Question regarding PR

Hi there,
I am an aussie married to Japanese national for over 3 years. Been in Japan for almost 2 years now. We married in Australia.
From what i am reading I should be eligible now to apply, but have few questions as my situation is little unique. Please see points below.

1. I don't work in Japan. I have a business in Australia and pay taxes there. My wife called two tax offices here and they didn't know if i should pay taxes here or not. Pretty much they said I can pay if I want to, but i don't have to. Any idea how can it affect my pr application? My wife works here and her company pay my taxes (pension etc.)
2. I quite often go to Australia, but just for few days. Do not spent there more than 60 days per year.
3. We bought a house here and are financially stable.

Could anyone please advise where i stand in regards to pr application? Thanks!

after one year you became a resident of Japan, you have an obligation to pay income tax, even though the income is not earned in Japan.
https://www.nta.go.jp/taxanswer/gensen/2875.htm
generally speaking, you have to file your income both in Australia and Japan, if Australian law requests your filing. there are some rules to avoid double taxation.
if you have enough income, you have to pay health insurance and pension by yourself. (those are tax-deductible in your income.)
right now, you and your wife are violating at least two laws.
of course, you can make the application with ignoring the violations. however, since the application itself is made by dishonesty, the PR you will get could be cancelled, when the dishonesty is revealed in future.

if you don't want to stay in Japan for a long term, minor dishonesty and violations are no problem.
the problem is that they don't erase your dishonest record for a long time (probably forever).

Hi Ken,
Thank you very much for your reply. Please note that i don't speak Japanese . The nature of m y business requires me to pay taxes in Australia.
As i mentioned we tried to find out what to do. My wife called our local tax office in our town, but they didn't know. They asked us to call our prefecture capital office. She did and they weren't sure as well. There was a person who finally called us back, but again pretty much said it is up to us.

Do you know or does anyone here knows a tax agent who can look into it? I really want to do it properly.
I want to avoid double taxation, but at the same time i want to do the right thing.

Thank you.

So are you saying that currently you are your wife's "dependant" because you have no income in Japan, and are covered by her employer's health insurance and pension scheme?

If you can, please go to the local tax office and get the tax filing form "in English," it comes with the tax filing form/guideline, as well as some information about classification of non-Japanese residents according to the number of years spent in Japan. This might solve some of the question.

If you've spent over 5 years in Japan as a resident, you are considered "permanent resident" by taxation defintion, and need to declare all income, both in and outside Japan, in Japan. Whether that can be offset/deducted from your Australian tax is up to the agreement between the two countries. I believe there is a "non-permanent resident" by taxation definition, where you need to declare your (1) income derived in Japan AND (2) the portion of your income derived from outside Japan but brought into Japan. You might fall under that.

Similar threads that I've posted on before:
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+148822
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+112083

So far, since you've asked the tax authorities and they could not give you a clear answer, I'd say you've been doing the best you can, so no impact on the permanent resident application with the immigration authorities, I'd say. When you file for a change to permanent resident status, they will ask you for your and your wife's tax papers (proof that you've paid income/resident taxes), and eventually what needs to be done will be shown to you.

http://japantax.org/?p=3117

Read the above article carefully, I would suggest you fix your tax situation first before jumping on to apply for PR since you have to give the tax document along with application

Giggle for any tax consultant, your wife is Japanese she should be able to find out an accountant, you might have to back file for all the previous year. You may not end up paying tax since there would be treaty between Japan and your country but it will give you clean record of evidence that you have a source of income

By the way I am surprised you lived in Japan for 2 years and did not think about tax consequences until now :)
Good that Japan does not have the "IRS" and you can live without paying taxes

Hi Ken,
Thank you very much for your reply. Please note that i don't speak Japanese . The nature of m y business requires me to pay taxes in Australia.
As i mentioned we tried to find out what to do. My wife called our local tax office in our town, but they didn't know. They asked us to call our prefecture capital office. She did and they weren't sure as well. There was a person who finally called us back, but again pretty much said it is up to us.

Do you know or does anyone here knows a tax agent who can look into it? I really want to do it properly.
I want to avoid double taxation, but at the same time i want to do the right thing.

Thank you.

Thanks guys. Will definitively look into it. Not sure, but for some reason previous reply posted twice.

I just read the article. I am getting more confused. I think it is better to stay a non-permanent resident. I don't remit funds to Japan. All my money stays in an Australian account. This is what is says

Non-permanent residents are taxed on (a) their Japanese source income; and (b) their non-Japanese source income to the extent that it is remitted to Japan.

Benefits of non-permanent resident status

Given the definition of the scope of the income on which non-permanent residents are taxed there are two main ways that non-permanent resident status can be of benefit to an individual. The first, most obvious of these benefits is that the non-permanent resident is only taxed on foreign income to the extent that it is remitted to Japan.

Does that meant i don't have to declare anything if I don't transfer funds here? Do I have to declare anyway, but won't be taxed because it wasn't remitted?

When you apply for the PR, anything could become a problem. So, you have to clarify everything to the immigration officers. If everything is clear, then you will get the PR.
I have only one piece of advice to you, be advised not to try to apply on your end.Use an immigration lawyer and explain to him your situation in details. Lawyers know the workarounds and right ways to solve these kinds of matters.
Good luck

Chris, you cannot choose be a non permanent resident because it suits you. It depends on things like how many days of the year you are in Japan etc
Please consult a tax accountant and please use google, there is a ton of info out there