Annual renewal of a Japan company in 2024

Since 2003, Healy Consultants Group helps international Clients timely complete their annual Japan entity legal, accounting and tax obligations.

• Japan company renewal steps

  1. Three months before the Japan company renewal deadline, Healy Consultants sends an e-mail to our Client reminding them of upcoming statutory filing and legal requirements.
  2. Healy Consultants Group’s Financial Controller Ms. Sharon e-mails our multi-national Clients a Japanese renewal invoice.
  3. Simultaneously, Healy Consultants Group’s in-house Legal and Compliance Department will review the quality and completeness of our Client file. Our Firm may revert to our Client for additional Know Your Customer due diligence documents.
  4. After fee payment, Healy Consultants Group’s Accounting and Tax Department (ATD) will assist our Client to timely, accurately and completely discharge their annual Japanese legal, accounting and tax obligations.

• Independent statutory annual audit steps

  If our Client engages Healy Consultants Group to assist their company with annual statutory audit, the steps are as follows:

  1. A member of Healy Consultants Group’s Accounting and Tax Department (ATD) will request from our Client documents relating to their business during the financial year. These include i) trial balance ii) bank statements iii) invoices and iv) other supporting documents related to specific transactions incurred during the financial period.
  2. The ATD employee will review the documents received from Client before passing them to the independent auditor in Japan.
  3. The auditor will request some additional supporting documents or clarification regarding financials related to our Client’s company.
  4. The auditor will issue the audit documents for our Client’s signature after the Client has agreed the draft audited financial statement.
  5. Healy Consultants Group’s ATD employee will file a corporate tax return for our Client’s company, based on the audit report.
  6. The employee will also send an engagement completion e-mail with a copy of summary of obligations to our Client for their records, indicating that Healy Consultants Group has fulfilled statutory obligations for our Client’s company.

• Japan company renewal fees

  Healy Consultants Group’s average Japan company renewal fees:

  Services	Fee (US$)
  Secretary and legal registered office fees for 1 year	4,000
  Dormant tax return filing + per capita tax due during FYE	3,500

• Accounting and tax considerations

  • Companies have freedom to choose the accounting period for the company in Japan and the company required to submit a tax return within two months of the financial year end.
  • An application to extend the tax return filing date can be made to the National Tax Agency.
  • Standard tax rates for small medium enterprise (SME) are:

    	Taxable income for SME			Taxable income for non-SME
    	Below ¥4 million	¥4 to 8 million	Above ¥8 million
    1st April 2020 - 31 March 2021	21.42%	23.20%	33.59%	29.74%

  • Refer to this webpage for more accounting and tax information in Japan.

• Legal and compliance considerations

  	Kabushiki-Kaisha (KK)	Godo-Kaisha (GK)
  Director/officer requirement	At least one director At least three directors or more required for KK (with board of directors) CPA auditor is required which has at least ¥500 million capital or at least ¥20 billion of liabilities.	At least one representative in Japan.
  Minimum Share Capital	¥1	¥1
  Incorporation process	Notarisation of Articles of Incorporation from Japanese notary public. Register with Legal Affairs Bureau.	Register with Legal Affairs Bureau
  Annual corporate maintenance	Annual shareholders’ meeting Board of directors’ meeting once every three months.	None.

  • During the Japan company renewal process, our internal legal and compliance team may request additional updated KYC documents. We expect our Clients to timely provide the same. Healy Consultants Group may request our Client to sign a re-engagement letter.
  • Refer to this webpage for detailed legal and compliance considerations in Japan.