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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.

As part of the 2025 tax reform, revisions have been introduced to reduce the tax burden amid rising wages and to aid flexible employment arrangements. The reform includes an increase in the basic exemption and the minimum amount of the employment income deduction, as well as the introduction of a new special exemption for specific dependents.

With the COVID-19 travel restrictions lifted, business travel has increased significantly. Some companies assume their employees are tax-exempt if their home country has an income tax treaty with the host country and the employee spends not more than 183 days in aggregate there.How to count the days can easily create confusion. This edition of the tax bulletin explains how to count 183 days and pitfalls you need to be aware of when counting travel days to Japan.

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.

Hometown Tax donation (Furusato Nozei) is a system that allows individuals to receive income tax and inhabitant tax deductions for donations made to local governments of their choice. In addition, since the donor can receive return gifts from the recipient local government, the number and amount of such donations have been increasing in recent years attracting more and more attention. This article explains how it works and how the tax amount is reduced.

In accordance with the 2024 Japan Tax Reform, fixed amount of tax credit against National Income Tax and Local Inhabitant Tax will be implemented. This tax credit is a one-time deal and applicable to 2024 National Income Tax and 2024/25 Local Inhabitant Tax payable from June 2024.

Expatriates residing in Japan for a limited duration may find themselves ineligible for old-age pension benefits, despite having made premium payments during their assignment in the country. To address such cases, the Japan Pension Service offers a Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment from Employees' Pension Insurance.