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If you are planning on doing business in Japan, knowledge of the investment environment and information on legal, accounting, taxation and human resource frameworks are essential to keeping you on the right track. This guide has been prepared for the assistance of those interested in doing business in Japan. It does not cover the subject exhaustively but is intended to answer some of the important, broad questions that may arise. When specific problems occur in practice, it will often be necessary to refer to the laws and regulations of Japan and to obtain appropriate accounting and legal advice. This guide contains only brief notes and includes legislation in force as of November 27, 2024.

Many companies in Japan conduct lease transactions, such as office leases, copiers and vehicles, and these lease transactions are accounted for in accordance with IFRS, US GAAP or Japan GAAP and so on. Japan corporate tax law has particular treatments for lease transactions. This article provides an overview of leases from the lessee's perspective.

The global tax landscape is experiencing a historic transformation as countries implement the OECD/G20’s Pillar Two framework—an initiative designed to introduce a Global Minimum Tax (GMT) of 15% on large multinational enterprises (MNEs). Japan has taken a proactive role in adopting and legislating this framework, aligning its domestic laws with the OECD’s model rules while tailoring certain elements to suit its national tax policy objectives. This article provides an overview of the Income Inclusion Rule (IIR), Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR), and Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT) as implemented in Japan, highlights key dates, compares Japan’s approach with OECD recommendations, and explains the rules’ impact on Japanese corporations.

The 2025 fiscal year, known as Reiwa 7 in Japan, brings several changes to the corporate tax landscape. These reforms aim to enhance corporate competitiveness, encourage investment, and ensure fair taxation. This bulletin outlines the key aspects of the Reiwa 7 corporate tax reforms, based on the latest publications by the Japan Ministry of Finance.

In December 2024, The Japan National Tax Agency (NTA) has recently issued an update correction to Form of Statement Concerning Foreign Tax Credit for an individual resident taxpayer for 2022 calendar year and thereafter. This correction is concerning foreign income taxes on distribution of collective investment trust income.

Under the 2024 tax reform, the Japanese government strengthened tax credit for salary increase from the perspective of (a) easing the burden on citizens whose wage increases have not kept pace with rising prices, (b) aiming to achieve an economy where wage increases that fully exceed price increases are sustained and (c) supporting efforts to balance work and child-caring and promote the advancement of women. The main points of the revision are the establishment of a new definition called “medium-sized enterprises” and the raising of the tax credit ratio through the establishment of additional deductions for childcare support and the promotion of women's activities.

The deductibility of entertainment expenses under Japan corporate tax law is a complicated topic. This newsletter explains the deductibility of entertainment expenses in general and also in relation to the special sub-category of entertainment expenses for meals and drinks.

Japan's commitment to invigorating its small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) took a significant step forward with the announcement of the 2024 fiscal year tax reforms. These reforms, part of the Reiwa 6 year plan, focus on expanding the SME Business Reorganization Investment Loss Reserve System. This policy is tailored to empower SMEs to grow through strategic acquisitions and integrations.

This article explains the impact of the reform of determining a taxable enterprise for consumption tax purposes on foreign owned domestic enterprise and a foreign enterprise for taxable periods beginning after October 2024, based on the amendments.

The size-based business taxation system was introduced in 2004. The size-based business taxation system imposes “a value-added tax” and “a capital-based tax” on companies with stated capital of more than JPY100 million. The taxes are levied even where a corporation is in currently loss position. A value-added tax is levied based on the sum of the distribution of earnings (comprising remuneration and salaries, net interest paid and net rent paid) and profit or loss for a single year, and a capital tax is levied based on the amount of stated capital, capital reserve, other capital surplus etc. as defined by the Corporation Tax Law.

An NK is a partnership stipulated in the Civil Code. NKs are sometimes used to design tax shelter products. This bulletin contains an overview of the legal framework of NKs in the Civil Code, tax treatments of NKs, discusses a court case where a judgement was made on a tax shelter structure using an NK and the anti-avoidance rules.

A corporation is allowed to deduct monetary claims when they become fully unrecoverable. Corporation Tax Law Basic Circular (“CTLBC”) lists cases where a deduction of monetary claims is allowed.

The implementation of Japan's new VAT invoicing system on October 1, 2023, has caused significant disruptions, particularly for Tax-Exemption Businesses. In this analysis, we will focus on the impact of the Invoicing System on general VAT taxpayers, with a particular emphasis on foreign enterprises. The complexities surrounding foreign currency transactions and invoicing regulations present unique challenges that demand a thorough understanding of the new system.

The electronic preservation system for books and documents is a system for storing books,receipts, invoices, financial statements,and other national tax related documents that are required to be preserved under tax law in electronic data format instead of paper format, and is divided into the following three categories. The system is stipulated in “ the Act on Special Provisions concerning Preservation Methods for Books and Documents Related to National Tax Prepared by Means of Computers(“the Act").

In some cases, after a company has been dissolved the disposal of its assets or the discharge of its debts result in gains and so a large gain can arise in the financial year during liquidation. The use of tax losses is therefore of key importance. If the carried forward blue tax return losses do not cover the gain on debt forgiveness, the use of expired losses is permitted under certain requirements. Further, where the dissolved company is a large company for tax purposes, use of blue tax return losses is limited 50% of taxable income. It is important to note that if residual assets remain in the last business year, the use of expired losses is not possible. Therefore, from the stage of dissolution, tax planning should be carefully carried out and the timing of asset disposal and debt forgiveness should be considered.