Top overseas banks, such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, are more profitable in Japan than those of Japanese origin, making money on trading bonds and advising on mergers.

Thomas Montag, co-head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s operations in Japan, is the biggest Japanese taxpayer, according to the list of the nation’s top 100 taxpayers. Mr. Montag tops the list for the third straight year.

Thomas Montag paid 418 million yen ($3.9 million) this year, the National Tax Administration Agency data shows. It is Japan’s 57th- highest tax bill of 2004. Combined net income of fourteen foreign brokerages was doubled to 70.8 billion yen in the year ended September 30.

Jasjit Bhattal, Lehman Brothers’ chief executive for Asia, ranked 38th among taxpayers in Japan, according to the National Tax Administration Agency. Michael O’Hanlon, Lehman’s managing director of investment banking division in the country, ranked 69th on the list.

Goldman Sachs Japan Ltd. opened its first Tokyo office in 1974. In the year ended March 2004, it posted a 12.6 billion yen income. The biggest Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings Inc. posted a 2.5 billion yen loss, the third in four quarters, for the three months ended March 31 in the US.

Goldman Sachs Japan ranked 9th as an equities underwriter and 7th in bond underwriting in Japan in 2004. The company employs 1,500 people in Japan.