Selling Japanese Property From Abroad: Process, Tax, Remittance

This is the main article in the Zagdim wiki’s Japan property series on selling and exiting. It covers how to sell Japanese property, the taxes and withholding that apply when you sell, how easy the resale market is, selling with a tenant in place, and how the proceeds are sent home. It is written for overseas owners, and for buyers who want to understand the exit before they purchase.

You can sell a house or apartment in Japan while living outside the country. The usual route is to appoint a Japanese real estate agent. The sale then runs from a price appraisal and a brokerage contract, through finding a buyer and signing the sale contract, to payment, handover and the ownership transfer registration. When you are abroad, some of the supporting documents have to be prepared in a different way.

The profit on a sale is called capital gains from transfer (譲渡所得, joto shotoku), and it must be declared in Japan even if you live overseas. When a buyer in Japan pays a seller who is a non-resident for income tax purposes, the buyer normally withholds 10.21% of the price first. You then settle the final tax through a tax representative in Japan (納税管理人, nozei kanrinin). If the property is let to a tenant, it can be sold with the lease in place, and sending the proceeds out of Japan is generally free, although the bank will check your identity and the purpose of the transfer.

As for how easy the property is to sell, statistics only show the overall picture, and the gaps between regions and between building ages are large.

Seven Key Points First

1. You can sell while living overseas. The brokerage contract (媒介契約) you sign with an agent comes in three types, and the two exclusive types run for 3 months at most.
2. Brokerage fees have a legal cap. For a price above JPY 4 million, the cap per party works out to “sale price x 3.3% + JPY 66,000” (tax included; this is the general cap for agents who pay consumption tax, and properties of JPY 8 million or less have a special rule). Under the standard terms, no sale means no fee.
3. Tax is based on the gain, not the price. Judged as of January 1 of the year of sale, a holding of more than 5 years is taxed at 15% income tax and a holding of 5 years or less at 30%. A surtax is added to both, and there are exceptions.
4. If you live overseas, 10.21% of the price is withheld first. This is a prepayment, not the final tax, and it is settled when you file.
5. The JPY 30 million special deduction requires that you lived in the home yourself. A property that was only rented out and never lived in by you does not currently qualify.
6. A tenant does not have to move out because the property is sold. The buyer takes over the lease, and the duty to return the deposit passes to the buyer too.
7. Prepare your explanation before you send money out. For overseas transfers above JPY 1 million, the bank reports the sender, the amount and the reason to the tax office. The bank may also ask where the funds came from.

How Do You Sell Japanese Property From Overseas?

You can appoint a Japanese agent to sell for you. The steps are broadly the same as for an owner living in Japan. The differences lie in signature certification, registration documents and tax procedures.

A sale generally follows this order. This is the usual flow, not a statutory procedure:

1. Property survey
2. Price appraisal (価格査定)
3. Signing the brokerage contract
4. Finding a buyer
5. Negotiating with the buyer
6. Signing the sale contract
7. Settlement and handover (決済、引渡し)

Depending on the case, tax consultation, registration and a building condition inspection (建物状況調査) may also be needed. Under the brokerage contract the agent usually handles the stretch described above, but the actual scope depends on the agent and the contract, so ask before you sign.

A price appraisal is the agent’s estimate of what the property can sell for. When an agent gives an opinion on the asking price, the agent must explain the basis, such as comparable sales. The appraisal done for this purpose may not be charged to you separately. It is not the same as a valuation by a licensed real estate appraiser (不動産鑑定士).

How Do the Three Brokerage Contracts Differ?

The registration deadlines do not count non-business days. If an exclusive contract sets a period longer than 3 months, it is treated as 3 months. Renewal must be requested by you each time the period ends, and automatic renewal cannot be agreed in advance. Under every type of contract, the agent must report to you whenever a written purchase application (申込み) is received.

REINS (レインズ) is an online system run by designated distribution organizations (指定流通機構), which are appointed by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Agents list properties for sale on it. After you sign an exclusive-type contract, the agent gives you a registration certificate. With the web address, account and password on that certificate, you can log in to REINS’s seller screen (売主専用画面) and see for yourself whether the property is “being advertised”, “has a written purchase application” or is “paused for seller-side reasons”. Even from overseas, you can confirm that the property is really on the market.

Under the standard brokerage contract terms of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), if you sign an exclusive right to sell and then close a sale through another agent or with a buyer you found yourself, the agent can claim a penalty equal to the agreed commission (excluding consumption tax). If you sign an exclusive brokerage and close a sale with a buyer you found yourself, the agent can claim the expenses actually incurred, up to the agreed commission.

What Is the Maximum Brokerage Fee, and When Is It Paid?

The legal cap on brokerage fees is calculated separately for the seller and the buyer. On the sale price (excluding consumption tax), the part up to JPY 2 million is 5.5%, the part above JPY 2 million up to JPY 4 million is 4.4%, and the part above JPY 4 million is 3.3%. These rates include consumption tax. For a price above JPY 4 million, this works out to “sale price x 3.3% + JPY 66,000” (tax included). For a sale at JPY 30 million, the cap is JPY 1.056 million. This is the cap for agents who are subject to consumption tax (課税事業者).

• The cap is not a fixed price. The actual amount is agreed with you according to the services the agent provides.
• No sale, no fee. Under the standard terms, the agent can claim the commission only after the sale contract is concluded, and must first hand over the legally required contract document before collecting it.
• Properties of JPY 8 million or less have a special rule. If the agent explains this in advance when the brokerage contract is signed and you agree, the agent may charge more than the usual cap, up to JPY 330,000 (tax included) for a taxable agent.
• Fees that may not be charged separately. Viewing fees and application fees may not be charged on top. What can be charged is limited to advertising costs you requested, travel costs for distant trips, and the actual cost of special expenses you specifically asked for and agreed in advance to bear (for example, a site survey in a remote location). If you are instructing from overseas, ask whether any such charges apply and request an estimate.

What Should the Seller Watch After Signing?

Earnest money (手付, tezuke) is the deposit the buyer pays at signing. Until the buyer has started performing the contract, you can cancel by actually offering the buyer twice the earnest money, and the buyer can cancel by giving up the deposit. This is a Civil Code rule that the contract can vary, so the contract terms govern in practice.

Liability for non-conforming goods (契約不適合責任): if the property handed over does not match the contract in type, quality or quantity, the buyer can demand repair, a price reduction, damages or cancellation. For a mismatch in type or quality, the buyer must notify you within 1 year of learning of it. This time limit does not protect you if you knew of the problem, or failed to know through gross negligence, at handover.

Currently, the “at least 2 years” restriction in the Real Estate Brokerage Act (宅地建物取引業法) binds only an agent who is itself the seller. If you sell as an individual, the period and scope are set by the Civil Code and your contract. You can agree with the buyer that you will not bear this liability, but you cannot be released from liability for facts you knew and did not disclose. Disclosing known problems such as leaks or termites honestly and writing them into the contract is the way to protect yourself.

Stamp duty (印紙税): for a paper sale contract, your own original copy also needs a stamp. For contracts made on or before March 31, 2027, with a contract amount above JPY 10 million up to JPY 50 million, the duty is JPY 10,000 per copy (the standard amount is JPY 20,000), and other amount bands also have reductions. Whether this reduction will be extended afterwards has not been decided.

What Do You Prepare for Handover and Registration When Overseas?

Generally, you hand over the property and process the ownership transfer registration at the same time as the buyer pays the balance. On the settlement day, the judicial scrivener (司法書士, shiho shoshi) who attends checks that the documents needed for registration are complete before the buyer pays. If documents are missing or information cannot be confirmed, settlement is postponed. The documents must therefore be ready before the settlement date.

An ordinary sale contract usually provides that the seller removes mortgages and other encumbrances before handing over. If a home loan has not been fully repaid, the mortgage must be removed and the registration cancelled, and on settlement day the judicial scrivener also checks the documents needed for the cancellation. When the property is sold with a tenant, the lease is taken over by the buyer and is not among the encumbrances to be removed (see below).

Ask the judicial scrivener handling the sale to confirm what format a notary in your country of residence needs to produce before you commission it.

From April 1, 2026, an owner who moves or changes name must apply for an address or name change registration within 2 years. Owners living overseas are outside the scope of the cases where the Legal Affairs Bureau makes the change on their behalf, so they must apply themselves. Failing to do so without a justifiable reason can bring an administrative fine (過料) of up to JPY 50,000. For changes made before April 1, 2026, the deadline is March 31, 2028.

The person registered as owner on January 1 each year is the taxpayer of that year’s fixed asset tax (固定資産税). If you transfer title on January 2 or later, you still pay it for that year. At handover, the buyer reimburses a daily share, which is a trade custom and not a legal rule, and the method of sharing follows the sale contract.

For details on each step, see the related article “How to Sell Japanese Property: Appraisal, Brokerage Contract, Buyer Negotiation and Settlement” (internal link in notes).

What Taxes Apply When You Sell, and How Are They Calculated?

The gain is taxed in Japan as income tax. For an owner living overseas, income from selling Japanese property generally has to be declared in Japan through a final tax return (確定申告), calculated in the same way as for people living in Japan. The tax is based on the gain, and the rate varies a great deal with how long you held the property and whether you lived in it.

Under income tax law, a person who has a domicile in Japan, or who has had a residence there continuously for one year or more, is a resident, and everyone else is a non-resident (非居住者). A person living overseas with no domicile in Japan and no continuous residence of one year or more is a non-resident. Domicile is decided on objective facts, and an individual case can be judged by a tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi). The filing period is February 16 to March 15 of the year after the sale.

Under tax treaties and arrangements, including the Japan-Hong Kong tax agreement and the private-sector Japan-Taiwan tax arrangement, Japan may tax the sale of real estate located in Japan. The Japan-Taiwan arrangement is not a formal treaty, but a private-sector agreement combined with Japan’s domestic law, and as a whole it works like a tax treaty. How the seller’s home jurisdiction taxes the sale is outside the scope of this article.

How Is the Gain Calculated?

Taxable capital gains = sale price – (acquisition cost + transfer expenses) – special deduction. This is calculated separately from salary and other income.

• Sale price: the part of fixed asset tax and city planning tax from the sale date to year-end that the buyer reimburses you is also counted as sale price.
• Acquisition cost (取得費): the purchase price, construction cost, purchase expenses (for example, the agent fee when you bought), and registration and license tax, real estate acquisition tax, stamp duty and similar. For a property used for rental, these taxes are not included in the acquisition cost. For the building portion, depreciation over the holding period is deducted, and depreciation during the rental period is also deducted from the acquisition cost. If the acquisition cost is unknown, 5% of the sale price can be used, for example JPY 1.5 million on a sale at JPY 30 million.
• Transfer expenses (譲渡費用): the agent fee on the sale, stamp duty you bear, survey costs, and the tenant relocation payment (立退料) paid to have a tenant move out for the sale. Repair costs and fixed asset tax do not count.
• If you sell at a loss: the loss can only offset gains from other land and buildings, not salary or other income. Sales of a home you lived in have a separate exception for losses.

What Are the Tax Rates?

The holding period is judged as of January 1 of the year of sale: more than 5 years is long term, and 5 years or less is short term. For example, if you bought in June 2021 and sell in June 2026, you held the property for less than 5 years on January 1, 2026, so it is still short term.

• A surtax of 2.1% of the income tax amount is added. For income arising on or after January 1, 2027, the surtax becomes a special defense income tax of 1% plus a special reconstruction income tax of 1.1%, which still totals 2.1%.
• On these rates, long-term income tax plus surtax is about 15.315% and short term about 30.63%.
• Resident tax is charged only on people who have a domicile in Japan on January 1 of the year after the sale (see the next section). For those who are charged, on these rates the long-term total is about 20.315% and the short-term total about 39.63%.
• The table shows the main rates. Exceptions exist, and the part of a reduced-rate sale above JPY 60 million is calculated differently.

Do You Pay Resident Tax When Living Overseas?

Currently, resident tax on the sale of Japanese property depends on whether you have a domicile in Japan on January 1 of the year after the sale. A seller who has always lived overseas is generally not charged resident tax on this gain. A person who was still living in Japan in the year of sale and moved out only after the following January 1 is still charged. Where the purpose and length of a trip abroad are judged to be only travel, the person is also treated as still living in the original place (per the explanation of Edogawa Ward, Tokyo).

What Relief Is There for a Home You Lived In?

• JPY 30 million special deduction: when you sell a home you live in, up to JPY 30 million can be deducted from the gain regardless of how long you held it. Conditions include that you currently live in it or sell by December 31 of the third year after you moved out, that the buyer is not a person in a special relationship such as a parent, child or spouse, and that you did not use the deduction in the previous year or the year before. Other conditions also apply. A temporary residence or a holiday home does not qualify, and to use the deduction you must file a return with supporting documents.
• Reduced rate for a home held more than 10 years: when, as of January 1 of the year of sale, both the building and the land have been held for more than 10 years and other conditions are met, income tax on the part up to JPY 60 million is 10%. This rate can be combined with the JPY 30 million deduction.

Currently, a property that was only rented out and never lived in by you generally does not qualify for either relief, and the rate goes back to the ordinary 15% or 30%. If you move away and sell your former home, then as of September 2026 the official guidance does not distinguish between residents and non-residents, and whether the relief applies should be confirmed with a tax accountant. It depends on your residency status, when you moved out and how the home was used.

**Example: Mrs. Chen, living in Hong Kong**

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Mrs. Chen bought an apartment to live in while working in Tokyo, moved back to Hong Kong in May 2024, and then let the apartment. Counting from the date she stopped living there, three years runs to May 2027, so she would have to sell by December 31, 2027 to stay within the JPY 30 million deduction period. Renting the home out after moving does not affect this requirement. She is now a non-resident, and because the official guidance does not distinguish residents from non-residents, whether she can use the deduction should be confirmed with a tax accountant. If the address on her resident record differs from the property, the return must also include documents showing that she lived there.

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What she needs to do: fix the timing of the sale first, then ask a tax accountant to judge whether the deduction applies and which filing documents to prepare.

Selling the building portion of a rental property is, as of September 2026, subject to consumption tax in principle. Whether it actually has to be paid depends on conditions such as whether taxable sales two years earlier were JPY 10 million or less and whether the seller is registered as a qualified invoice issuer, so confirm with a tax accountant.

For the calculation and filing, see the related article “What Taxes Apply When You Sell Japanese Property: Capital Gains, Resident Tax and Filing Duties” (internal link in notes).

The Buyer Withholds 10.21% of the Price. Do You Still File a Return?

Yes. When a buyer in Japan pays a seller who is a non-resident for income tax purposes, the buyer must in principle withhold 10.21% of the price and pay it to the tax office on the seller’s behalf. This is only a prepayment. You still file a return in Japan, and the final settlement refunds or collects the difference.

• On the full price, not the gain. The buyer pays it in by the 10th of the month after payment.
• Cases with no withholding. The buyer is an individual, buys the property for their own or a relative’s residence, and the price is JPY 100 million or less. All three conditions must hold at the same time. If the buyer is a company, this exception does not apply.
• Settled when you file. If the tax computed on the actual gain is lower than the amount withheld (for example, a loss or a deduction applies), the difference is refunded after filing. If it is higher, you pay the balance. If nothing was withheld, the duty to file does not disappear.
• From 2027. The names of the withheld taxes change, but the total stays at 10.21%.

You file through a tax representative. A non-resident seller must, before submitting the final return, choose a tax representative from among people who have a domicile or residence in Japan (an individual or a company both work) and submit a notification to the tax office. After that, tax office documents are sent to the representative. A tax representative for national tax and one for local taxes such as fixed asset tax are separate procedures.

If you do not appoint one yourself, the tax office can demand in writing that you notify it of a representative by a date within 60 days. If you still do not, the tax office can designate a “specified tax representative” (特定納税管理人), for example an adult relative who shares your livelihood, or a person closely connected with the transaction. A specified tax representative only receives and forwards tax documents and does not file or pay tax for you.

**Example: Mr. Wang, living in Taipei**

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Mr. Wang bought a second-hand apartment in Tokyo in March 2019 and has rented it out ever since, never living in it himself. In October 2026 he sells it with the tenant in place for JPY 30 million to a Japanese company, with the price paid in Japan.

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• On January 1, 2026 he had held it for more than 5 years, so the sale is long term. He never lived in it, so the JPY 30 million deduction and the 10-year reduced rate do not apply. – The buyer is a company, so it withholds JPY 3.063 million at payment (JPY 30 million x 10.21%, on the rates above) and pays it in by the 10th of the following month. – Between February 16 and March 15, 2027, he files the 2026 capital gain through his tax representative: income tax of 15% plus the surtax, with the withheld tax settled at filing. The acquisition cost is worked out from the purchase contract and receipts, and if these cannot be found, 5% of the price, JPY 1.5 million, can be used as the estimated acquisition cost. – On January 1, 2027 he does not live in Japan, so he is generally not charged resident tax on this gain. – The tenant stays, and the landlord’s position and the duty to return the deposit pass to the buyer.

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What he needs to do: choose a tax representative before signing, and find the purchase contract and receipts.

Is the Japanese Resale Market Easy to Sell Into? What the Statistics Show

Statistics show only the overall picture. In the Tokyo metropolitan area, about 49,000 second-hand apartments sold in a year, and the price index is up from 2010, but the gaps between regions and between building ages are large. These figures are not forecasts of what a particular property will sell for or how long it will take.

Price trend: as of December 2025, the national condominium price index was 225.1 (2010 average = 100; it was 207.7 in December 2024) and detached houses were 121.9. The condominium index mainly reflects second-hand condominiums. By region, the condominium index was 234.8 for Tokyo, 233.1 for Osaka Prefecture and 196.5 for Aichi Prefecture.

Each region is compared with its own 2010 level, so the figures cannot be used to compare which place has higher prices. For the index from January 2026 onward, MLIT announced on September 28, 2026 that publication was postponed because of a calculation program error, and the new date has not been set.

Transactions in the Tokyo area: in 2025, 49,114 second-hand apartments were sold in the Tokyo metropolitan area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba), at an average price of JPY 52 million, and the average age of the properties sold was 26.58 years. The differences within the area are large. In Tokyo’s 23 wards the price per square meter was JPY 1.3075 million, up 13.2% on the previous year. Saitama was JPY 431,900 and Chiba JPY 398,400, both down 1.3%.

Building age: in 2025, for second-hand apartments in the Tokyo area, the ratio of “contracts closed / new listings” was highest for buildings 11 to 15 years old, at 40.9%. It was 19.6% for 31 to 35 years, 17.4% for 36 to 40 years and 20.9% for 41 years and older. This ratio compares two counts from the same year and is not the probability of selling after listing.

The latest month: in August 2026, 3,180 second-hand apartments were sold in the Tokyo area, down 10.5% from the same month a year earlier and the fifth straight monthly fall. The stock still on the market at month-end was 48,235 properties, up 8.2% and the sixth straight rise. The statistics body notes that a system revision from January 2025 may affect the number of contracts, and that the same month a year earlier was unusually high, so this month’s fall should not be read on its own as a weaker market.

Outside Tokyo: for the same month, August 2026 (the four distribution organizations combined nationwide), second-hand apartment sales and month-end stock were as follows. These statistics cover only properties listed on REINS, so a low count does not mean no transactions.

Who is buying: in 2025, among buyers of second-hand apartments in Tokyo’s 23 wards, 2.7% had a registered address overseas, and in the six central wards (Chiyoda, Chuo, Minato, Shinjuku, Bunkyo and Shibuya) 5.6%. In other cities it was 4.4% in Osaka City, 4.8% in Fukuoka City and 2.5% in Sapporo City. After analyzing registration data, MLIT said it does not see a particular recent increase. Among these overseas-address buyers in Tokyo’s 23 wards, buyers from Taiwan have also increased in recent years.

In other words, in these cities buyers with an overseas registered address make up between 2.5% and 5.6% of second-hand apartment buyers. “Overseas address” refers to the registered address, not nationality, and foreign residents living in Japan are not counted.

The contract counts, unit prices, building ages and stock figures come from the designated distribution organizations appointed by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (public interest foundations, not government ministries). They cover only properties listed on REINS, not all transactions.

For the details on regions, building ages and buyer origin, see the related article “Is the Japanese Second-Hand Market Easy to Exit? City, Building Age, Leases and Buyer Origin” (internal link in notes).

Can You Sell When a Tenant Is Living in the Property?

Yes. Selling with the tenant in place is called an owner change sale (オーナーチェンジ). A lease under which the tenant has already moved in remains valid against the buyer after the sale, and the buyer becomes the new landlord. The tenant’s consent is not needed for a change of landlord.

• Rent goes to the new owner only after registration. The buyer must complete the ownership transfer registration before asserting the position of new landlord against the tenant, for example by asking the tenant to pay rent to them.
• Deposit: the duty to return the security deposit (敷金, shikikin) when the tenant leaves passes to the buyer. How the deposit you hold is settled is agreed between buyer and seller in the sale contract, so read the clauses carefully before signing.
• Withholding during the rental period: while you own and let the property, rent paid by the tenant is in principle subject to 20.42% withholding first, except where an individual rents it for their own or a relative’s residence. After the sale, the buyer collects the rent.

Want the tenant to leave before you sell? Currently, an ordinary lease does not end because the property is sold, and a landlord who wants the property back must follow a legal procedure:

• A landlord who will not renew must notify the tenant between 1 year and 6 months before the end of the term. If notice is not given in that window, the lease is treated as renewed on the same terms.
• If the landlord gives notice of termination, the lease ends only after 6 months.
• Both non-renewal and termination require a justifiable reason (正当の事由). Offering a relocation payment is one factor in judging whether there is a justifiable reason, and it does not mean that paying secures possession.
• Special terms that are unfavorable to the tenant are void.

A fixed-term lease is different. A fixed-term lease (定期建物賃貸借) is made in writing, such as a notarized deed, with a written explanation given in advance that the lease will not be renewed and will end at the end of the term, and it ends when the term ends. For a term of 1 year or more, the landlord must notify the tenant between 1 year and 6 months before the end. Whether a lease is ordinary or fixed-term depends on the contract itself and on whether the advance explanation was completed, not only on the contract name.

When a master lease or management company is involved: where the landlord’s position is transferred and the master lease (サブリース) contract is taken over by the buyer on the same terms, the master lessee should promptly deliver a written document so that the buyer understands the contract. An owner who wants to end a master lease also needs a justifiable reason. If a management company manages the property, check whether the management contract has a clause under which the new owner takes over the client’s position. If not, the management engagement with the buyer is treated as a new contract, and the management company must explain and deliver documents to the buyer again.

For the details on selling with a lease, see the related article “How to Sell Japanese Property With a Lease in Place: Tenant Rights, Income Properties and Buyer Expectations” (internal link in notes).

How Do You Send the Sale Proceeds Home?

Sending money from Japan to another country is in principle free. What you face is the bank’s checks: identity, the purpose of the transfer and, where needed, evidence of the source of funds.

First work out how much will actually arrive: when 10.21% is withheld, on the rates above the price you receive is about one tenth lower at first, and the difference is settled only after you file.

• Notification form (告知書): when making an overseas transfer, the sender must give the bank a notification form stating name, address, My Number (マイナンバー) and the reason for the transfer. People without a My Number are identified by name and address. When you send from an account opened in your own name in Japan and already verified by the bank, a separate form is usually not required each time.
• Purpose of the transfer: the bank compares your age, occupation and the transaction purpose given when you opened the account to check that the purpose and amount are reasonable. A large movement in an account with no past activity is also one of the situations banks check. In such cases the bank may ask you and request credible supporting evidence. The authorities do not list specific documents, so it helps to have the sale contract, the settlement statement and the tax filing record ready to explain the source of funds.
• Opening an account: when you open an account at a bank in Japan, the bank must confirm your identifying details, the purpose of the transaction and your occupation.
• Receiving country: for transfers to some countries or regions, additional details about the recipient or documents on the source of funds may be required, so check with your bank before sending (per the Japanese Bankers Association).

The residency test under the Foreign Exchange Act (外国為替及び外国貿易法) differs from the tax law. A foreign national is in principle presumed to be a non-resident. A person who works at an office in Japan, or who has been in Japan for 6 months or more since entering, is presumed to be a resident. The same person can be a non-resident for tax purposes and a resident under the Foreign Exchange Act.

When buying property, a non-resident must file an acquisition report under the Foreign Exchange Act within 20 days of acquisition. Currently, this real estate report covers acquisitions only, and there is no corresponding report on a sale.

For the details of sending funds out, see the related article “How to Send Funds Out of Japan After a Sale: Bank Documents, Tax Records and Remittance Arrangements” (internal link in notes).

What Can You Prepare Now for a Future Sale?

1. Keep the purchase contract, receipts and registration cost breakdown. They are used to calculate the acquisition cost at sale. If they cannot be found, 5% of the sale price can be used as the estimated acquisition cost.
2. Keep the registration identification information safe. It must be provided when the sale is registered. If it is lost, there is an extra identity check.
3. If you move or change your overseas address, register the address change within 2 years. Owners living overseas must apply themselves.
4. If you plan to live in the home, record when you moved in and out. To use the JPY 30 million deduction, you must sell by December 31 of the third year after you move out.
5. If you rent it out, keep the lease and the deposit records. For a fixed-term lease, also keep the written explanation delivered in advance.
6. Keep repair and inspection records. Since April 2018, when an existing building is sold, the agent’s explanation of important matters must state whether a building condition inspection was done and how documents such as design drawings and inspection records are kept.
7. Decide in advance who your tax representative will be. After a sale, the filing must be made through a tax representative.

Japan Property Sale FAQ

I live overseas. Do I have to file a tax return in Japan after selling Japanese property?

Yes. Income from selling Japanese property is Japan-source income, and in principle it must be declared through a tax representative in Japan between February 16 and March 15 of the year after the sale. Whether or not the buyer withheld 10.21%, you must in principle file. The Japan-Taiwan tax arrangement also provides that Japan may tax the sale of real estate located in Japan.

Is 10.21% always withheld when you sell property in Japan?

No. When a buyer in Japan pays a non-resident, withholding is the rule. But where the buyer is an individual, buys the property for their own or a relative’s residence, and the price is JPY 100 million or less, nothing is withheld. Withholding is calculated on the full price and settled at filing, with any excess refunded and any shortfall collected.

Can I still sell if the property is let to a tenant?

Yes. The lease of a tenant who has moved in remains valid against the buyer, and the landlord’s position and the duty to return the deposit pass to the buyer without the tenant’s consent. Currently, an ordinary lease does not end because the property is sold. To get the property back first, you must follow the statutory notice periods and have a justifiable reason.

What do I need to prepare to send the sale proceeds to Hong Kong or another country?

The authorities do not publish a fixed document list. For an overseas transfer above JPY 100,000, the bank must confirm your identity, and above JPY 1 million the bank reports the transfer details to the tax office. The bank may also ask about the purpose and ask for evidence, so it helps to have the sale contract, the settlement statement and the tax filing record ready. A non-resident under the Foreign Exchange Act also does not have to file a payment report themselves for a single transfer above JPY 30 million.

Are second-hand apartments in Japan easy to sell?

Statistics show only the overall picture. In 2025, 49,114 second-hand apartments sold in the Tokyo area. For buildings 11 to 15 years old the “contracts closed / new listings” ratio was about 40%, and for buildings 31 years and older about 20%. Sales counts in regional prefectures are very small, for example only 1 in Akita Prefecture in August 2026. These are statistics for properties listed on REINS, not forecasts for an individual property.

Glossary

• Brokerage contract (媒介契約): the contract appointing an agent to find a buyer, in three types: exclusive right to sell, exclusive brokerage and general.
• Designated distribution organization (指定流通機構): a public interest foundation designated by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that runs the REINS (レインズ) system where agents list properties.
• Earnest money (手付): money the buyer pays at signing; before the buyer starts performance, the seller can cancel by offering twice the amount.
• Liability for non-conforming goods (契約不適合責任): the seller’s liability to the buyer when the property delivered does not match the contract.
• Registration identification information (登記識別情報): a code given to the owner once registration is complete, used to prove the owner is the one applying when a sale is registered.
• Signature certificate (署名証明): a certification of a signature used in place of a seal registration certificate by people with no Japanese seal registration.
• Capital gains from transfer (譲渡所得): the profit from selling real estate.
• Acquisition cost (取得費) and transfer expenses (譲渡費用): the purchase cost and the selling expenses deducted from the sale price when calculating the gain.
• Withholding (源泉徴収): the payer deducts tax at the time of payment and pays it in on the recipient’s behalf.
• Tax representative (納税管理人): a person who files returns, pays tax and receives tax documents for a taxpayer living overseas.
• Resident tax (住民税): a local tax charged by place of domicile on January 1 each year.
• Owner change sale (オーナーチェンジ): a sale in which the tenant stays and the landlord becomes the buyer.
• Security deposit (敷金): money the tenant gives the landlord to secure rent and other obligations.
• Justifiable reason (正当の事由): the reason the law requires when a landlord does not renew or terminates a lease.
• Overseas remittance statutory report (国外送金等調書): the report a bank files with the tax office on overseas transfers above JPY 1 million.

Data Notes

• The information in this article was checked as of September 30, 2026. It is based on Japanese laws; official documents of MLIT, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Tax Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, the Financial Services Agency and the National Police Agency; explanations from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Edogawa and Chuo Wards; and the Japan-Hong Kong tax agreement and the private-sector Japan-Taiwan tax arrangement.
• The following conclusions are drawn from official documents; the authorities do not state them in a single sentence.
• “Sale price x 3.3% + JPY 66,000” is a shortcut formula converted from the tiered rates.
• That an individual seller is not bound by the “at least 2 years” limit is inferred from the provision binding only agents who are themselves the seller.
• That the registered address must match the current address, with an address change registration done first, is inferred from the provision that a mismatch leads to rejection.
• Sharing fixed asset tax at handover is a trade custom, from an explanation by the Tokyo Bureau of Taxation.
• That a property only rented out and never lived in does not qualify for the JPY 30 million deduction or the reduced rate is inferred from the residence requirement. That the two reliefs do not distinguish residents from non-residents is a summary of National Tax Agency explanations and the provisions containing no such distinction; not all circulars were checked.
• That a seller not living in Japan on January 1 of the year after the sale is generally not charged resident tax is inferred from the Local Tax Act and the explanations of Edogawa and Chuo Wards on resident tax in general; the authorities do not use a real estate sale as the example.
• On consumption tax on selling a rental building, this article gives only the general rule on what is taxable and the conditions for exemption; whether tax is actually due depends on individual conditions.
• That an ordinary lease does not end on a sale is inferred from combining the Act on Land and Building Leases and the Civil Code.
• That the duty to file remains when nothing was withheld is inferred from the National Tax Agency’s explanation that income from selling real estate must in principle be declared, without distinguishing by whether tax was withheld.
• That the Foreign Exchange Act has no real estate report on a sale is inferred from the provisions and Ministry of Finance materials checked, which require a report only on acquisition.
• That remittances to some countries or regions require source-of-funds documents comes from an explanation by the Japanese Bankers Association (an industry body); it is not a regulation, and it does not specify which countries or regions.
• The contract counts, unit prices, building ages and stock of second-hand apartments come from the designated distribution organizations (public interest foundations such as the East Japan Real Estate Information Network), not from a government ministry. They cover only properties listed on REINS, and the system revision from January 2025 may affect contract counts. The share of overseas-address buyers is an analysis of registration data by MLIT, covering only the three major metropolitan areas and four regional cities.
• The general sale flow, settlement and handover are explained in an MLIT document for sellers and in an explanation by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Housing Policy Headquarters. They describe general practice, and individual cases follow the contract.
• Things that may change: the property price index from January 2026 onward has been postponed (announced September 28, 2026, new date not set), and this article goes up to December 2025; from January 1, 2027 the surtax becomes a special defense income tax plus a special reconstruction income tax, with the total unchanged; the stamp duty reduction applies until March 31, 2027, and whether it will be extended has not been decided.

Have a question about this guide? Leave a comment below, or ask Zagdim directly.

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• 国土交通省－不動産登記情報を活用した新築マンションの取引実態の調査・分析について（別紙）

Important Notice

This article is a general information summary and does not constitute individual legal, tax or financial advice. Information was checked as of September 30, 2026. Tax rates, thresholds and rules may be updated, so rely on the current announcements of the Japanese authorities, and consult a qualified tax accountant, judicial scrivener or other professional where needed.