Illinois Issues Back to Business Grant

Further COVID-19 Relief for Businesses Illinois Governor JB Pritzker released an overall economic recovery strategy, including a $250 million Back to Business (B2B) grant initiative. The recovery plan aims to assist small businesses that experienced significant...

Help Your Japanese Spouse Retire in Japan by Using iDeCo

Support cross-border life From May 2022, if your Japanese spouse participates in Japan’s National Pension, he or she becomes eligible to participate in iDeCo. [i] (I am going to use “she”.) iDeCo’s name came from an Individual-type Defined Contribution pension plan....

IRS Whistleblower Rule Applies to FBAR Penalty

Support cross-border life If IRS finds that you willfully did not report your foreign financial accounts in FBAR, under the 31 U.S.C. 532(a)(5)(c), the maximum penalty you face is higher of $129,210 or 50% of the amount in 2021. [i] This is a very serious penalty...

US Citizens Owning a Japanese Company – US Tax Compliance Risks

By Koh Fujimoto Support cross-border life If you are a US citizen who owns a Japanese company, you are subject to the very complex U.S. tax rules. Without going through the details of the rules, I focus on the danger of not consulting with appropriated tax...