Legal set up Certificate of registration
The company (K.K. or G.K.) or branch is legally set up in Japan once registered with the Legal Affairs Bureau. Around one week after the registration with Legal Affairs Bureau, the company or department can obtain a certificate of registration. This certificate of registration, called “Tokibo Tohon” or just “Tohon” in Japanese, is an essential document for all the following procedures. In addition to the certificate of registration, the company will also get a certificate of registration for the registered seal of the company under the name of the representative director, “inkanshomeisho,” in Japanese.
Registration with Social Insurance and Labor Insurance
To register with Social Insurance and Labor Insurance, the company must first hire a first employee. Please note that if the first employee is a company director, he may not be allowed to register with Labor Insurance. Suppose an employee wishes to be registered with Social Insurance. In that case, the company can use Eric Perraudin’s representative services so that the employee is no more the representative and can write with Labor Insurance.
With the document mentioned above, “report on the establishment of a salary paying office and information details about its first employee, a company can register with Social Insurance and Labor Insurance. Achieve Japan partners can take care of this process.
Opening of the bank account
Achieve Japan can open a bank account for a company with a certificate of registration and manage the bank account on behalf of the company to pay salaries, payroll taxes, corporate taxes, and vendor invoices. Please note that it is difficult to pay taxes from an account with a foreign bank in Japan. For more details, please consult the Achieve Japan page about cash management.
Registration with the tax office
As soon as possible and less than three months after the date of creation to benefit from “blue return tax status,” the company should register with relevant tax offices, which are the national tax office and Local Tax office, for the equivalent of federal tax and state tax on the U.S.
Please note that the first tax return for the company is for the period from the creation to the end of the fiscal year. For example, even if the company is created on December 28, if the end of the fiscal year is December 31, the company must submit a complete tax return for the first fiscal year from December 28 to December 31. This point is to be kept in mind when creating a new company in Japan.
One of the documents submitted to the tax office will be a report on establishing a salary payment office for withholding tax purposes. This document is necessary to register the company with Social Insurance and Labor Insurance so that employees of the company can enjoy the standard benefits of Japanese employees.
The typical list of documents to be filed are:
– Report on the establishment
– Application for “blue form “return status
– Report on the establishment of a salary payment office for withholding tax purposes
– Application for extension of Filing due date of corporate tax return (usually one month)
– Report on approval of the extension of Filing due date for prefecture and municipal tax offices
– Application for approval of semi-annual payment of withholding tax to tax authorities
– Report on the accounting method used for inventory valuation, securities valuation, and depreciation and valuation of short-term receivables and payables denominated in foreign currencies
Achieve Japan tax partner can take care of this registration.
Disclaimer: This information is for illustration purposes only. Achieve Japan cannot be held liable for any decision based on this information. Legal professionals, Licensed tax accountants, and Licensed Social Insurance consultants should be consulted for any advice regarding company setup, taxes, and social insurance in Japan.