日本語
中文Types of taxes
The owner/founder of a company will be subject to several taxes after establishment. While we cannot list all of them, below is a list of the most common ones.
<Main taxes>
| Business category | Tax | Overview | Jurisdiction |
| Private business owner | Income tax | Tax charged on individual income (profit). Other than a private business owner personal income, it can also be charged on received bonus payments. | National tax office |
| Corporation | Corporate Income Tax | Tax charged on a company’s total income (profits) | |
| Common to both | Consumption tax | Tax charged on products and services. Instead of the consumer, it is charged to the business operator | |
| Withholding income tax | Income tax automatically deducted from salary/bonus payments. The business operator is in charge of forwarding it. | ||
| Stamp tax | Tax charged when contracts, receipts and others documents have been created | ||
| Business tax | Tax on the personal/corporate income (profit) | Prefectures | |
| Residence tax | Tax on the personal/corporate income (profit) | Prefectures Municipalities |
|
| Property tax | Tax on owned fixed property (land, buildings, facilities) | Municipalities |
Be aware that individual business owners and corporations are charged different kind of taxes, but some taxes are common to both. Besides the tax recipient can differ depending on the country, prefecture or city, and the kind of taxes.
Procedures after starting operations
You will need to submit few tax notifications to the national, prefectural and municipal tax offices. In particular, if you want to benefit from the tax return, submission is mandatory. Otherwise you will not be able to claim anything. Note that the required notices also differ depending on whether it is an individual business owner or a corporation.
Below are the main required notifications. For details, contact the city office information desk or a certified tax accountant.
<Tax notifications>
| Business Category | Submission place | Notification name | Content | Submission deadline |
| Individual | National tax office | Notification of establishment of a private business | Report the establishment of a new private business | Within one month of establishment |
| Approval for filing a blue –return form | In case you want to benefit from the tax return system | Within two months of establishing business | ||
| Notification of employment of a blue-return tax payer | Exempts spouse or family’s total salary from being taxed (only for the taxpayer) | Within two months of hiring a blue return tax payer | ||
| Notification of establishment of an office paying salaries | Reports of employment of individuals | Within one month of the first business day | ||
| Notification for approval for special payment of the withholding tax income | Companies with less than 10 employees can pay the withholding tax income twice a year | No deadline（will be applied on the salary of the month following submission day） | ||
| Prefectural tax office | Notification of establishment of a business | Report the establishment of a new business | As soon as possible after start of operations( varies depending on the municipality） | |
| Municipal tax office | Notification of establishment of a business | Report the establishment of a new business | As soon as possible after start of operations( varies depending on the municipality） | |
| Corporation | National tax office | Notification of establishment of a corporation | Report the establishment of a new corporation | Within 2 months of establishment |
| Approval for filing a blue –return form | In case you want to benefit from the tax return system | No later than the day prior to either the day following three months since and including the date of the establishment of the corporation or the last day of the corporation’s initial taxable year after establishment, whichever comes first, | ||
| Notification of establishment of an office paying salaries | Reports of employment of individuals | Within a month from the first day of business | ||
| Notification for approval for special payment of the withholding tax income | Companies with less than 10 employees can pay the withholding tax income twice a year | As soon as possible after start of operations( varies depending on the municipality） | ||
| Prefectural tax office | Notification of establishment of a corporation | Report the establishment of a new business | Within 2 months of establishment | |
| Municipal tax office | Notification of establishment of a corporation | Report the establishment of a new business | As soon as possible after start of operations( varies depending on the municipality） |
Ordinary tasks
1) Accounting
Several accounting works are needed when you start a business. Here is a summary of the main points.
| Separate private finances from business funds |
| For tax affairs, only fees spent for business purpose are recognized.
It is best to clearly set up separate business accounts/wallets. |
| Managing sales/stock |
| Keeping different books for different data can be very helpful in being on top of the management system or cash flow. Record sales in a sales book, stock flow in a stock book, employee’s wage in a salary book, etc. |
| Keeping evidence |
| Invoices, receipts and other documents that keep track of your transactions with your business partners and are used as proof in case of troubles. Besides, with submission of the receipt of payments, you can get exemption for that paid amount and lower your taxable income.
Keep timely records of the evidential documents by monthly classifying them according to content of transaction and type of transaction. Keep in mind possibilities that you will have to type in datas of transactions of look up past ones and make it easy to look back at. If there are no receipts, keep notes in an accounting or finance book. |
2) Mandatory annual report/notification
For tax affairs, you are required to submit at least these reports or notification to either national, regional or municipal authorities.
| Filing of an income tax return | For corporations, no later than the end of the month after the next month of book closing.
For private owners, by March 15 of the following year (end of march for individual consumption tax). |
| Year-end tax adjustment | December of every year |
| Statutory report、notification of payment of salaries, report of depreciable assets | No later than the end of January of the following year |
