Hi everyone,
I’m on a dependent visa through my husband, who works for a Japanese company. We're both foreigners. I’m planning to open a small bakery as a sole proprietor because it’s the easiest way for me to start. I’ve already leased a space and plan to set up a kitchen, but I haven't officially registered the sole proprietorship yet.
I’m at the stage where I will apply for it soon, but I wanted to delay it a bit to take advantage of some benefits. I’ve come across a great deal on a used oven that I want to buy privately now. My question is: If I buy equipment now and register the sole proprietorship later (in 1-2 months), can I still deduct the cost of the equipment? Or do I need to wait until the business is officially registered to make any purchases?
I’ve tried to find information online but couldn’t get a clear answer. Can anyone here help me out? Thank you!
by Current_Scarcity8064
3 comments
There is no “registration”for sole proprietors. Only notification to the tax office.
Yes, you can count expenses which happen before your notification. Please be careful, if the oven costs less than 100,000 yen then you can account for it as 開業費, but if it’s more then you’ll have to count it as an asset and depreciate it accordingly.
You can start with the sole proprietorship right away. There is no registration itself, just informing tax office enables you to use the blue tax return. Collect receipts for your purchases and investments and you can write off the previous expenses up to three years later, when you likely make more money.
I would also make sure that running a bakery yourself is OK as the spouse of a foreign national (unless your husband has PR), as it is possible that immigration would view your hours as difficult to objectively track. (But I could be off here… just a thought.)