Japan parliament passes sales tax rise; ruling party splits (Reuters)
A historic bill to raise the consumption tax passed the Diet. Currently, the Japanese consumption tax (sales tax) rate is 5%. The rate will be increased to 8% in April of 2014, and reach 10% in October of 2015.
I agree to the idea that the direct-indirect tax ratio should be rectified in the long run, but increasing the rate at this economically tough time will undermine the unstable Japanese economy.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Downloading illegal contents are subject to punishment
On June 15, amendment to the Copyright Act was approved at the The House of Representatives, and is expected to pass the Diet soon.
Downloading illegal contents had been illegal from before, but there was no punishment.
By this amendment, an act of downloading the illegal contents such as illegally uploaded music files shall be punishable by imprisonment with work for a term not more than two years or by a fine of not more than two million Yen.
The amendment also made ripping a copy-protected DVD beyond the scope of reproduction for private use.
Punishment for ripping has not been introduced yet, while providing software to rip copy-protected DVDs became punishable.
Edit (June 22):
This change will be effective from October 1, 2012.
Downloading illegal contents had been illegal from before, but there was no punishment.
By this amendment, an act of downloading the illegal contents such as illegally uploaded music files shall be punishable by imprisonment with work for a term not more than two years or by a fine of not more than two million Yen.
The amendment also made ripping a copy-protected DVD beyond the scope of reproduction for private use.
Punishment for ripping has not been introduced yet, while providing software to rip copy-protected DVDs became punishable.
Edit (June 22):
This change will be effective from October 1, 2012.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Opening a bank account becoming difficult
Due to regulations to prevent money laundering, opening a bank account in Japan has become increasingly difficult, especially for a dummy company.
Of course, Japan has to comply with FATF recommendations, but the recent tightening of regulations made it very tough to open a bank account, even for the companies doing legitimate business.
The banks usually request the evidence of actively doing business such as the office lease contract, utility bills paid by the company, and so forth.
If you do have such a document, it is an effortful task, though you can still do it after enduring hardships.
Of course, Japan has to comply with FATF recommendations, but the recent tightening of regulations made it very tough to open a bank account, even for the companies doing legitimate business.
The banks usually request the evidence of actively doing business such as the office lease contract, utility bills paid by the company, and so forth.
If you do have such a document, it is an effortful task, though you can still do it after enduring hardships.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
New website for those who start a business in Japan
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.
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.
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 (Ippan Haken)
b) Specified worker dispatching (Tokutei Haken)
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.
There are other requirements and some of them vary according to the situation of each case. Please contact us for details.
=====
Updated on Oct. 20, 2016.
Tokutei Haken license was abolished. You will no longer be able to obtain it. But currently, there is a special measure for small companies so that they can start the temporary staffing business from a small capital.
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 (Ippan Haken)
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.
There are other requirements and some of them vary according to the situation of each case. Please contact us for details.
=====
Updated on Oct. 20, 2016.
Tokutei Haken license was abolished. You will no longer be able to obtain it. But currently, there is a special measure for small companies so that they can start the temporary staffing business from a small capital.
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.
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