Unbelievable!

So it is tax time in Japan....(actually if you owe money, your taxes are due today) and every year in January I have received my tax papers with my name and address filled out in Japanese and the tax book written in English etc. But this year I didn't get one. So I waited a bit. Then finally we phoned the tax office and we explained that I should have received my tax papers etc. The guys phones us back with this explanation. Based on last year's papers and the fact that I got a refund last year, they didn't send me any papers because they assumed I would get a refund and they don't want to pay it to me. WHAT??!!! Seriously, the guy said I didn't have to fill out my tax papers and he said that the government paid out a lot last year and they didn't want to this year so they didn't send the papers!!

FYI-in Japan, most people don't fill out their tax papers...their employer does (as long as they only have 1 job and no other income). In Japan, there is a tax book and your boss figures out to the last yen how much to take off each month based on your salary so refunds are not normal here. The reason I have one is because 2 years ago when the government changed the tax amount, I told my boss to continue taking off the old amount so that I would get a refund. He was very confused but I said it is kind of like forced savings and since you get almost no interest in a bank account here anyway, I figured why not!

So back to my story. We insisted on getting papers because um...hello!!....I want my refund. Thankfully they have to give it to me! I'm so glad that starting next year, I hand everything...personal and business tax stuff to our accountant!