Japan's Crypto Tax to Drop to 20% by 2028: What It Costs You

Let's start with a somewhat extreme scenario. Suppose you bought Bitcoin for ¥1 million (roughly $8,900 at 2017 exchange rates) in 2017 and then passed away. Your heir inherits the Bitcoin and sells it at its current value of ¥10 million (roughly $67,000). What happens?

First, inheritance tax applies. Then, when the heir sells, income tax is levied on the difference between the sale price and the acquisition cost — and the heir takes over the deceased's acquisition cost (¥1 million in this example) rather than the assessed value at the time of inheritance, so the taxable gain is about ¥9 million. Because this income is classified as "miscellaneous income" and combined with other income under Japan's aggregate taxation (comprehensive taxation) system, high-income earners can face a top combi...