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Freelancing and sole proprietors in Japan (個人事業主)

A sole proprietor in Japan is a 個人事業主 (kojin jigyōnushi) — a self-employed person or freelancer with a registered business. Opening one is easy: one notification to the tax office, no fee. The hard part is different: not every status of residence lets a foreigner work for themselves. Below: who can freelance, how to open a business, which taxes and premiums you pay, what the blue return gives you, and what you risk without the right status.

Who can freelance

Remote work

Checked against the websites of the National Tax Agency, the Immigration Services Agency, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation on October 7, 2026 · Final tax return · Social insurance

Blue return special deduction with e-Tax¥650,000

Sales above which consumption tax applies¥10M

Withheld by a client from fees for writing, translation, design10.21%

Deduction in the individual enterprise tax¥2.9M

In short

Freelancing in Japan in five lines

  • Free to work for themselves: Permanent Residents, spouses of Japanese nationals or of permanent residents, and Long-Term Residents (定住者).
  • On a work, student or Dependent status your own business is possible only with individual permission from immigration. A business as your main activity needs the Business Manager status (経営・管理).
  • Opening a business means filing an opening notification (開業届, kaigyō todoke) with the tax office. Attach the application for the blue return (青色申告, aoiro shinkoku) right away: it gives a deduction of up to ¥650,000.
  • Taxes: income tax, resident tax, individual enterprise tax and, above ¥10 million in sales, consumption tax. The tax return is due by March 15 every year.
  • Insurance: National Health Insurance and the National Pension at your own cost; no unemployment benefits.

A warning. We write strictly by the law. A business or contract work that your status of residence does not allow breaks the Immigration Control Act. The tax office will accept an opening notification on any visa, but the notification gives you no right to work: only your status or permission from immigration does. Business income shows up in the tax certificates immigration checks when you extend your period of stay.

Who can work for themselves

Freelancing, status by status

Immigration says it plainly: permanent residents, long-term residents and other statuses based on personal status have no limits on work. All other statuses allow only their own activity, and everything else needs separate permission (資格外活動許可, shikakugai katsudō kyoka).

Status Can you freelance? Conditions
Permanent Resident, spouse of a Japanese national or permanent resident, Long-Term Resident Yes Like Japanese citizens: a notification to the tax office, taxes, insurance.
Business Manager (経営・管理) Yes — this is the status for a business Since October 16, 2025: capital or investment of ¥30M or more, a full-time employee, Japanese at B2, experience or education (see below).
Engineer/Specialist and other work statuses Only as a side job Individual permission; the work itself must fit a work status; your employer must agree.
Student, Dependent (家族滞在) Only with individual permission General part-time work permission (28 hours) is meant for employment; freelancing needs individual permission.
Digital Nomad (特定活動) Only for clients abroad Only for nationals of listed countries; work for Japanese clients is not allowed (more).
Temporary Visitor (短期滞在) No You may not work for pay in Japan.

Engineer/Specialist and contractor agreements

The Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services status (技術・人文知識・国際業務) is issued for a contract with an organization in Japan. It can be an independent contractor agreement (業務委託, gyōmu itaku), not only employment — but it must be ongoing and with a specific organization. One-off jobs for different clients do not qualify. Anything beyond your main contract needs individual permission, and your main employer must agree.

Individual permission is granted if the side work does not get in the way of your main job, fits one of the work statuses (other than Specified Skilled Worker and Technical Intern Training) and has nothing to do with night entertainment. There is no fee; it takes 2 weeks to 2 months. Start only after you have it.

Business Manager

If the business is your main activity, you need the Business Manager status (経営・管理, keiei kanri). Since October 16, 2025 the conditions are: capital (for a sole proprietor, total investment) of ¥30,000,000 or more; at least one full-time employee who is Japanese or holds permanent residency, a spouse status or Long-Term Resident; Japanese at B2 for you or the full-time employee; a doctorate, master’s or professional degree in management or a field relevant to the business, or 3 years of management experience; a business plan checked by an expert (中小企業診断士, 公認会計士 or 税理士). An office at home is generally not accepted. At extension, immigration checks that taxes and premiums are paid.

How to open a business

Step by step

  1. Check your statusPermanent Resident, spouse, Long-Term Resident — you can start right away. Otherwise first individual permission from immigration, or a different status.
  2. File the opening notification (開業届)The notification of opening a business (個人事業の開業・廃業等届出書) goes to the tax office for your address, by the tax return deadline for the year you open. You can file through e-Tax. No fee.
  3. Apply for the blue returnThe application (青色申告承認申請書) is due within 2 months of opening (if you start on or after January 16), otherwise by March 15 of the first year you want to use it.
  4. Notify the prefectureFor the individual enterprise tax. In Tokyo — to the metropolitan tax office (都税事務所) within 15 days of opening.
  5. Health insurance and pensionIf you are not insured through work — National Health Insurance (within 14 days) and the National Pension at your city office.
  6. Keep records from day oneSales, expenses, receipts and invoices: without them you cannot work out your income or claim deductions.

The opening notification (開業届)

Every field in English

The form 個人事業の開業・廃業等届出書 is on the National Tax Agency website; you can also fill it in and send it online through e-Tax. Keep a stamped copy or the electronic receipt: banks and clients sometimes ask to see it.

Field on the form What to write
提出先 … 税務署長 The tax office you file with — the one for your address
マイナンバー（個人番号） Your My Number
フリガナ（氏名） / 氏名 Your name in katakana / your name as on your residence card
生年月日 Date of birth
職業 Occupation, for example デザイナー (designer), 翻訳者 (translator)
屋号 Business name — optional
区分 / 納税地 Place of tax payment: usually box 5 — your home address
上記以外の住所地・事業所等 Another address or office, if you do not work from home
届出の区分 — 開業 Mark “1” in the 開業 box — opening a business
所得の種類 Type of income: tick 事業（農業）所得 — business income
開業・廃業等日 The date the business starts
「青色申告承認申請書」… 有・無 Are you also filing the blue return application — 有 (yes)
消費税に関する「課税事業者選択届出書」… 有・無 Are you opting in to consumption tax voluntarily — usually 無 (no)
事業の概要 What you do, as specifically as possible: “website design under contracts with companies”
給与等の支払の状況 — 専従者 / 使用人 Whom you pay a salary: a family member in the business / an employee. If nobody — leave empty
源泉所得税の納期の特例… Only if you pay salaries to employees

Bookkeeping and the tax return

Blue return or white return

A sole proprietor files a final tax return (確定申告, kakutei shinkoku) every year between February 16 and March 15 for the previous year and attaches a statement of income and expenses. Everyone with business income must keep records and documents.

Option Deduction from income Conditions
Blue return, e-Tax ¥650,000 Double-entry books, balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement, filed through e-Tax on time (or electronic books meeting special requirements)
Blue return on paper ¥550,000 Double-entry books, balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement, filed on time
Blue return, simple books ¥100,000 All other blue returns
White return (白色申告, shiroiro shinkoku) none Simple records of income and expenses, a statement 収支内訳書
  • Keeping records. Books — 7 years. With a blue return, documents such as receipts are generally kept for 7 years too, and invoices, quotes and delivery slips for 5 years. With a white return, documents are kept for 5 years.
  • File late with a blue return and you lose the ¥550,000 and ¥650,000 deductions; only ¥100,000 remains.
  • Small side income without a real business (online sales, lessons, one-off jobs) is usually treated by the tax office as miscellaneous income (雑所得, zatsu shotoku), not business income, so there is no blue return for it. An employee with one employer does not need to file a tax return if such income after expenses is ¥200,000 or less — but must still declare it to the city office for resident tax.

Contracts with clients

The Freelance Act since November 1, 2024

An independent contractor agreement (業務委託, gyōmu itaku) is not employment: the rules on working hours, overtime, leave and the minimum wage do not apply to you. Instead, the Freelance Act (フリーランス・事業者間取引適正化等法) requires client businesses to:

  • state the terms in writing at once (on paper or electronically): what to do, how much they pay and when;
  • pay within 60 days of receiving the work — and set the date as early as possible within that period;
  • for jobs of a month or longer — not refuse to accept the work, cut the fee or demand redoing without a reason;
  • for jobs of 6 months or longer — give 30 days’ notice of ending or not renewing, and explain the reason if you ask.

Disguised employment. If you are called a freelancer but in fact get working hours, a workplace and instructions like an employee, you may legally be an employee — the real situation decides, not the name of the contract. Since November 1, 2024 every Labor Standards Inspection Office (労働基準監督署) has a desk for such questions. For payment disputes, Freelance Trouble 110 (フリーランス・トラブル110番) gives free advice from lawyers: 0120-532-110, weekdays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in Japanese — bring a Japanese speaker if you need one. More on types of contracts: types of employment.

Tax withheld from fees. A Japanese company that pays you for writing, translation, interpreting, design, photos or lectures withholds income tax itself: 10.21% of the amount up to ¥1,000,000 and 20.42% of the part above. For example, ¥30,630 is withheld from a ¥300,000 fee. It is a prepayment: your tax return counts it, and anything overpaid comes back. Private individuals without employees of their own do not withhold.

Taxes for sole proprietors

Four taxes

Tax Rate How it is paid
Income tax (所得税) 5–45% + 2.1% On income after expenses and deductions; with the return by March 15. More: income tax
Resident tax (住民税) about 10% + a fixed part The city office calculates it from your return; 4 payments — June, August, October, January. More: resident tax
Individual enterprise tax (個人事業税, kojin jigyōzei) 5% for most types (3–5%) Only for the 70 types of business listed in the law — which covers most, including design and consulting. A deduction of ¥2,900,000 a year; the blue return deduction does not apply here. The prefecture calculates it from your return; payments in August and November
Consumption tax (消費税, shōhizei) 10% (8% for food) If your sales two years ago, or in the first half of last year, were over ¥10 million (for the half-year you may use salaries paid instead of sales), or if you registered to issue qualified invoices

Registering for qualified invoices

Since October 1, 2023 only a registered seller can issue qualified invoices (適格請求書) showing consumption tax. Japanese client companies often ask for registration: without it they cannot fully deduct the tax. But registration makes you a consumption tax payer at any level of sales. For those who became payers only because of registration there is a simplified rule: for periods up to September 30, 2026 (for a sole proprietor, the year 2026) you pay 20% of the tax on your sales, for 2027 and 2028 — 30%. Decide on registration together with a licensed tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi).

A worked example

A designer with permanent residency: ¥6,000,000 in sales

A sole proprietor in Tokyo (Shinjuku City), aged 35, sales for 2026 of ¥6,000,000, expenses of ¥1,200,000, sales two years ago under ¥10 million, not registered for invoices. Blue return through e-Tax. Health insurance uses Shinjuku’s FY2026 rates, assuming last year’s income was the same.

Line Amount How it is calculated
Business income ¥4,800,000 ¥6,000,000 − ¥1,200,000
After the blue return deduction ¥4,150,000 ¥4,800,000 − ¥650,000
National Pension for the year ¥215,040 ¥17,920 × 12
National Health Insurance for the year ≈ ¥460,600 on income of ¥4,150,000, Shinjuku rates
Income tax ¥148,900 (¥4,150,000 − ¥1,040,000 − premiums ¥675,689) → ¥2,434,000 × 10% − ¥97,500, × 1.021
Resident tax ≈ ¥306,800 10% of income after deductions + ¥5,000
Individual enterprise tax ¥95,000 (¥4,800,000 − ¥2,900,000) × 5%
Consumption tax ¥0 sales two years ago not over ¥10 million
Total taxes and premiums ≈ ¥1,226,000 about 26% of income after expenses

With a white return instead of a blue one, income would be ¥650,000 higher, and taxes and health insurance about ¥186,000 a year higher; with a blue return on simple books (¥100,000 deduction) about ¥158,000 higher. If clients withheld 10.21% from your fees, those amounts are subtracted from the income tax in your return.

Insurance and pension for sole proprietors

All at your own cost

  • National Health Insurance (国民健康保険, kokumin kenkō hoken) — at your city office, within 14 days. The premium depends on last year’s income. It has no injury and sickness allowance (傷病手当金). More: health insurance.
  • National Pension (国民年金) — ¥17,920 a month in FY2026, ¥18,290 in FY2027. An extra ¥400 a month (付加保険料, fuka hokenryō) raises your pension. On a low income you can apply for an exemption. After a child is born no premiums are charged, without an income test: for the mother, 4 months around the birth, and from October 1, 2026 for both parents until the child turns 1 (育児免除); these months count as paid. More: pension.
  • iDeCo, the individual-type defined contribution pension — contributions are fully deductible from income. The limit for the self-employed is ¥68,000 a month, and ¥75,000 from the contributions for December 2026. You cannot join while exempt from National Pension premiums.
  • No unemployment benefits — Employment Insurance is for employees only.
  • Accident insurance. Since November 1, 2024 a freelancer working for businesses can voluntarily join Workers’ Accident Compensation Insurance through special enrollment (労災保険の特別加入, tokubetsu kanyū) via an approved organization. The ordinary scheme — injured at work — is for employees only.

Deadlines

A sole proprietor’s calendar

What When If you miss it
Opening notification (開業届) by the tax return deadline for the year you open no penalty, but without it the business is hard to prove
Blue return application 2 months after opening, or by March 15 this year only a white return
Notice to the prefecture (Tokyo) 15 days after opening the tax is still charged from your return
Tax return and income tax February 16 – March 15 a penalty from 5%, late-payment tax; the blue deduction drops to ¥100,000
Resident tax June 30, August 31, October 31, January 31 late-payment charges; debts get in the way of an extension of your period of stay
Individual enterprise tax August and November late-payment charges
National Health Insurance 14 days premiums charged retroactively; treatment before you join at your own cost

What happens to your visa

A registered business does not replace a status

Linked to your visa.

  • The tax office and immigration are different authorities. The tax office accepts an opening notification from any resident, but only your status or permission from immigration gives you the right to work.
  • Work outside your status without permission is forbidden (Article 19 of the Immigration Control Act). If you do not do the activity of your status for 3 months or more, or do something else instead of it, your status can be revoked (Article 22-4).
  • Tax certificates show your whole income for the year. They are submitted when a family extends the Dependent status and when you extend a work visa with a small employer. Business income without permission will be visible there.
  • Permanent residency. Immigration checks taxes for 5 years and pension and health insurance premiums for 2 years; late payment counts against you even if the debt is already paid. A sole proprietor who pays taxes and premiums personally must watch the deadlines especially closely.

Business Manager · Change of status · Taxes and your visa

Ask before you start — for free. Whether your status allows freelance work, and how to apply for individual permission: the Foreign Residents Support Center (FRESC) help desk, 0570-011000 (03-5363-3013 from IP phones and abroad), weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., in English and many other languages.

If you have a family

Spouse, children, parents: what changes

A dependent for tax and a dependent for health insurance are two different things with different income limits. All the rules for families: Family and dependents.

  • Your spouse works in your business. Pay to a family member can count as an expense: with a blue return — after filing the notification 青色事業専従者給与に関する届出書 (by March 15, or within 2 months of opening); with a white return — as a deduction of up to ¥860,000 for a spouse. The condition is working in the business for more than 6 months of the year. But then you cannot also claim the exemption for your spouse as a dependent.
  • A spouse on the Dependent status (家族滞在) — for example the family of a Business Manager — may work in your business only with part-time work permission and up to 28 hours a week.
  • Health insurance and pension. National Health Insurance has no dependents — each family member is insured separately. A spouse aged 20–59 pays their own National Pension: a sole proprietor’s family does not get the dependent-spouse status in the pension system (Category III).

FAQ

Questions about freelancing in Japan

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Can a foreigner work as a freelancer in Japan?

Freely if you are a Permanent Resident, the spouse of a Japanese national or permanent resident, or a Long-Term Resident. On a work, student or Dependent status only with individual permission from immigration, and a business as your main activity needs the Business Manager status. Filing an opening notification with the tax office does not give you the right to work.

Your main work must be an ongoing contract with a specific organization in Japan; it can be an independent contractor agreement, but not one-off jobs for different clients. Anything beyond the main contract needs individual permission from immigration, which requires your main employer to agree. There is no fee, and it takes 2 weeks to 2 months.

File the opening notification (kaigyō todoke) with the tax office for your address, on paper or through e-Tax, by the tax return deadline for the year you open. There is no fee. File the blue return application within 2 months of opening, notify the prefecture for the enterprise tax and join National Health Insurance and the National Pension if you are not insured through work.

The blue return (aoiro shinkoku) is a filing method that needs proper books. With double-entry books and filing through e-Tax on time you get a deduction of ¥650,000, or ¥550,000 on paper, and ¥100,000 with simple books. In our example of a designer with ¥4.8 million of income it saves about ¥186,000 a year compared with a white return.

Only if your sales two years ago, or in the first half of last year, were over ¥10 million, or if you registered to issue qualified invoices. Registered small sole proprietors may pay 20% of the tax on their sales for 2026 and 30% for 2027 and 2028.

A Japanese company paying for writing, translation, interpreting, design, photos or lectures must withhold 10.21% of the fee up to ¥1 million and 20.42% of the part above. It is a prepayment of your income tax: it is counted in your tax return and any overpayment is refunded.

National Health Insurance and the National Pension, both at your own cost and without dependents. There are no unemployment benefits and no injury and sickness allowance. Since November 1, 2024 freelancers working for businesses can voluntarily join Workers’ Accident Compensation Insurance through an approved organization.

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the National Tax Agency, the Immigration Services Agency, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation and city offices on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

Results and examples are estimates, not your employer’s payroll. The amounts on your payslip and in your resident tax notice are the ones that count. For a complex case, talk to a licensed tax accountant (税理士) or a Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi).

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