Municipal Tax

Hi everyone, I do have question : My wife resigned as an ALT ( Assistant Language Teacher ) last year 2017, then she went back to our country to take care of our daughter. However until she received municipality tax quarterly, and I need to pay it through convenience store. My question, is that a rule here in Japan? Or can we removed that tax? Thanks in advance. Moms

Did she deregister her residence in Japan?

As far as I know, if you deregister, in 2017, you only need to pay municipal taxes for 2017 and the local ward office gives you the bills you need to pay when you deregister. However if she deregistered in 2018 she still needs to pay for the entire year. If she only left on a temporary basis, then she continues to pay until the end of the year when she finally decides to officially leave Japan (and deregister in her ward/town office).

she had to pay a full amount of 2017's city tax, because it was charged to a person who resided on Jan. 1, 2017.
and also, she had to file her 2017's income to tax office. if did, I think she can have some refund of income tax.

You get charged based on where you are officially registered as living. if you notify a change in residency location, you only pay for the days you live there.
- If it is a temporary trip and she is coming back, then she still needs to pay the tax.
- If she moved out/left Japan (more than one year), the obligation is to notify within 14 days, and the tax will be adjusted accordingly.
Sounds like you didn't notify a change of address, so you are liable for the tax.

" the tax will be adjusted accordingly."
no adjustment, even after de-registration.

@Ken - that seems odd because when I shifted from Tokyo to Saitama (and then back again), both cities made adjustments and refunds/recalculations to my resident tax. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention.

I am 100% positive on the fact that if you quit living in Japan you need to pay the municipal taxes until the end of the year you stopped to live officially in Japan. That is true for foreigners as well as Japanese. As far as I am aware no exceptions. I checked with the accounting department of my company and also my Japanese boss who is about to move to the US mentioned it. It seems to be quite common knowledge among Japanese tax payers.

The OP never came back to reveal if his wife did leave Japan officially. Ie did she give up on her residency and inform her local ward/ city office. If she didn’t she’ll continue to pay taxes for the rest of her life.

since you believe that you are correct, it means that many foreigners leave Japan without paying city tax.
you can easily find many explanations (that I am correct) about city tax, if you can understand the language.
just google, 住民税 出国.
here is an example.
海外に1年以上勤務等で赴任又は滞在する場合は、原則、住民基本台帳法に基づき現在住んでいる市町村に「国外転出届（住民異動届）」を提出することになっています。....
例えば、平成25年4月1日海外赴任となった場合には、赴任（出国）の翌日から非居住者となります。....
当年度分（平成25年）の住民税（平成24年の所得に対応）は、平成25年1月1日（賦課期日）現在の住所地である市区町村に納付しなければなりません。...
納税管理人を選任して納付の手続きをする必要があります。

also, no adjustment if you move between cities.
you can google the correct answer EASILY. 住民税 転居
http://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/kohoku/qa/zeikin/qa0501008.html