A Full Guide to Launching a Company (GK/KK) in Japan

Photo by Shirin Alian on Unsplash

Preparation

1. Create a personal bank account

2. Make sure you registered your personal “stamp (hanko)” at your City Office

3. Make sure you have your My Number card with IC chip

4. Get Stamp Certificate for your personal hanko

Notarization

1. Draft Articles of Incorporation
   Japan National Notaries Association provides the template. Many KK owners use this template (private company without board of directors and auditor, with less than 3 directors)

2. Submit Articles of Incorporation to Notary Office to launch a KK
   (GK does not have to notarize)

3. Pay ¥50,000 notarization fee at Notary Office (CASH)
   + ¥40,000 revenue stamp if you don’t have a My Number card

Note: please issue 2–3 copies of your Articles of Incorporation because you need to attach one of the original Articles of Incorporation to the registration form, and submit it to Legal Affairs Bureau. For the documentation fee, we usually need to pay an additional ¥3,000 in cash at Notary Office, so please bring additional cash.

Legal Affairs Bureau

1. Draft Company Registration Form
   Legal Affairs Bureau provides some templates here.

2. Create your company’s hanko. You will need at least two:
   1. 会社印 Kaisha-in (Rep Director’s hanko)
   2. 銀行印 Ginko-in (hanko for Bank)

3. Submit the Registration Form at Legal Affairs Bureau.

4. Pay ¥150,000 to launch a KK (registration fee) or ¥60,000 to launch a GK with Revenue Stamp (Shunyu-inshi / 収入印紙). Revenue Stamp is sold at each Legal Affairs Bureau.

5. Wait 1–2 weeks.

6. After the registration process is completed, go back to Legal Affairs Bureau and get Stamp Certificate for your company by bringing 会社印 Kaisha-in.

7. Get 印鑑カード Inkan Card (a card that issues stamp certificate for your company). The company’s Stamp Certificate shows the name & address of the company, the name & date of birth of the representative director, and the registered stamp.

Tax office

1. Submit the following documents at the National Tax Office.

   • notification of opening a business

   • blue taxation form

   • withholding tax form to extend the submission date

   • opening a office that pays wage

2. Submit notification of opening a business at Metropolitan Tax (in Tokyo).

Bank Account

Let’s create a bank account for your company!
For the detail of the flow, please take a look at this blog after “2. Corporate Bank Account”.

Pension Office

All residents in Japan need to pay health insurance & pension insurance.

1. Decide your remuneration (役員報酬 Yakuin-Hoshu) for the first year.
   Note: the remuneration cannot be changed until the first Fiscal Year ends.

2. Register your company as a pension/health insurance (厚生年金 Kosei-Nenkin / 健康保険 Kenko-hoken) payer at Pension Office.

3. Enroll you (and your staff if you have any other employees) as the insurance payer.

4. Wait for 2–3 weeks.

5. The pension office will send several documents to your registered office address, including your (and your employees’) health insurance card(s). Don’t miss these important documents!

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These are the minimum & basic procedures to complete the company registration process in Japan. Each process differs slightly based on what kind of company style you choose, and how you will operate the business.

Hope it helps!