Japan company help: answers by topic

With a signature certificate or a notarised affidavit of your signature, issued by a notary in your country or by your embassy or consulate in Japan. The Legal Affairs Bureau accepts this in place of a Japanese seal certificate. It must be recent, so arrange it once the documents are final.

Certification and apostille

Source: 1.3 Procedures for registering establishment, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

Yes. The articles, the registration filing and the official register extract are in Japanese, and foreign documents are filed with Japanese translations. We give you English working translations of the key documents for your records. The trade name can include Roman letters.

Source: 1.3 Procedures for registering establishment, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

If your Japanese business customers want to claim consumption tax credits, usually yes, because they need qualified invoices showing your registration number. Registration makes the company a consumption tax payer, even if it would otherwise be exempt. Decide this with your tax accountant before you issue the first invoices.

Source: Information about consumption tax, National Tax Agency

A real office address, the certified register extract, the company seal and seal certificate, a clear business plan and, ideally, a representative director who lives in Japan. Banks also ask about the parent company and expected transactions. We prepare the file and introduce you; the bank decides.

Business account support

Often several weeks, and longer when the directors live abroad. Until it opens, the company cannot easily pay rent or salaries in Japan. Start the application as soon as the company is registered and plan your first payments around it.

Business account support

A notification of establishment to the tax office within 2 months, a salary-payment office notice within 1 month if it pays salaries, and prefectural and municipal notices with local deadlines. To file blue returns, apply by the day before 3 months after incorporation or the end of the first business year, whichever is sooner.

Accounting and tax filing

Source: 1.6 Notifications required after registration, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

Health and employees' pension insurance enrolment with the pension office within 5 days of first hiring, labour insurance within 10 days, and employment insurance with the employment office within 10 days. Enrolment applies even when the only person paid is the representative director. A Japanese labour and social security specialist can handle the filings.

Source: 1.6 Notifications required after registration, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

No. The package covers the set-up work and government fees. The capital is your company's own money: before registration it is paid into a designated bank account, often one held by a promoter or director, and the bank statement becomes evidence for the filing (confirm the account route with your specialist).

Japan company guide

Source: 1.3 Procedures for registering establishment, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

The shareholders (or members of a GK) approve the appointment, the new director gives consent, and the change is registered at the Legal Affairs Bureau within 2 weeks. Overseas directors again need a signature certificate. Late registration can lead to a fine for the representative director.

Corporate changes

Source: 1.2 Comparison of types of business operation, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

At least 2 months, and typically 3–4. The shareholders resolve to dissolve, the dissolution is registered, and creditors get at least two months to submit claims through individual notices and the official gazette. After the assets are settled, completion of liquidation is registered. A company that cannot pay its debts needs a court procedure instead.

Company closure

Source: 1.7 Closure of branch offices or subsidiary companies, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)