Do freelancers need to register?

Hi all,

I am going to Japan soon, and will be doing some freelance work while there. Most of the income will be coming from abroad. I am doing a working holiday visa, so I do not plan to set up a company, but I will still be generating money from my freelance work. I understand that I would have to pay Enterprise Tax. In the UK though, freelancers have to register the fact they are doing freelance work with the government. Are there similar registrations in Japan and where do I go to register if so?

Many thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am a Japanese national doing freelance work, but apart from the annual tax filing I need to do, I have never done any registration that I'm working freelance :)

Still, I (and some others on this forum I believe) have not found a definitive answer on whether working remotely/freelance is allowed, without an
employer and having no visa status with no restriction on work such as Permanent Resident or Spouse of Japanese National, while staying in Japan on visa status including Working Holiday Visa. It would also matter how much of an income you are talking about. Working Holiday Visa is a special scheme to encourage young people travel extensively in a foreign country (in your case, Japan) with some means to earn a bit through casual work to help with the travel expenses, so I suppose if you simply come in order to work, it might not sit well with Immigration. And you are not supposed to work for the same employer for more than three months on WHV. Immigration assumed casual labor.

When it comes to taxes, I think it will depend on whether you will be in Japan when the next tax filing period (Feb. 16 to mid-March) rolls around,
and how long you stay; well the maximum will be either six months or one year I suppose, though. I think there was a short questionnaire for
non-Japanese residents as part of the English version of tax filing forms/guide, like "do you have any other income that comes from a source outside Japan?" and "are you a permanent resident?"etc., and depending on your answers, you either file tax in Japan or in your country, where your income comes from. If you do not form a company, then you do not need to pay "corpotate/enterprise tax," but you will simply be paying income tax.

I was just going through some other countries' WHV schemes and rules, and well, to be honest, I have not found equivalent details for Japan yet.

I don`t agree with AK and his point of view of the WH visa.
How do you know that you aren`t allowed to work longer than 3 month for the same employer?
I work for over 8 month for the same company and I know a lot of people who are doing 6-month internships on their WH visa,too.

dotcom,

The limit of three months is something I looked up from either MOFA site, or Working Holiday visa/association website; I will look it up again and post it... please rest assured that I am not pulling the number out of the air. The Working Holiday Association's website clearly states that in view of the intented aim of the scheme, a stay for the main purpose of work is not allowed...

By the way, I'm female :)

�—AK
sorry that I thought you were a man...
(*^�[^)v
but if you found this information please please page it, ok? I really don`t want to do something illegal..or that me boss get some trouble...

dotcom,

My apologies - I must have read that 3-month rule on a website for Working Holiday makers FROM Japan TO New Zealand.

I know that this scheme is reciprocal, so the rules must be common between the countries that enter this agreement, though. But there seems to be difference among different government how strictly this rule is enforced.

thanks for those comments. Basically the money I will be making will support my Working Holiday, and nothing more. I will be making websites, so I will receive advertising revenue from America and so on. I just want to be sure that I am not breaking any law, or that I need to register for doing this work.

Fortunately, the UK and Japan have a double tax agreement http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/japan-dtc.pdf

Which means that in theory you should only pay tax on your income once, most likely in the country in which it is earned. However, I believe that if you live in Japan for over a certain period, you must pay income tax on any monies earned outside Japan, proportional to % of year spent in Japan. I did see a page in English by the Japan Tax agency, which explained this properly - but I can't seem to find it now.

ok, but you said you were than on a working holiday visa, right? I think that would be ok. But if you for example enter japan on a temporary visitor visa this kind of work wouldn`t be allowed.