Hi,
I have been a US PR since early 2019 but I live and worked in Japan until middle of 2020 and never lived or worked in US before that (just had short visits). Since moving to US, I still work remotely for the same company I worked for in Japan (company has no presence in US), but I don't pay taxes in Japan anymore. Right now I am not exactly sure how my taxes will work this year.
So far the conclusion of my research has been that I file foreign income (which I cannot fully exclude but I can get tax credit for) for the first half of the year I was still in Japan, and I file the second half as self-employed. Can someone comment if this is the correct way of filing my taxes for 2020?
Moreover, I got a refund for my pension contributions in Japan from Japanese government, which was taxed in Japan. I believe I will have to declare this as foreign income as well. Can I get foreign tax credit for the taxed amount of this refund? I also have the option of asking for the taxed amount to be returned to me by the Japanese government, but I believe that wouldn't make sense if I can get foreign tax credit in US since then the pension refund plus the returned tax will then be taxed at US rate which will be higher than Japan's rate. Please correct me if I am wrong here.
Finally, I also paid "residence tax" in Japan (which is mandatory by law, there). Can I get foreign tax credit for that as well or does foreign tax credit only apply to income tax?
