Invoices and tax matters for freelancers

Hi,

I've just gotten my spouse visa in Japan and I'm planning to do freelance photography and translation.

I've been reading about the admin involved. I know I have to keep track of my own income and expenses.

1. Invoices and receipts
E.g. I issue an invoice for a photoshoot and receive payment. Do I need to issue a receipt for that? What paperwork do I need to prove my income? (The invoice I issued? Or some other paperwork from the client?)
What paperwork does the tax office need?

2. accounting softwares
Are there any good accounting softwares to help freelancer keep track of their expenses? I want a software that will help me organize my data , in particular for the Japanese tax office.

I'll really appreciate any advice!

1.
Whether you need to issue receipts depends more on what your clients need.

Are your clients businesses or individuals?
- Businesses, when they pay fees/salary to someone, are required to deduct 10% from that as withholding taxes (income tax), pay that tax on your behalf to the tax office, pay you the rest, and issue you a "shiharai chousho" at the beginning of each year as proof of how much they paid you and how much income tax they deducted from the pay to you. So you can use those as proof of payments made to you.
- If you issue invoices to individual clients, who don't issue you these papers, then your invoices and the corresponding bank balance showing the incoming amounts would be the only proof.

In the past, I have had some clients who issue this paper, and others who do not, and in that case I just listed up all the payments I've received into a table (Word document I've made), with no "proof" attached, and that was OK.

Expenses: be sure you keep receipts, and if you purchase supplies and things, be sure to ask for "ryoshusho" (official receipt) made out to you.

2.
Can't help here, as I'm just using a good-ol' Excel spreadsheet :)

Kai,

If you understand Japanese enough to translate, you should phone or go to your local zeimusho and they'll tell you everything you need to know. Or come February, and there will be free consulting sessions at tax offices, city halls and banks. A professional accountant will talk to you, one person at a time, to tell you more things in detail. Schedules will be announced through your kairanban. Actually, you don't even really have to have a proper ryoushuusho for everything.

Meanwhile, you can Google to find useful websites like this one;
http://entre.kokohore.net/

As for software, I find Yayoi very handy, although a colleague does the same thing with Excel.
https://www.yayoi-kk.co.jp/products/aoiro/

In any case, if you're going to work as a freelancer, you should get to know people doing exactly the same thing as you do. You can exchange a lot of information, jobs and also friendship which is a necessity for those who work alone.

"Actually, you don't even really have to have a proper ryoushuusho for everything."
the law has been changed recently. we have to collect all receipts and summarize them (date, item names, store names, etc.). we can use Excel.

Ken, when was that? Is there a source? I thought that you don't have to write a ryoushuusho if the payment you received is indicated on your bank book. I also thought that, for many things, all you need is a レシート and that small train fees are even tollerated without them as long as you keep record.

何もかもにきちんとした領収書が必要になったのはいつですか？　トピ主さんは、請求書を発行したうえで、さらに領収書を発行する必要があるかと尋ねておられますが、銀行通帳に入金明細が明示されていれば、その必要はないと思っていました。また、電車賃などは領収書が必要ないと思っていました。法の変更に関して何かソースはありますか？　昨年９月の情報では、まだ、レシートがじゅうぶんだと書いてあるのですが。私も経理上、気をつけなければいけないので確認したいです。

http://keiei.freee.co.jp/2014/09/25/ryoshushokeihi/

https://www.nta.go.jp/tetsuzuki/shinkoku/shotoku/kojin_jigyo/

Ken,

Thank you for the link, but I couldn't find information on the issue. 「いかなる場合も領収書が必要」という意味の記述が見当たりませんでした。

白色申告の場合、収入が少額の場合は、（言っちゃいけないけど）どんぶり勘定（でたらめ）でＯＫだったのが、ダメになった。青色申告と同じような厳しさになった。もともとちゃんとやってる人はかわりなし。
合計収入が３００万以下なら、領収書の保存義務もなかったはず。（今はある）
自営なら　小規模企業共済　が節税効果大きいよ。

Ken-san,

なるほど、だいたいわかりました。ありがとう。
Sounds rather off-topic, but thanks anyway.

A strong paper trail (on both sides--invoice & receipt), and a spreadsheet. There are some relatively cheap softwares out there that can help with the accounting aspect if it's too complicated for Excel.

Hello, You can get accounting software for nothing.

I have explained how to install it and execute this software.

http://lawyerjapanese.com/how-to-make-accounting-book-by-yourself/

OP is talking about the receipts for the payment he receives for the photoshoot he does as his job, and Ken is talking about the receipts for expenses he spends on!

OPがきいているのは、自分が（仕事で）撮影をしてあげて、受け取った撮影代について、領収書を出す必要があるのか、で、Kenさんが言っているのは、自分が経費として計上する出費のレシート・領収書のことでしょう。

The first poster who replied on July 19th wrote about expenses just so that the OP's new life as a freelancer would go smoothly, and I made a comment saying that it's not really accurate, and then Ken wrote that it is. So it's not really Ken's fault that the thread went too far off topic.

初めてレスしたかたが、トピ主さんの新生活全般に役立つよう、領収書についてコメントし、私が、そのコメントは厳密には不正確だとコメントし、それに対してKenさんがコメントしたので、必ずしもKenさんのせいではないのですが、かなりトピずれしてしまいましたね。