Taxes

Expatriate Americans really get bent over when it comes to taxes. We pay income tax twice–once to Japan and once to America. There are only two nations in the entire world that make their citizens abroad pay tax: the US and Libya.
Japanese taxes are due on March 17th. I’ve got my forms and the instructions in English and have been trying to figure out exactly how to fill in the forms. I’ve completed the one that tallies my small business earnings and expense. That was easy.
But looking at the main form, I can’t figure out where to put this total. There are two sections where this might go: Amount of Earnings and Amount of Income. But it’s not clear which number I should use where. Check out this explanation:
How to Complete Form B
Write each amount entered in the ‘statement of earnings and expenses’ or ‘financial statement for blue return’ in the following blocks of the first page of the return here: amount of earnings, etc. ‘business (sales or agriculture)’ [blocks a and i], ‘amount of income (business (sales etc. 1 or agriculture 2)’ [blocks 1, 2].
Government instructions are the same the world over…confusing! I will try to figure this out this afternoon so that I can then get started on my American taxes. Argh!