How to file a tax return (確定申告) for urisen work: documents, records and the steps to submission

Filing a 確定申告 (the annual income tax return) is not hard once you lay out the steps in order. It feels hard because you do not know where to start. This article lists the steps in the order you actually do them.

How tax itself works (income categories, expenses, resident tax) is covered in urisen income and tax. This article sticks to the procedure.

Step 1: Check whether you need to file

First, check whether you are required to file.

• If you do this as a side job alongside employment｜If you receive a salary from one employer and all of it is subject to 源泉徴収 (withholding tax), you must file a tax return if the total of your income other than salary income and retirement income exceeds ¥200,000.
• If this work is your only income｜ Compare the 基礎控除 (basic deduction) with your income. The threshold changed from the 2025 tax year (令和7年分), so do not decide based on old information.

Do not stop here. The ¥200,000 rule applies only to income tax. 住民税 (resident tax, the local tax paid to your city and prefecture) has no such exception. Municipalities advise that an employee who has ¥200,000 or less of income other than salary, and who does not file an income tax return, still has to file a resident tax declaration (市県民税の申告). Even if you do not need to file for income tax, you may still need to file separately for 住民税 (resident tax).

Step 2: Total up your income and expenses

What goes on the return is how much you received and how much you spent over one year (1 January to 31 December). You only need two things.

1. A record of income｜Date and amount. For bank transfers, your passbook or banking app history can be used as it is. Daily cash pay leaves no record anywhere, so the only way is to note it down yourself.
2. Expense receipts｜Transport, items for work, phone and data, and so on. For things also used in private life, claim only the share used for work.

You do not necessarily need bookkeeping software. A spreadsheet with four columns, “date, description, amount, type (income / expense)”, is enough. What matters is not the format but being able to explain it when you look back.

Miscellaneous income from business activities (業務に係る雑所得) is also calculated as “total revenue − necessary expenses”, and the tax is worked out after adding it to salary income and other income. From the 2022 tax year (令和4年分), if your revenue from such miscellaneous income two years earlier exceeded ¥3 million, you must keep records of cash and bank transactions (現金預金取引等関係書類). If it exceeded ¥10 million, you must also attach a statement of income and expenses (収支内訳書) or similar documents.

Step 3: Prepare the return

The easiest way is the National Tax Agency’s 確定申告書等作成コーナー (online return preparation service). You answer the questions on screen and it produces the return, which you can then send via e-Tax or print out and submit. You can get through it without any accounting knowledge.

The main things you enter are:

• Your real name, address and マイナンバー (My Number, your individual number)
• Your income and necessary expenses (what you totalled in step 2)
• If you are employed, the details from your main job’s 源泉徴収票 (withholding slip)
• Deductions that apply to you (social insurance premiums, life insurance premiums, medical expenses and so on)

Step 4: Choose how resident tax is collected (important)

Many people skip this, but if you do not want your main employer to find out, it is the most important item.

In the section 「住民税に関する事項」 (matters concerning resident tax) on page two (第二表) of the tax return, you can choose 「自分で納付」 (“pay it yourself”, called 普通徴収, ordinary collection) as the way resident tax on income other than salary and public pensions is collected. If you leave it blank, the resident tax on your non-salary income is also collected by 特別徴収 (special collection: deducted from your salary).

If you leave it blank, it becomes 特別徴収 (deduction from salary). If you do not make a deliberate choice, you are treated as not having chosen.

Note that from fiscal year 2026 (令和8年度), any amount paid to you as salary can no longer be separated out this way. Check when you sign up whether your pay is salary or a fee under an outsourcing contract (業務委託). How to check is explained in our guide for people working in this industry.

Step 5: Submit, then pay

You can submit via e-Tax (online), by post, or by taking it to the 税務署 (tax office). With a マイナンバーカード (My Number Card), e-Tax can be done entirely from home.

If you owe income tax, you can pay by direct debit, by direct payment through e-Tax (ダイレクト納付), by credit card, at a convenience store, and other ways. If you are in the habit of setting tax money aside in a separate account, you will not panic at this point.

For resident tax, the contents of your tax return are shared with your local government, so you do not need to file separately (you only need to file a resident tax declaration with your local government if you do not file an income tax return). A notice will come later, either as a payment slip or as a deduction from your salary.

If you do not file

If an unfiled return is discovered, you are charged additional tax for failure to file (無申告加算税) and late-payment tax (延滞税) on top of the original tax. The longer you leave it, the heavier the burden.

If you realise you have unfiled past years, you can submit them as late returns (期限後申告). Filing on your own before the tax office points it out keeps the additional tax lower. The more years you have left it, the more it is worth acting soon.

Frequently asked questions

Where to get advice

The tax office answers questions about your return free of charge. The consultation counters are crowded during the filing period, so allow plenty of time or go early in the season. You will not be turned away because of your occupation.

If your income is large, you work for several shops at once, or you want to file several past years together, consulting a 税理士 (licensed tax accountant) may end up being less of a burden.

We are not tax professionals. This article arranges information published by the National Tax Agency and local governments into a set of steps. Tax rules change every year. For decisions about your own situation, always check with the sources, the tax office, or a tax accountant.