If I file a tax agent notification with the tax office, does that cover my resident tax too? — Local taxes go to a different counter

No, it does not cover you. What you file with the tax office covers national taxes only (income tax and consumption tax). Local taxes are separate, and in Tokyo's 23 special wards resident tax is filed with the ward while fixed asset tax is filed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. That means at least three places to file.

This page is written for people who already know about the national-tax tax agent (納税管理人) notification, and it sets out what falls through the cracks on the local-tax side. For the national-tax tax agent itself, see Who can serve as a tax agent; for what happens when unpaid tax is left behind after you leave Japan, see Unpaid tax, additional tax and residence-status screening after departure.

Last updated: ◯ ◯, 2026

Does the notification I filed with the tax office also work for resident tax?

It does not.

The "所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書" (Notification of a Tax Agent for Income Tax and Consumption Tax) that you file with the tax office is a national-tax procedure. Resident tax and fixed asset tax are local taxes. They are governed by a different statute, the Local Tax Act (地方税法), and they are filed at a different counter.

For municipal resident tax (市町村民税), the Local Tax Act, Article 300, paragraph 1 provides that a person who does not have an address or the like within the municipality must appoint a tax agent and file that appointment with the mayor of the municipality. For fixed asset tax, Article 355, paragraphs 1 and 2 set out a provision with the same structure. No number of national-tax notifications filed with the tax office will ever amount to having made this local filing.

If you own real estate in Tokyo's 23 special wards and you are leaving Japan, there are at least three places to file.

#	Tax	Where to file	Form
1	Income tax and consumption tax	Tax office	所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書 (Notification of a Tax Agent for Income Tax and Consumption Tax; national tax)
2	Special ward resident tax and metropolitan resident tax	The Mayor of Bunkyo-ku (the ward's Tax Division)	納税管理人申告（承認・認定申請）書 (Tax Agent Filing / Application for Approval or Certification)
3	Fixed asset tax and city planning tax	The Governor of Tokyo (Bunkyo Metropolitan Taxation Office)	納税管理人申告書 (Tax Agent Filing Form; Form No. 25)

This is the example of a property in Bunkyo-ku. For another ward it would be that ward, plus the Metropolitan Taxation Office with jurisdiction over that ward.

You do not need to file separately for the metropolitan resident tax portion. Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Local Tax Act provides that the tax agent for municipal resident tax "shall, as the tax agent for the individual prefectural resident tax of that taxpayer, handle all matters relating to tax payment." In the 23 wards this provision operates through the reading-substitution in Article 734, paragraph 3. As a matter of statutory structure, the single filing with the ward can be read as covering metropolitan resident tax as well. However, we were not able to find any local government guidance that states this in so many words. Please confirm at the ward counter when you file.

Why do the 23 special wards mean filing in two places?

Because fixed asset tax there is not a ward tax but a metropolitan tax.

Article 1, paragraph 2 of the Local Tax Act provides that "the provisions of this Act concerning prefectures apply mutatis mutandis to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and the provisions concerning municipalities apply mutatis mutandis to special wards." That is the general rule, and it turns municipal taxes into special ward taxes. For the 23 wards, however, exceptions are carved out.

Provision	Content
Article 734, paragraph 1	Notwithstanding Article 1, paragraph 2, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government imposes fixed asset tax (Article 5, paragraph 2, item 2) and other taxes in the area where the special wards are located. "Chapter III, Section 2 and other provisions apply mutatis mutandis, deeming the Metropolis to be a city"
Article 736, paragraph 1	The reading-substitution that removes fixed asset tax from the list of special ward taxes. Special wards impose special ward resident tax, with Chapter III, Section 1 applying mutatis mutandis
Article 734, paragraph 2, item 1 and paragraph 3	The Tokyo Metropolitan Government imposes metropolitan resident tax within the area of the special wards. Chapter II, Section 1, Subsection 1 and other provisions apply mutatis mutandis, with "municipality" read as "special ward" and so on

The result is that in the 23 wards fixed asset tax and city planning tax are imposed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, while special ward resident tax and metropolitan resident tax are imposed by the ward. That is why the counter splits in two. The tax agent for fixed asset tax also serves as the tax agent for city planning tax (Article 702-5), so a single filing at the Metropolitan Taxation Office is enough for both.

Outside the 23 wards it does not work this way. In the cities, towns and villages of Tokyo outside the wards, and in every other prefecture, fixed asset tax is a municipal tax, so resident tax and fixed asset tax are filed with the same municipality. If you assume "it's a Tokyo property, so I file with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government," you will miss the filing with the ward.

What happens to resident tax for the year I leave Japan?

If you have an address in Japan on 1 January, that fiscal year is taxed.

Article 294, paragraph 1, item 1 of the Local Tax Act provides that municipal resident tax is imposed on "an individual who has an address within the municipality." The day on which that is judged — the assessment date — is fixed by Article 318 as "1 January of the year in which the first day of the relevant fiscal year falls." Prefectural resident tax has the same structure: liability is under Article 24, paragraph 1, item 1, and the assessment date is under Article 39.

When you leave Japan	Resident tax for that fiscal year (which begins in June)
You left before 1 January and no longer had an address	Not taxed
You left on or after 2 January	You had an address as of 1 January, so it is taxed

This is where most of the misunderstanding sits. This is not a tax that stops the month after you leave. Even if you fly out of Japan on 2 January, a tax notice will arrive in June of that year, and payment is normally made in four instalments over the year (ordinary collection, by tax notice; Article 319, paragraph 1). Bunkyo-ku's own guidance says: "If you are moving out of Japan on or after 2 January, you must file (or apply for) a tax agent in advance."

Fixed asset tax works the same way, with an assessment date of 1 January (Article 359). It is imposed on the owner as of 1 January — the person registered or recorded in the register and similar records (Article 343, paragraphs 1 and 2). Even if you sell partway through the year, the taxpayer for that fiscal year remains the owner as of 1 January. The pro-rata apportionment between seller and buyer is a promise between the parties; it does not swap out who is liable to the Metropolis or to the ward.

If I cancel my resident record, is resident tax simply not charged?

That is not something anyone can state flatly.

Article 294, paragraph 2 of the Local Tax Act provides that, for persons subject to the Basic Resident Register Act (住民基本台帳法), "an individual who has an address within the municipality" means "a person recorded in the Basic Resident Register of that municipality." Read on its own, that looks as though cancelling your resident record (住民票) takes you out of scope.

But paragraph 3 of the same Article provides that even an individual who is not recorded in the Basic Resident Register may, if that individual has an address within the municipality, be deemed to be a recorded person and taxed accordingly. Whether or not you are recorded is the threshold test, not the final word. Room remains for a judgment based on where the centre of your life actually is.

Article 294, paragraph 1, item 2 goes further and provides that only the per capita portion (均等割) is imposed on "an individual who has an office, a place of business, or a residential house within the municipality but does not have an address within that municipality." This is a provision that can become relevant when you leave Japan while keeping a house here. However, we have not been able to confirm any material published by a local government that sets out how this is actually applied to people living abroad. If it might apply to you, please check with the ward, city, town or village where the property is located.

Moving your resident record is a Basic Resident Register procedure; it is not a tax procedure. The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation states this explicitly:

Even if you complete a change-of-resident-record procedure at a ward office or the like, the mailing address for fixed asset tax and city planning tax notices (land and buildings) within the 23 wards will not be changed.

There is no mechanism by which filing a moving-out notification causes the tax notice to follow you.

If I quit my job and leave Japan, when is my resident tax deducted?

It depends on when you leave the job.

Where resident tax is withheld from salary (special collection, withheld from salary) and the employee resigns, the treatment of the remaining tax is governed by the proviso to Article 321-5, paragraph 2 of the Local Tax Act.

When the resignation etc. occurs	Lump-sum collection of the balance
1 June to 31 December	Lump-sum collection only if the person requests it
1 January to 30 April of the following year	Lump-sum collection even without a request, from salary, retirement allowance and the like paid by 31 May (limited to cases where the amount exceeds the full monthly instalment amount)

The amount collected must be remitted by the 10th day of the month following the month of collection.

Bunkyo-ku says the same thing in its guidance for employers:

(2) Where the resignation etc. occurs between January and April of the following year: even if the taxpayer makes no request, please collect the balance in a lump sum from salary and the like paid by 31 May.

And in the same guidance: "If an employee is leaving Japan, please tell them to file a notification appointing a tax agent."

In practice, then, a person who resigns between January and April and leaves Japan will very likely have the balance taken out of the final salary or retirement allowance in one go, while a person who resigns between June and December will see the balance switch to ordinary collection unless they ask for lump-sum collection themselves. Whatever switches to ordinary collection arrives as a tax notice addressed to you personally. The person who receives it after you have left Japan is your tax agent.

By when do I have to file for fixed asset tax?

In Tokyo, the ordinance sets a deadline of 10 days.

The statute itself (Local Tax Act, Article 355) does not fix a specific number of days. The deadline comes from the ordinance side.

Situation	Deadline	Basis
You have appointed a tax agent	Submit the tax agent filing form to the Governor within 10 days from the day the need to appoint arises	Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance on Metropolitan Taxes, Article 125, paragraph 1
You want a person living outside the metropolitan area to be your tax agent	Apply to the Governor and obtain approval at least 10 days before the day the need to appoint arises	Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance on Metropolitan Taxes, Article 125, paragraph 3

If you are asking someone outside the metropolitan area, you need a prior application and an approval. Starting to move only once your departure is settled can leave you short of time. This is the hard part in practice.

There is one more, different deadline. The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation gives this guidance:

To change the mailing address for the tax notice sent out every June, the procedure must be completed by the end of March.

In other words, separately from the ordinance's "within 10 days," there is an end-of-March marker if you want the change reflected in that year's notice.

Here is a summary of where to file and which form to use.

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Body	Form	Where to submit
Bunkyo-ku (special ward resident tax and metropolitan resident tax)	The PDF is headed 納税管理人申告（承認・認定申請）書 (Tax Agent Filing / Application for Approval or Certification; Form No. 5). The ward's website also uses variants such as 納税管理人（申告・承認申請・認定申請）書	Bunkyo-ku, General Affairs Department, Tax Division, First and Second Taxation Sections (Bunkyo Civic Center / 文京シビックセンター, 10th floor, south side)
Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation (fixed asset tax and city planning tax)	納税管理人申告書 (Tax Agent Filing Form; Form No. 25)	The Metropolitan Taxation Office for the ward where the land or building is located (for a Bunkyo-ku property, the Bunkyo Metropolitan Taxation Office, inside the Bunkyo Civic Center)

The Bureau of Taxation publishes its guidance in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean, and it maintains pages aimed at people living outside Japan.

What happens if I do not file?

The documents never reach you, and the payment deadlines pass anyway.

Article 20, paragraph 1 of the Local Tax Act provides that documents are served at the address and similar location of the person to be served, and its proviso provides that "where there is a tax agent, documents relating to the assessment and collection of local government levies (excluding delinquency dispositions) or to refunds shall be served at that person's address, residence, office or place of business." If you have a tax agent, the tax notice goes to that person; if you do not, it is sent to your own address. Sent to a Japanese address you have already moved out of, there is nobody there to receive it.

Article 20, paragraph 4 goes further: where a document is dispatched by ordinary post, "service shall be presumed to have been effected at the time it should ordinarily have arrived." Service is presumed even if you never received it — which is to say, the payment deadline runs on regardless. Because it is a "presumption," one cannot say that it is absolutely incapable of being rebutted, but please treat it as settled that there is no mechanism by which a deadline is extended because the notice did not reach you.

Once a payment deadline passes, a delinquency charge accrues.

Content	Basis
Delinquency charge on municipal resident tax: 14.6% per annum (7.3% per annum for the period from the day after the payment deadline until one month has elapsed)	Article 326, paragraph 1
Delinquency charge on fixed asset tax: same structure	Article 369, paragraph 1
Where there is found to be an unavoidable reason, the delinquency charge may be reduced or waived	Article 326, paragraph 4 / Article 369, paragraph 2

These figures — 14.6% and 7.3% per annum — are the general rule as written in the statute. The rate actually applied may be reduced by special measures, and this article has not verified what percentage applies in any given fiscal year. Please confirm the amount against the notice from the ward or the Metropolitan Taxation Office. Because there are also provisions for reduction and waiver, it cannot be said flatly that a delinquency charge always applies.

There are also provisions on non-penal fines and criminal fines. Here the structure of the statute needs care.

Content	Basis	Note
Where a person fails to file without justifiable grounds, an ordinance may include a provision imposing a non-penal fine (過料) of up to 100,000 yen	Municipal resident tax = Article 302 / Fixed asset tax = Article 357	This is a delegation to the ordinance. The statute itself does not impose the non-penal fine directly
Where a person makes a false filing or the like, a criminal fine of up to 300,000 yen	Article 301, paragraph 1 / Article 356, paragraph 1	—

Tokyo has taken up that delegation and implemented it in its ordinance. Article 126, paragraph 1 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance on Metropolitan Taxes provides that "where a person has failed to file without justifiable grounds, a non-penal fine of not more than 100,000 yen shall be imposed on that person," and paragraph 2 of the same Article provides that "the amount of the non-penal fine under the preceding paragraph shall be determined by the Governor." On the other hand, we have not been able to confirm whether Bunkyo-ku's ordinance contains a non-penal fine provision, or what article number it would be. Please check the ward's compendium of ordinances and regulations.

Who should I appoint as my tax agent?

Someone who can receive documents inside Japan and pay by the deadline.

Article 300, paragraph 1 of the Local Tax Act requires a person without an address or the like within the municipality to appoint a tax agent and file that appointment with the mayor, and requires an application and approval where the person chosen lives outside the municipal area. Fixed asset tax has the same structure (Article 355, paragraphs 1 and 2).

There is also a provision under which you need not appoint a tax agent at all if you apply for and obtain a certification that collection will not be impeded (Article 300, paragraph 2; Article 355, paragraph 2). The reason Bunkyo-ku's form is a single sheet headed 納税管理人申告（承認・認定申請）書 is that it handles all three of these — the filing, the approval, and the certification.

Here is what to weigh for each candidate.

Candidate	What to weigh
Family or relatives remaining in Japan	No cost, but the burden of paying each instalment and continuing to check notices runs for several years
Friends or acquaintances	All of the above, plus whether this is a relationship in which you would hand over tax documents
A certified tax accountant (税理士)	There is a fee. Filing and payment can be entrusted together

Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. does not accept appointment as a tax agent. As Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Local Tax Act itself says, a tax agent is in the position of having to "handle all matters relating to tax payment." It is not a role in which you pick out one part and handle only that. We do not think this is something our company should take on halfway.

If you would like, we will introduce you to a certified tax accountant (税理士), and you will contract with them directly. We do not receive any referral fee. Registration work goes to a judicial scrivener (司法書士) and tax work to a certified tax accountant, each engaged by you directly — that is the form in which we will explain it to you. Who is the right person to ask depends on the assets you hold and how long you will be away, so please confirm the individual judgment with a certified tax accountant.

What this article is based on

Content	Basis
Tax agent for municipal resident tax (filing with the mayor; approval required for a person outside the area) / certification that no appointment is needed	Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950), Article 300, paragraphs 1 and 2
Tax agent for fixed asset tax (same structure)	Same Act, Article 355, paragraphs 1 and 2
The tax agent for municipal resident tax also serves as the tax agent for individual prefectural resident tax	Same Act, Article 28, paragraph 1
The tax agent for fixed asset tax also serves as the tax agent for city planning tax	Same Act, Article 702-5
The general rule on application mutatis mutandis to the Metropolis and the special wards	Same Act, Article 1, paragraph 2
Fixed asset tax in the 23 wards is a metropolitan tax (applied mutatis mutandis, deeming the Metropolis to be a city)	Same Act, Article 734, paragraph 1
The Metropolis imposes metropolitan resident tax within the special ward area / reading-substitutions	Same Act, Article 734, paragraph 2, item 1 and paragraph 3
Exclusion of fixed asset tax from special ward taxes; special ward resident tax	Same Act, Article 736, paragraphs 1 and 3
Taxpayers for municipal resident tax (individuals with an address) / per capita portion on offices, places of business and residential houses	Same Act, Article 294, paragraph 1, items 1 and 2
An individual with an address = a person recorded in the Basic Resident Register / taxation deeming an unrecorded person to be recorded	Same Act, Article 294, paragraphs 2 and 3
Assessment date for individual municipal resident tax (1 January)	Same Act, Article 318
Taxpayers and assessment date for prefectural resident tax	Same Act, Article 24, paragraph 1, item 1 / Article 39
Assessment date for fixed asset tax (1 January) / imposition on the owner (the person registered or recorded in the register and similar records)	Same Act, Article 359 / Article 343, paragraphs 1 and 2
Ordinary collection (delivery of a tax notice)	Same Act, Article 319, paragraph 1 / Article 364, paragraph 1
Lump-sum collection on resignation and the like	Same Act, proviso to Article 321-5, paragraph 2
Where documents are served (where there is a tax agent) / presumption of service by post	Same Act, Article 20, paragraph 1, main clause and proviso / Article 20, paragraph 4
Delinquency charge (14.6% / 7.3% per annum) and its reduction or waiver	Same Act, Article 326, paragraphs 1 and 4 / Article 369, paragraphs 1 and 2
Non-penal fine for failure to file (delegation to the ordinance)	Same Act, Article 302 / Article 357
Criminal fine for false filing and the like (up to 300,000 yen)	Same Act, Article 301, paragraph 1 / Article 356, paragraph 1
Deadline for filing a tax agent for fixed asset tax (within 10 days / application for approval at least 10 days in advance) / non-penal fine (up to 100,000 yen, amount determined by the Governor)	Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance on Metropolitan Taxes, Article 125, paragraphs 1 and 3 / Article 126, paragraphs 1 and 2
The mailing address for tax notices is not changed by a change of resident record / procedure by the end of March	Guidance of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation
A tax agent must be filed (or applied for) in advance when moving out of Japan on or after 2 January	Guidance of Bunkyo-ku
Resignation etc. between January and April is collected in a lump sum even without a request / guidance on employees leaving Japan	Bunkyo-ku, 特別徴収義務者の方へ (For special collection agents)

The provisions were checked as of 11 August 2026. The following points have not been confirmed. (1) The actual text of Bunkyo-ku's ordinance, and whether it contains a non-penal fine provision and under what article number; (2) any statement by a local government making it explicit that a single filing with the ward suffices for individual metropolitan resident tax; (3) the delinquency charge rate actually applied in a given fiscal year; and (4) how the per capita portion on residential houses and the like is actually applied to people living outside Japan. Please confirm all of these with the ward or the Metropolitan Taxation Office.

This page provides general information. It does not make any judgment on an individual tax amount or on whether tax is properly imposed in a particular case. For tax matters we will introduce you to a certified tax accountant (税理士), and you will contract with them directly. We do not receive any referral fee. Real estate brokerage is undertaken by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. and document preparation by the Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office, each under a separate contract.

This article is written by Joji Uramatsu, President of Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd., a licensed Real Estate Transaction Specialist and administrative scrivener (行政書士). He spent 34 years as a journalist at the Mainichi Shimbun and was posted to China, Taiwan and Thailand as its China Bureau Chief. Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku — five minutes' walk from Myogadani Station.

Related links

• Special feature: selling real estate when you are leaving Japan
• Who can serve as a tax agent (national taxes)
• Unpaid tax, additional tax and residence-status screening after departure
• Non-resident status is judged as of the delivery date
• Changing your address in the register is now mandatory
• Selling after you have left Japan — what to do now
• For overseas owners (renting out)