I am doing some research on what happens to a NISA account when you leave Japan. Any tax or finance ninjas out there who can help?
I have found out some things, but other things are unclear.
What is clear:
- To open a NISA account you need to reside in Japan, i.e. your domicile or legal address is in Japan.
- To hold a NISA account it seems you also need to, in principle, reside in Japan. Thus, when you leave Japan, you need to file a "I am leaving the country notice" (出国届出書) with your bank, and the bank will close your NISA account (source: National Tax Agency’s Q&A on NISA). I suppose that, if you file such a notice, the bank will also close all your other accounts, as you are no longer a resident. This means you have no Japanese account that can hold the stock that used to be on your NISA account. The upshot is that, before you leave Japan, you have to sell the stock on your NISA account, then transfer the proceeds to a foreign bank account. There seems to be a narrow exception to the requirement to file a 出国届出書 in cases such as when your employer orders (sic) you to transfer abroad (転任の命令等) for a short while but let's leave that scenario aside for simplicity.
Now, the fact that you have to sell your NISA stock before leaving Japan may be a rather unwelcome scenario, for various reasons. Perhaps the stocks are just slumping when you leave, or perhaps you just want to hang onto your investment because it is a good investment.
Hence, the question: is there any (economical) way to keep the stock?
I have found out some things, but other things are unclear.
What is clear:
- To open a NISA account you need to reside in Japan, i.e. your domicile or legal address is in Japan.
- To hold a NISA account it seems you also need to, in principle, reside in Japan. Thus, when you leave Japan, you need to file a "I am leaving the country notice" (出国届出書) with your bank, and the bank will close your NISA account (source: National Tax Agency’s Q&A on NISA). I suppose that, if you file such a notice, the bank will also close all your other accounts, as you are no longer a resident. This means you have no Japanese account that can hold the stock that used to be on your NISA account. The upshot is that, before you leave Japan, you have to sell the stock on your NISA account, then transfer the proceeds to a foreign bank account. There seems to be a narrow exception to the requirement to file a 出国届出書 in cases such as when your employer orders (sic) you to transfer abroad (転任の命令等) for a short while but let's leave that scenario aside for simplicity.
Now, the fact that you have to sell your NISA stock before leaving Japan may be a rather unwelcome scenario, for various reasons. Perhaps the stocks are just slumping when you leave, or perhaps you just want to hang onto your investment because it is a good investment.
Hence, the question: is there any (economical) way to keep the stock?