I'm starting my own business and becoming a so-called ひとり社長
Since I want to save money and DIY as much as I could. Where can I learn about tax efficiency, auditing and accountant documents..etc? I hope I can get a very dumbed down learning process because I have too much going on recently already.
I am pretty naive about this topic because I have no business management experience at all.
Any recommended book, website or youtube video?
I speak good Japanese so it would be ideal if it's in Japanese.
Some context if it that matters:
It's a 株式会社
The initial capital is 5 million jpy. Estimated revenue would be about 15 million annually. (Pretty conservative assumption)
Some questions:
How do I know how much should I pay myself for maximum tax efficiency?
Some company provide 住宅輔助 or 交通費手当 to their employees. Can I apply this to myself? Like pay my private rent with company money? What about buying a car under the company name?
How does it works if I decide to pay a good bonus to myself?
by MaryPaku
8 comments
Is there a reason for your start a business instead of just being a kojin jigyou?
I’m not an expert but if I recall correctly, if you open a KG you will need to pay shakai hoken for all employees, so unless you are making a lot of money I don’t think it’s worth it. Even that is only you working there. Maybe you will need to hire more manpower in the future and it will be impossible to unsubscribe from shakai hoken if you need to.
Maybe it would help if you give more information about the type of industry.
As kojin you can deduct your rental office or even your room in your home as long as you have a reason for it. Ex: you are a photographer and your equipment is in one room in your home.
Same for your car, if you buy a car you can deduct for 10 years (not sure exactly the amount) and even the repairs and gasoline.
You have a lot of good questions in here, but it’s so broad based that it’s difficult to answer without writing a whole book.
For some basic answers, YouTube and the bookstore have a lot of great content. You might enjoy accountant YouTubers, like 脱・税理士スガワラくん、社長の資産防衛チャンネル、会計事務所チャンネル, and so on. There are also so many books about this topic.
If you’re planning to do your accounting by yourself, start using Freee and read through their plethora of help guides. As well as 会計Freee you’ll also need 人事労務Freee. You might also want to make your 就業規則 through them, as well as a whole bunch of other services.
How much salary provides maximum efficiency might not match what you should actually pay yourself. This is because the salary at which you receive the most efficiency maxes out around 5 million. However, there’s really not a huge difference in efficiency between paying yourself 5 million and 15 million, so it largely comes down to whether you’d like to take all of the money for yourself personally or pool it in the company (there are advantages and disadvantages of both). See [here](https://www.sakai-zeimu.jp/blog/archives/8095) for a rough overview.
Please search YouTube for 役員社宅 for a wealth of information. Consider whether your company should buy a house or rent one under the company name.
Please read up on laws related to 交通手当 and limits on that.
Yes, you can and should buy a car under the company name. Please be aware of different rules about depreciation for new cars and those over 4 years, for regular cars and compact cars, etc.
If you pay a bonus then you have to decide that within the first 3 months of your fiscal year and submit a document to the tax office. You can’t just do it whenever you like.
If the above sounds like too much for you, you could always get an accountant for the first few years while you learn the ropes.
Some good answers here already. I run a one-man company since early last year and DIY it all. Honestly, I just use google to learn about most business stuff, lol. You said you have a lot going on though, so you should really consider an accountant if you’re too busy. I think I spent a few weeks just reading through finance blogs before opening my business.
Use some very simple search terms, like for your first question about your salary, try “役員報酬 いくらお得” and read through the first couple of results. I like to double check the NTA (tax agency) website too when possible, just to confirm my understanding. The accounting software Freee also has a decent website with a lot of articles about tax matters.
It’s a bit of a balancing act to find an ideal salary number. Pay yourself too much and your social insurance premiums will be really high; too little and you won’t have enough to actually live on. Try searching 役員報酬シミュレーション and one of the results should help (I like the one from 経営サポート). Do keep in mind though that you generally can’t change your salary more than once a year without tax consequences.
It’s worth investing the money to talk to/hire a professional tax accountant, rather than spending hundreds of hours of your own time (which you’d ideally be devoting to your core business) and still maybe missing something.
I highly recommend Tosbec. They exist to help foreigners start businesses. They have great, sometimes totally free, services that help you get going. This includes helping you access start-up funds provided by the government.
https://tosbec.com/english/
Just go to an accountant.
How the huk is possible you guys all have such a successful business?
I tried my business i failed so miserably i almost decide to suicide my self…
Whats your secret?
I think it’s best to outsource these tasks to professionals, allowing you to focus on increasing your revenue from 15 million to 30 million. Concentrate on what you do best, even as a solo entrepreneur.
I’m interested in people who do startup. I had done one successfully. Would love to talk more if you want.