Our office launched a new website as below for those who start a business in Japan.
Ando Legal Office
It consists of flow charts to establish a company, branch, etc., and information useful for beginning/operating your business in Japan, such as outline of Japanese visa and fee schedule of our services.
I would appreciate your your comments and requests to make this site more beneficial to you.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Monday, November 1, 2010
Japan considering reduction of corporate tax on foreign companies
Nikkei Newspaper reported, on October 21, 2010, that the Japanese government is considering a tax reduction for foreign companies. The overall tax break will be 5% reduction, but on specific sectors like high-tech and medical companies with foreign capital may receive favors of 10%-15% reduction, to attract investment from overseas.
The idea is under consideration, and I am personally pessimistic about the possibility.
Anyway, I will post another article when it is realized in the coming year.
The idea is under consideration, and I am personally pessimistic about the possibility.
Anyway, I will post another article when it is realized in the coming year.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Recruitment Business in Japan
I received several inquiries on recruitment business since the start of this year.
In Japan, you have to have the license to start a recruitment business. The license can be obtained by a company or by an individual. There are two types (these can be subdivided into four) of licenses on human resources business as below.
1) Employment placement service (job-search, headhunting)
a) Fee-charging employment placement
b) Free employment placement
2) Worker dispatching service (temporary staffing)
a) General worker dispatching
b) Specified worker dispatching
The main requirements to start the fee-charging employment placement business are as follows:
- Amount of net assets
An applicant is required to have net assets of JPY 5 million x number of offices or above.
- Amount of cash or bank deposits
An applicant has to have JPY1.5 million + (JPY600,000 x (number of office -1)) or above by cash or bank deposits.
- Appointment of employment placement manager
- Office space
The office space for employment placement business should be more than 20m2. But if the business is only done in the Internet and there is no need to have an interview/meeting with the potential employee, the size of office is not important.
The main requirements to start the general worker dispatching undertaking are as follows:
- Amount of net assets
An applicant's net assets must be JPY20 million x number of office or above, and such net assets should be more than one-seventh of total debt.
- Amount of cash or bank deposits
An applicant's cash or bank deposits must be JPY15 million x number of office or above.
- Appointment of responsible person acting for dispatching undertaking
- Office space
The office space for general worker dispatching undertaking should be more than 20m2.
Regarding 1) b) free employment placement, I skip the explanation because commercial companies are not interested in this business (usually done by non-profit organization such as school or university).
Specified worker dispatching in the above 2) b) is worker dispatching undertaking in which the dispatched workers (limited to those who become the objects of worker dispatching carried out in the course of trade) are composed solely of regularly employed workers. There is no assets requirement for specified worker dispatching.
In Japan, you have to have the license to start a recruitment business. The license can be obtained by a company or by an individual. There are two types (these can be subdivided into four) of licenses on human resources business as below.
1) Employment placement service (job-search, headhunting)
a) Fee-charging employment placement
b) Free employment placement
2) Worker dispatching service (temporary staffing)
a) General worker dispatching
b) Specified worker dispatching
The main requirements to start the fee-charging employment placement business are as follows:
- Amount of net assets
An applicant is required to have net assets of JPY 5 million x number of offices or above.
- Amount of cash or bank deposits
An applicant has to have JPY1.5 million + (JPY600,000 x (number of office -1)) or above by cash or bank deposits.
- Appointment of employment placement manager
- Office space
The office space for employment placement business should be more than 20m2. But if the business is only done in the Internet and there is no need to have an interview/meeting with the potential employee, the size of office is not important.
The main requirements to start the general worker dispatching undertaking are as follows:
- Amount of net assets
An applicant's net assets must be JPY20 million x number of office or above, and such net assets should be more than one-seventh of total debt.
- Amount of cash or bank deposits
An applicant's cash or bank deposits must be JPY15 million x number of office or above.
- Appointment of responsible person acting for dispatching undertaking
- Office space
The office space for general worker dispatching undertaking should be more than 20m2.
Regarding 1) b) free employment placement, I skip the explanation because commercial companies are not interested in this business (usually done by non-profit organization such as school or university).
Specified worker dispatching in the above 2) b) is worker dispatching undertaking in which the dispatched workers (limited to those who become the objects of worker dispatching carried out in the course of trade) are composed solely of regularly employed workers. There is no assets requirement for specified worker dispatching.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI (Certified Social Insurance and Labour Consultant)
SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI handles the consulting and paperwork on pension, labor and social insurance.
If they pass a certain examination, they can mediate a dispute between labor and management.
The typical issues one may need their assistance will be:
- notification to relevant authorities when a company hire/fire employees
- preparation of employment regulations
- seeking for government subsidies regarding hiring/keeping employees
- payroll calculation
If you look for SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI, I encourage you to take note of:
- The experts on pension are rare. If you would like to have a consultancy service on pension, you should look for pension experts among SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI's.
- If you are a owner of a business and ask only payroll calculation, it is all right to select SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI only by their fees. But their true existential value is on the skill of solving labor-management dispute. This skill owes much on experience. I recommend you to hire good SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI even if his fee is a little bit expensive.
If they pass a certain examination, they can mediate a dispute between labor and management.
The typical issues one may need their assistance will be:
- notification to relevant authorities when a company hire/fire employees
- preparation of employment regulations
- seeking for government subsidies regarding hiring/keeping employees
- payroll calculation
If you look for SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI, I encourage you to take note of:
- The experts on pension are rare. If you would like to have a consultancy service on pension, you should look for pension experts among SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI's.
- If you are a owner of a business and ask only payroll calculation, it is all right to select SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI only by their fees. But their true existential value is on the skill of solving labor-management dispute. This skill owes much on experience. I recommend you to hire good SHAKAIHOKEN-ROUMUSHI even if his fee is a little bit expensive.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
GYOSEI-SHOSHI (Administrative Scrivener, Immigration Lawyer)
Practice areas of GYOSEI-SHOSHI focus on the business licenses and Japanese visa. For example, they will help you:
- to obtain the certificate of parking space (when you own a car in Japan, you need to have this certificate to prove that you have the parking space for the car.)
- to open a restaurant or game hall
- to start industrial-waste disposal business, scrapper, construction business or estate agency
- to obtain Japanese visas or Japanese nationality
- to draft a contract
There are a lot more business licenses they can handle.
There are so many business licenses they can handle but they are not always experts for every area. If you ask a GYOSEI-SHOSHI lawyer to get a governmental license/approval, confirm he/she is an expert for the specific business area.
- to obtain the certificate of parking space (when you own a car in Japan, you need to have this certificate to prove that you have the parking space for the car.)
- to open a restaurant or game hall
- to start industrial-waste disposal business, scrapper, construction business or estate agency
- to obtain Japanese visas or Japanese nationality
- to draft a contract
There are a lot more business licenses they can handle.
There are so many business licenses they can handle but they are not always experts for every area. If you ask a GYOSEI-SHOSHI lawyer to get a governmental license/approval, confirm he/she is an expert for the specific business area.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
SHIHO-SHOSHI (Judicial Scrivener, Solicitor)
SHIHOSHOSHI will represent you on the registration at the Legal Affairs Bureau (Houmu Kyoku) such as real estate registration, incorporation, change of company structure, renewal of directors. Their work includes the preparation of documents for court trials, and if the amount is below JPY1.4 million, they can represent you on litigation and contract negotiation.
If you are planning to set up a company or register a branch in Japan, a Shiho-Shoshi lawyer who can communicate in English (or your language) will be helpful and informative on the procedures.
Japan Federation of Shiho-Shoshi Lawyer's Associations
If you are planning to set up a company or register a branch in Japan, a Shiho-Shoshi lawyer who can communicate in English (or your language) will be helpful and informative on the procedures.
Japan Federation of Shiho-Shoshi Lawyer's Associations
Sunday, June 6, 2010
ZEIRISHI (Certified Public Tax Accountant)
ZEIRISHI provides accounting services for individuals, companies and other legal entities. Usually, their services include representation in tax filing, preparation of tax documents, tax advice, bookkeeping, and so on.
If you are looking for someone who assists your tax filing, ZEIRISHI is the appropriate professional.
From its origin, ZEIRISHI can be divided into four kinds.
1) People who passed the Certified Public Tax Accountant examination
2) OB/OG of tax office
3) Masters who finished the postgraduate courses on accounting subjects (they are exempted from some categories of the Certified Public Tax Accountant examination. If they finish both the accounting courses and tax courses, they are exempted from all subjects of the examination.)
4) Attorney at law or Certified Tax Accountant
Of course, ZEIRISHI categorized in 1) is the most knowledgeable on tax laws.
ZEIRISHI of above 2) type is knowledgeable on the area they experienced when they were officials at the tax office, but not on other matters.
Type 3) is likely to lack the knowledge of tax laws, but some of them are successors of big accounting firms, and their offices are with a lot of experienced staff :-)
People in above 4) category are, in a way, brilliant but may lack the expertise on tax laws. I you are going to ask for litigation/contract/IPO consulting together with accounting, it may be convenient to hire them. They can offer one-stop service for that.
Japan Federation of Certified Public Tax Accountants' Associations
If you are looking for someone who assists your tax filing, ZEIRISHI is the appropriate professional.
From its origin, ZEIRISHI can be divided into four kinds.
1) People who passed the Certified Public Tax Accountant examination
2) OB/OG of tax office
3) Masters who finished the postgraduate courses on accounting subjects (they are exempted from some categories of the Certified Public Tax Accountant examination. If they finish both the accounting courses and tax courses, they are exempted from all subjects of the examination.)
4) Attorney at law or Certified Tax Accountant
Of course, ZEIRISHI categorized in 1) is the most knowledgeable on tax laws.
ZEIRISHI of above 2) type is knowledgeable on the area they experienced when they were officials at the tax office, but not on other matters.
Type 3) is likely to lack the knowledge of tax laws, but some of them are successors of big accounting firms, and their offices are with a lot of experienced staff :-)
People in above 4) category are, in a way, brilliant but may lack the expertise on tax laws. I you are going to ask for litigation/contract/IPO consulting together with accounting, it may be convenient to hire them. They can offer one-stop service for that.
Japan Federation of Certified Public Tax Accountants' Associations
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