{"id":473,"date":"2012-10-11T10:18:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T01:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/?p=473"},"modified":"2024-05-25T02:20:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-25T02:20:04","slug":"english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--:en-->Case 9<\/p>\n<p>&lt;Question&gt;<br \/>\nI will start a business as a solo trader (without establishing a company). I know that Income Tax is supposed to be imposed on \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0business income but I heard that a tax benefit called\u00a0the deduction for blue tax (Aoiro Shinkoku Kohjo) is possible\u00a0by submitting the blue tax application form. Could you tell me the requirements for receiving this tax benefit?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&lt;Answer&gt;<br \/>\nWhen solo traders start a business in Japan, they can take advantage of income deduction by filling out the blue tax deduction application form (Please refer to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/en\/english-setting-up-a-business-in-japan\/\">Starting a business in Japan 18\/08\/2012<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>Income tax is categorized into\u00a0several incomes: rental income, business income or forestry income, for example. These are possible incomes that can take advantage of the deduction. The authority requires the following for the blue tax return.<\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Filing the application form by March 15.<br \/>\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Filing the application form within 2 months if taxpayers start a business\u00a0\u00a0from January 16 of that year.<br \/>\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The taxpayers have to keep correct accounting records and journals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If the taxpayers meet the above requirements, the blue tax return provides the tax payers with the following benefits.<\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A deduction of up to JPY 650,000 is available if the taxpayers maintain double-entry accounting records and include an income statement and balance sheet as an attachment on\u00a0\u00a0 their return.<br \/>\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deduction of up to JPY 100,000 is available if the taxpayers maintain some form of accounting records.<br \/>\n3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A net loss for a year can be carried back to the preceding year and deducted from the income of that year. The taxpayer may qualify for a refund of Income Tax, if any was paid for that year.<br \/>\n4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A net loss for a year can be carried forward to the next 3 years.<br \/>\n5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Immediate right of appeal to the National Tax Tribunal with no requirement to first request a further investigation from the tax office.<\/p>\n<p>JPY 100,000 deduction is available by maintaining some form of accounting records, however, it is unclear what kind of accounting records should be prepared. \u00a0Double-entry accounting records are not necessary though, at the least, preparing spread sheets which show revenue, expenditure and cash balance is\u00a0necessary to receive this benefit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Reference<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-business-operation\/\">Starting a business in Japa<\/a><\/span><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-business-operation\/\">n &#8211; Business operation\u00a0 25\/10\/2012<br \/>\nStarting a business in Japan \u2013 Opening bank accounts and borrowing money 28\/09\/2012<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/english-setting-up-a-business-in-japan-tax-merit\/\">Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Tax merit (a corporateor an individual owned business?) 10\/09\/2012<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/en\/english-setting-up-a-business-in-japan-consumption-tax\/\">Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Consumption tax 03\/09\/2012<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/tk-tax-accounting.com\/en\/english-setting-up-a-business-in-japan\/\">Starting a business in Japan 18\/08\/2012<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<p>By Certified Public Accountant (CPA) &amp; Tax Accontant, Koji Takahashi<br \/>\n<\/em>Tokyo &amp; Yokohama<!--:--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Case 9 &lt;Question&gt; I will start a business as a solo trader (without establishing a company). I know that Income Tax is supposed to be imposed on \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0business income&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Case 9 &lt;Question&gt; I will start a business as a solo trader (without establishing a company). I know that Income Tax is supposed to be imposed on \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0business income...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TK Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Koji Takahashi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Koji Takahashi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Koji Takahashi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3951c112d232f9a38234796734d8eb1\"},\"headline\":\"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/\",\"name\":\"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/\",\"name\":\"TK Partners\",\"description\":\"Tax Accountants in Yokohama | English-Speaking Support\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"TK Partners\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/10\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":225,\"height\":111,\"caption\":\"TK Partners\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a3951c112d232f9a38234796734d8eb1\",\"name\":\"Koji Takahashi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Koji Takahashi\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\\\/en\\\/author\\\/koji-takahashi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners","og_description":"Case 9 &lt;Question&gt; I will start a business as a solo trader (without establishing a company). I know that Income Tax is supposed to be imposed on \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0business income...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/","og_site_name":"TK Partners","article_published_time":"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00","author":"Koji Takahashi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Koji Takahashi","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/"},"author":{"name":"Koji Takahashi","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#\/schema\/person\/a3951c112d232f9a38234796734d8eb1"},"headline":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax","datePublished":"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/"},"wordCount":429,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/","name":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax - TK Partners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-11T01:18:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-25T02:20:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/english-starting-a-business-in-japan-blue-tax-return-for-income-tax\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Starting a business in Japan \u2013 Blue tax return for Income Tax"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/","name":"TK Partners","description":"Tax Accountants in Yokohama | English-Speaking Support","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#organization","name":"TK Partners","url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/logo.png","width":225,"height":111,"caption":"TK Partners"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/#\/schema\/person\/a3951c112d232f9a38234796734d8eb1","name":"Koji Takahashi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fdf8156c02f976856f0756602e54705f641c4645a66cd3ccc679180b7a7713f8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Koji Takahashi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/author\/koji-takahashi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6943,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions\/6943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tkpartners.or.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}