Japanese Accountant Fee

[Jura]

For those of you who use a Japanese accountant for tax returns in Japan, how much do you pay?

My English speaking Japanese accountant will charge 200,000 yen for the following:
1. Completing the 2021 blue tax return for my spouse (sole proprietorship)
2. Completing the 2021 tax return for an employee (me) of the sole proprietorship
3. Taking care of any other tax deadlines or submissions to the tax office during the year.
4. Answering any questions about book-keeping during the year

Please note I do all the book-keeping myself for this business in Japan. There are around 200 transactions per month.

I understand that I'm probably paying more for an English-speaking Japanese accountant but I still feel this is very expensive compared to what I used to pay in the UK when I had a limited company there.

[KyushuWoozy]

We pay exactly half that (100,000) for what sounds the same service except ours is Ltd company not sole proprietorship and our guy speaks English too but not fluently. In fact for the past two years he's even given us 50% covid discount.

Interesting to hear your comment about UK rates. I've just set up a UK limited company and was quoted £1,000-1,2000 plus VAT (no bookkeeping, no payroll, no VAT, and hardly any transactions for the first year at least) for what I guess is just annual return. What's your estimate of what I should be paying if I can ask?

[Jura]

Thanks for sharing the rate you pay in Japan, that's interesting to know that lower prices are available! I'm going to try and find someone cheaper for next year for around the same price you pay.

For the UK limited company, I think I was quoted around £750 by a local accountant in rural Scotland for the annual return at the time, but that was a few years ago now. Prices might have gone up since then. In the end, I found a UK accountant on the freelance website upwork who did the annual returns for me for a cheaper price. There were never any problems and the accountant also did the VAT returns and PAYE for an extra fee as the business grew. Using a freelancer might be an option if you are comfortable with that and doing everything remotely. I definitely recommend choosing a highly rated freelancer who has done similar work before if you do go that route though.

[imaginatorium]

I'm interested in these figures, which seem enormous for filling in a form. As the operator of the business, you presumably have to keep records of everything, so how do you hand these records over to the accountant? What work do they do other than transferring these records to some standard accounting software?

[KyushuWoozy]

Yes, it's a good point, and business owners always have to keep under review what tasks to do themselves and what to farm out to others. However over the years I've found informal advice from my accountants have helped save me significant amounts so sometimes it's not just the form filling benefit we get from them. It's very much case by case I guess whether to farm out vs DIY.

[Viralriver]

I'm not a business-owner and so don't file a blue tax form, but my accountant has quoted me around 150,000-200,000 JPY just for filling out my kakuteishinkoku with the appropriate information. On one hand, I want someone knowledgeable to do it for me and ensure I don't miss anything, but on the other... it's so expensive. Will very gladly take recommendations of other accountants via DM .

[Jura]

I posted a few weeks ago about my Japanese accountant charging 200,000 yen for a blue tax return as a sole proprietor with spouse (me) as an employee. However, before doing the tax return I confirmed exactly what the price would be and have been told 400,000 yen!

I went to meet another accountant face to face today to get a quote for the next tax year and was quoted 350,000 yen...

I'm struggling to understand why the accountant fees are so high. I asked my accountant what he is doing and he said the following points.

1. Withholding tax procedures for me
2. My year-end adjustments (tax return)
3. Any legal reports prepared and submitted
4. Prepare and submit my payroll report
5. Compile the figures from January to December and prepare the ledger.
6. Prepare financial statements based on the books
7. Prepare tax returns based on books and financial statements.
8. Submit blue tax return to the tax office.

Does anyone run a similar business (sole proprietor with spouse as an employee) who can recommend a more affordable accountant? 400,000 yen is an ridiculous amount of money to pay.

[Jura]

I'm interested in these figures, which seem enormous for filling in a form. As the operator of the business, you presumably have to keep records of everything, so how do you hand these records over to the accountant? What work do they do other than transferring these records to some standard accounting software?

I do all the book keeping in a shared google sheets file and both the accountant and I can access it and work on it. I asked the accountant what work he is doing and he shared with me the points I have listed above.

Do you use an accountant in Japan?

[Jura]

I'm not a business-owner and so don't file a blue tax form, but my accountant has quoted me around 150,000-200,000 JPY just for filling out my kakuteishinkoku with the appropriate information. On one hand, I want someone knowledgeable to do it for me and ensure I don't miss anything, but on the other... it's so expensive. Will very gladly take recommendations of other accountants via DM .

I've heard from some friends in Japan that the staff at city halls can be very helpful if you go there to fill out a tax return, it would definitely save you some money. However I haven't tried that method myself.

[RetireJapan]

I posted a few weeks ago about my Japanese accountant charging 200,000 yen for a blue tax return as a sole proprietor with spouse (me) as an employee. However, before doing the tax return I confirmed exactly what the price would be and have been told 400,000 yen!

I went to meet another accountant face to face today to get a quote for the next tax year and was quoted 350,000 yen...

I'm struggling to understand why the accountant fees are so high. I asked my accountant what he is doing and he said the following points.

1. Withholding tax procedures for me
2. My year-end adjustments (tax return)
3. Any legal reports prepared and submitted
4. Prepare and submit my payroll report
5. Compile the figures from January to December and prepare the ledger.
6. Prepare financial statements based on the books
7. Prepare tax returns based on books and financial statements.
8. Submit blue tax return to the tax office.

Does anyone run a similar business (sole proprietor with spouse as an employee) who can recommend a more affordable accountant? 400,000 yen is an ridiculous amount of money to pay.

I'm pretty sure my wife pays less than that for her accountant, and she runs a medium-sized business as a sole proprietor with over a dozen full and part-time staff (accountant does all their annual tax withholding, etc.).

But he's a local guy who is retiring next year, so not much help to you. They are definitely out there though.