Pay tax on goods shipped to Japan?

I'm in the processing of considering and planning for a move to Japan. As part of the relocation, my Japanese wife and I will need to ship our personal effects (mostly clothes, personal items, no furniture) to Japan. The tentative plan is to ship the goods via a moving company and we fly into Japan so the goods will arrive separately. Do we need to pay tax on these items or are the exempt? If taxable, how is the taxable amount determined?

Also, in my luggage that I plan to take with me on the flight are some high value jewelry and collectable items. Will these be taxed?

The moving company will have more information, but as far as I remember from our past moves, they will create the packing list with gno commercial valueh described on it, gunaccompanied baggageh stated on the packages, and when you yourselves fly over, on the incoming aircraft you will be asked to fill out two copies of customs declaration form; one you turn in upon arrival, and the other you retain (I believe). There is a section asking whether you have any other gunaccompanied baggage,h and you will answer gyesh with shipping method and description in it. With that declared, when the boxes sent separately arrive in Japan, youfll be informed of their arrival and you can go to the customs office with your copy to have them cleared with zero duty levied on gpersonal effects.h (I remember we sent mostly clothes, books, no furniture.) The moving company might do that customs clearance process for you too.

I donft remember about valuables that you carry with you - youfd probably have to declare them, but as gpersonal effectsh or gused.h

Does anyone else have any recent experience in relocating to Japan and shipping their personal items into the country?

I really don't want to be surprised with a large tax bill upon arrival.

I just arrived on Aug 14, 2021. Goods are being shipped in addition to our hand carry items ( jewelry and personal item to live with until see shipment arrives ). Personal goods that you have owned and used are not taxable on import. In fact, you can even ship brand new, never opened items valued up to $2000 per person ($4000 for myself and my wife ) duty free. Note special limits on tobacco and liquor.

Only valuables you would declare are items just purchased and carried with you, and of course cash if large amount. Note that we hand carried about $150K in personal valuables, but all of it we have owned for many years and did not need to declare ( jewelry, watches and a few small antiques that were to fragile to ship ).

knowing the above, we purchased a new Weber Charcoal grill ( vs shipping our old dirty 1 ) as new in Japan was 3 1/2 times the cost and I can not live without a weber. There were a few other personal new purchases for hard to find items in Japan, or otherwise very expensive in Japan. All items well below our combined $4000 ( $2000 individual ) limit.

Nittsu ( Japan moving company ) will pickup shipment at customs and deliver to us. We dropped a copy of our customs document to ABC counter at the airport as they work under contract with Nittsu and will deliver this paper work to them. expected sea shipment delivery time is about 2+ months as covid has caused many delays in harbours/ports. Check the news. Back logs of ships waiting outside of harbours.

This was a USA to Japan move. Hope this helps. Any reputable moving company should also explain this to you. If they can not, I personally would not use them.

@Steve, thanks for sharing your recent experience.

I was feeling a bit concerned as I plan to carry with me about $250K worth of personal items (jewelry, watches, etc.) and was not keen to have to pay import taxes.