Dear group

I wonder if some of you (particularly those who work as translators,
etc) might be able to help me.

I work in Japan for a quite large Japanese company as a postdoctorate
research fellow. The company arranged my visa, and I have a 1 year
contract that should (hopefully) be extended. I work in the company's
labs, although the wording of my contract is that I am paid to "do
research" and "produce reports" about it, so I am *not* a regular
employee (seishain).
The company withhold exactly 10% from all the money they give me as
retained income tax (including repayment for my conference expenses
that I originally paid myself, etc).
However, they don't arrange the "end-of-year adjustment", so I must
complete a tax return.

Presumably due to the type of contract I have, my gensenchoushuuhyou
(tax withholding statement) from the company contains only one line
(totalling the entire money they have paid me, including expenses),
which is itemised as genkouryou (payment for manuscript).

According to the English guidance for completing the tax return, this
implies that I should categorise all my income as "miscellaneous income
- other", rather than actual "employment income".

There seem two disadvantages here - firstly because my "employment
income" is zero, I can't take advantage of the hefty (30% or so)
kyouyoshotokukoujo (employment income tax deduction).
Secondly, there is no distinction between my salary and expenses, so I
don't know if it's possible to get a refund on that tax paid.

Does anyone know (a) if my assumptions are correct, (b) if there's any
way around it?
My company seem to say that the gensenchoushuuhyou is correct according
to their rules, but the finer points of the situation are obscured by
language barriers...

Alternatively, does anyone know if it is possible to get personal
guidance on completing the form in English, by phone or in person? I am
in outer Tokyo, but my local tax office (naturally) don't have very
fantastic English skills, and sadly it's beyond my capability...

Many thanks

Thomas