After the establishment of Kabushiki Kaisha, you are required to submit some documents to tax authorities. For the people overwhelmed by such administration, we explains what kind of documents you need to prepare to start your business.
Notification of Corporation Establishment (法人設立届)
Once you have established a company, you are required to submit Notification of Corporation Establishment (法人設立届 Hōjin Setsuritsu Todoke）to the tax office that has jurisdiction over the location of the head office within two months.
You also need to submit almost identical documents to the prefectural tax office and municipal office. The form and deadline for submission for each prefectures and municipalities are different. Please ask the offices or your tax accountant to confirm the process.
Application for Approval of Filing Blue Return(青色申告承認申請書)
Blue Return（青色申告 Aoiro Shinkoku） is a system that requires companies to record daily transactions and keep accounting books in accordance with the principles of regular bookkeeping and make a final tax return based on them.
There is White Return（白色申告） as a simpler filing method, but most companies choose Blue Return which has more tax benefits than White Return.
A corporation wishing to apply for this Blue Return needs to submit Application Form for Approval of Filing Blue Return (青色申告承認申請書） to the tax office by the day before the start date of the fiscal year for which the Blue Return is to be applied (or in case of newly establishment of a company, within 3 months from the establishment).
Notification of Establishment of a Salary-Paying Office(給与支払事務所の開設届出書)
When a company employs people, the company is required to set up a Salary-Paying office(給与支払事務所）and properly manage and pay withholding taxes.
For this purpose, when a company first hires an employee, it must submit a Notification of Establishment of a Salary-Paying Office(給与支払事務所の開設届出書) to the tax office within one month from the start of employment.
A Salary-Paying Office does not require any special equipment. It only needs to have certain documents such as wage ledger and withholding tax book. Therefore, In the case of small and medium-sized enterprises, a Salary-Paying Office is usually located in the same place as the head office.
For more details, please refer to the following guidance of National Tax Agency’s website.
https://www.nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/gensen/shikata_r03/pdf/16.pdf
Notification related to Consumption Tax(消費税関係届出書)
If the taxable sales during taxable period exceed 10 million yen, you will be a taxable business operator of consumption tax. In that case, your company is required to submit a Notification on Taxable Enterprise Status for Consumption Tax(消費税課税事業者届出書).
If you establish a company with a capital of 10 million yen or more, the company will be a taxable business operator from the beginning for the period at least two years after the establishment. In this case, Notification of Being Qualified for a Newly Established Corporation for Consumption Tax（消費税の新設法人に該当する旨の届出書) must be submitted.
For more details, please refer to the website of National Tax Agency or ask your tax accountant.
For Basic Knowledge
https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/consumption_tax/01.htm
For Notification
https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/consumption_tax/03.htm
In addition, since new Invoice System starts from Oct 2023, many business operator is considering about being registered as a Qualified Invoice Issuing Business even if their taxable sales is below 10 million. If you are interested in Invoice system, please check our article about “Invoice System in Japan“.
