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Furusato nozei limit calculator
ふるさと納税 (hometown tax donation) lets you send part of your tax to a town of your choice and keep a thank-you gift, for ¥2,000 out of pocket. That only works up to a limit set by your income. Here is your limit, worked out the official way, with every step shown.
First: what is “taxable income”?
Taxable income is the part of your income that tax is actually charged on. You get to it in three steps:
1Start with what you earned
For a salary, that is the 支払金額 (amount paid) on your 源泉徴収票 (withholding slip), before anything is taken off.
2Take off the salary deduction
Every employee gets a fixed allowance for work costs (給与所得控除), set by law from your salary. Freelancers take off their business expenses instead. What is left is your income (所得).
3Take off your deductions
Social insurance, the basic deduction everyone gets, family, life insurance, iDeCo, medical costs and so on (所得控除). What is left is your taxable income (課税所得).
Japan has two income taxes: national income tax (所得税) and resident tax (住民税). Resident tax uses smaller deductions (for example a basic deduction of ¥430,000), so its taxable income is a little higher. Furusato nozei comes mostly out of resident tax, which is why both matter.
The limit, in one line
Limit = 20% of your resident tax (income part, 所得割) ÷ (90% − your income-tax rate × 1.021) + ¥2,000
Fastest if you are an employee. Copy the boxes from the withholding slip your employer gave you in December or January.
Let NinjaBot fill this in
NinjaBot can read your 源泉徴収票 (withholding slip) and fill these boxes for you once you are signed in.
Box: 支払金額 (amount paid)
Box: 給与所得控除後の金額 (amount after the employment income deduction)
Box: 所得控除の額の合計額 (total of income deductions)
Box: 源泉徴収税額 (tax withheld at source)
Box: 社会保険料等の金額 (social insurance premiums)
Box: 生命保険料の控除額 (life insurance deduction)
Box: 地震保険料の控除額 (earthquake insurance deduction)
Use 住宅借入金等特別控除可能額 (housing-loan credit available) if it is printed, as it is the full credit; otherwise 住宅借入金等特別控除の額 (housing-loan credit).
Not on the slip
Fill in 支払金額 (amount paid) and 給与所得控除後の金額 (amount after the employment income deduction) to see your limit.
After you donate
Claim it, or nothing comes back. Without a tax return you can use the one-stop exception (ワンストップ特例) for up to 5 towns. If you file a 確定申告 (tax return), the one-stop exception is cancelled and every donation must go on your return.
Keep each 寄附金受領証明書 (donation receipt): you need it for the return. Donations count by the date paid, so give by 31 December.
An estimate to help you plan, worked out the way 総務省 (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) describes. Your real limit is set by your resident-tax assessment the following June. Not tax advice.