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This section identifies the bureaucratic and legal hurdles an entrepreneur must overcome to incorporate and register a new firm in Japan.
The country data appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2009.
The table below provides a summary of the procedures and the associated completion time and cost for setting up a standardized company. The table is followed by additional country-specific information on business registration requirements.
Have a representative member’s or executive officer’s seal made by the seal carver
Procedure 2.
Acquire certificate of seal registration of representative managing member at the Ward office
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
JPY 400 (each)
Name of Agency:
Comment:
To register the company, the representative managing member must provide the certificate of seal registration with the Legal Affairs Bureau.
Procedure 3.
Register at the head office or a branch of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice
Time to complete:
1-3 weeks
Cost to complete:
0.7% of the capital amount or 60,000 yen, whichever is higher
Name of Agency:
Comment:
An application for company registration together with supporting documents is required to be filed with competent branch of teh legal affairs bureau. supporting documents include Articles of Incorporation. Filed documents can be returned for revisions. When the documents are accepted, the company applies for an issuance of the company registration and the certificate of seal registration at the same location of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. Generally, a judicial scrivener would be asked to complete the registration procedure. The cost generally ranges from JPY 50,000 to JPY 200,000, depending on the services required. By virtue of the amended Commercial Registration Regulations, which took effect in June 2004, online aplication for commercial corporation registration is available. In order to use this system, the user must obtain a digital certification of the user's digital signature. There are two types of digital certifications, data file and IC card. The user must purchase an IC card reading device to use IC card. As of 1st February, 2008, there are 454 registry offices (including branch offices) designated in major cities (for example, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Kobe, and Fukuoka).
Procedure 4.
File notification of the incorporation of a company, the opening of a payroll office, and application for the approval of blue tax returns with District Tax Office.
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
no charge
Name of Agency:
Comment:
The notification of the incorporation of a company must be filed within 2 months of the date of incorporation. The notification of the opening of a payroll office must be filed within a month of the opening of a payroll office. The application for the approval of blue tax returns must be filed within 3 months of the date of incorporation or after the ending day of the first fiscal year, whichever comes first.
Procedure 5.
File notification of the commencement of business with the local tax office (the office of local or prefectural government)
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
no charge
Name of Agency:
Comment:
The company promoters must file the notification of the commencement of business within 15 days of the commencement of business or after the opening of a business office.
Procedure 6.
File notifications of commencement the applied business and labor insurance, and the rules of employment with the Labor Standards Inspection Office.
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
no charge
Name of Agency:
Comment:
Companies with 10 or more employees must submit employment regulations and notifications of start of business and of labor insurance. Employment regulations stipulate work hours, paid vacation, severance, benefits, bonuses, retirement payments, wage payment method, and so forth. The employment regulations must be submitted to the Labor Standards Supervisory Office, without delay, upon employment of 10 or more employees. In addition, the company must file the following documents irrespective of the number of employees: - Notification of applied business must be filed without delay after the start of business operations. - Report of start of labor insurance must be filed within 10 days from the day of start of labor insurance. - Agreement on overtime or holiday work ( 36 agreement) must be filed when the company anticipates its employees will work overtime work or on some official holidays.
Procedure 7.
File applications for health insurance and public welfare pension with the Social Insurance Office
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
no charge
Name of Agency:
Comment:
Procedure 8.
File application for business establishment of employment insurance with the Public Employment Security Office
Time to complete:
1 day
Cost to complete:
no charge
Name of Agency:
Comment:
The application should be filed by the 10th day of the month immediately following the month in which the employment commences.
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