Old NISA

This page refers to the NISA account that existed for new investments until 2023. For the current NISA, see NISA.

New investments cannot be made in an Old NISA, but existing investments will remain tax-free until the end of their 5-year period, where they will be moved to a taxable account.

There were three types of NISA, all of which are now no-longer available for new investments:

the regular NISA (this article) - converted to the Regular portion of the new NISA from 2024.
Tsumitate NISA - converted to the Tsumitate portion of the new NISA from 2024.
Junior NISA - no longer available for new investments.

Summary

It was possible to invest up ¥1,200,000 yen per year in an old NISA.
Investments are tax-free for 5 years, including the purchase year.
Any dividends earned in a NISA are free of Japanese taxes.
Any assets sold from a NISA are free of Japanese capital gains tax (but the allowance for sold assets cannot be reused).

Benefits

Investments are free of Japanese dividend and capital gains tax for 5 years, including the purchase year.

It was possible to maintain a total of 5 years (so ¥6M + gains and dividends) of tax-free allowance at once.

Investments made in 2019 were tax free until the end of 2023.
Investments made in 2020 are tax free until the end of 2024.
Investments made in 2021 are tax free until the end of 2025.
Investments made in 2022 are tax free until the end of 2026.
Investments made in 2023 are tax free until the end of 2027.

Caveats

Foreign stocks are subject to foreign withholding tax that cannot be reclaimed.
Selling an asset in a NISA does not return the annual allowance (this is different to the new NISA system from 2024).
- Thus the allowance is an allowance on total purchases for a year.
- Once a purchase has been made, that amount of the NISA allowance is irreversibly consumed.
When the tax free period is over, the price as the end of the period is considered the purchase price for the purposes of calculating future capital gains. This is normally a benefit, but if the asset value is lower than the purchase price at the end of the tax free period, any future gains will be calculated from the lower value.
When assets are moved into a taxable account at the end of the tax free period, if there are already units of the same asset in the taxable account, the cost basis will be recalculated by proportionally combining the current value of the NISA assets with the cost basis of the taxable assets. If the taxable account has a capital gain, for example, selling a NISA asset immediately after it has been moved to the taxable account will cause capital gains tax to be due, due to the gain on the taxable asset. If intending to sell the NISA assets, it may be preferable to sell them from the NISA before the tax-free period expires in order to avoid a taxable event.

End of the 5-year period

When the 5 years are up, any unsold assets will be moved into a taxable account. Future capital gains are calculated from the price of the assets at the time the assets were removed from the NISA. If there are existing units of the same asset already in the taxable account, also see the last bullet point of the caveats, above.

Rollover until 2023

It used to be possible to rollover the balance from an expiring 5-year NISA into the next year's NISA. However, as 2023 was the last year of the 5-year NISA, this is no longer possible. The assets in a NISA will be converted to a taxable account as the NISA expires.