Expenses to Be Mindful of When Recording Them in Japan

Hi, my name is Taisei Koshida, and I am a certified public accountant and tax accountant.

I aim to assist non-Japanese business owners who struggle with reading or writing in Japanese. If you find the Japanese tax return system challenging, I can help you with your tax filings.

If you are trying to decide whether you can record this expenditure as an expense or not, this blog can be helpful for you.

1. What Expenses Are Allowed In Japn?

You can include the following items as expenses.

・Tranceportation fares

・Telephone charges

・Restaurant bills for business-related meetings

・Payment for devices

・Other payment related to your business

However, you can not include the following.

・Bills incurred when socializing with friends

2. Expenses That Surprisingly Cannot Be Treated as Business Expenses

・payment of suits

The tax office considers suits to be useable for non-business purposes as well, so they can not be treated as expenses.

3. Expenses That The Tax Office Does Not Accept If You Consider The Entire Payment As An Expense

・Automobile purchase costs

・Rent for your house

If you want to include them as expenses, you need to apportion and reduce them based on their business usage.

Our accounting firm has been actively assisting foreign business owners in Japan with accounting and tax matters. Please feel free to contact us through the inquiry form.