Hi, I am Seki, Japanese tax accountant.
Today, let me introduce about 'Furusato Nouzei'.
Have you ever heard about this word? Now it is familiar to the Japanese but I think it is not for foreiners who lives in Japan.
'Furusato Nouzei' means the donation to the local city or local town. Due to the local tax law, you have to pay your inhabitant tax to Tokyo metropolitan & ward office(Or city office) by force. However you can pay some of your inhabitant tax to another city or town. If you pay some of your inhabitant tax, it will be deducted from your income tax & inhabitant tax, therefore there is no disadvantage.
The advantage of this 'Furusato Nouzei' is that if you donate some money to another city or town, you can get some gift from the city or town. Usually local goverment offer their indigenous products to the person who donate them. This is my case that I donated JPY10,000 to 'Yamagata city', after the donation I get the 1 kg cherry from 'Yamagata city'.
It is very fun to check the indigenous products. If you can read Japanese or if you have a friend who can understand the Japanese, please check the website in below.
The deducted amount is limited to a certain amount according to your taxable income. If you make donations more than certain amount, you can not claim the deduction for the amout beyond the limit.
You should check that how much you need to donate to get the indigenous products. The important thing is that you should calculate how much amount you can donate.
Please enjoy the life in Japan with the special gifts by the donation!
