is income earned and not declared - maybe thats what he means?). What it will do it flag you up to the tax authorities. There is a threshold and I think it used to be 1.9 million yen, but I heard it changed recently, so double check before you send.
A lot of people I know used to use the western union ATMs in the 7-11 to send money. We sent a shed load through our bank when we moved to the US (5 million one time, then another few million over time) and no one has chased my husband about it yet (he still files tax returns in Japan every year because of a business thing) so you'll probably be fine.

If this money is already taxed you will have no problem. If its not - keep under the threshold and you will probably be ok.

Pulaski

You seriously think that (multiple) transfers under the threshold won't be noticed?

Nicky2303

You seriously don't know many strippers!

Pulaski

That has nothing to do with what I am talking about. "They" are watching what you do with your money! (See post #3 above.)

Nicky2303

I know a lot of people who have wired money home under the threshold and never had a problem. If this money is legit it won't be an issue anyway even if you do wire way over the threshold. If the OP is asking if you will need to pay tax AGAIN on already taxed income - no, you won't. If the money is untaxed income - like all the stripper money I was talking about - well, in my experience the people I know have wired it under the threshold and not had a problem. But do whatever you want. Im just speaking from my experience.

Pulaski

I know some people who have screwed around with wire amounts and "got away with it". I also know some who have not. Take your chances as you see fit, but screwing around with wire amounts is not a zero risk option.

Nicky2303

I guess it all boils down to is the money legit to start with? If it is, they won't be charged 20% on a transfer. If it isn't - its their risk to take.

Pulaski

No. I can assure you that screwing around with wire amounts can and does (though not necessarily will) cause problems even if the money is totally legit.

SushiFan

I won't comment on the legality of the sums to be transferred out of Japan and whether any tax would be levied on those.

Transferring sums of money can be done by all major Japanese banks. They usually charge a fixed fee plus a percentage of the sum of money to be transferred. If you want them to convert it first into another currency before it is being transferred then you have to pay for that as well. But you can just as well let the exchange to GBP take place at the receiving bank.

A realistic numerical example of transferring 1 million JPY: 4500 JPY fixed fee plus 0.05% of the sum to be transferred with a lower limit of 2500 JPY. So the total cost of this 1 million JPY transfer would be 7000 JPY. For an amount of 3.5 million JPY would this also be 7000 JPY.