Company Formation
A wholly owned Japanese subsidiary for a major Chinese smart appliance manufacturer. An office in Minato-ku that the business actually works from, a corporate bank account and the tax framework were set up as one piece of work, giving the brand a base to sell and operate from in Japan.
Client
Published without the client's name at their request. The figures and dates shown are published with their permission.
10million yen
Capital of the Japanese entity
6months
From registration to the bank account opening
7areas
Covered, from formation through to running the business
A newly formed foreign-owned company selling appliances faced four obstacles, before and after incorporation.
A company importing appliances and smart devices is asked to show that its address and its stated business are real. An address shared with a home, or a virtual office, will not carry the procedures that follow.
A new company with no trading history in Japan faces a long bank review, and any gap in the paperwork is enough to stop it.
The articles of incorporation, the stated business purpose and the operating model all had to satisfy both the parent group's standards and Japanese corporate and registration practice.
Completing the registration is not the start of trading. Without premises, money moving, a business plan and trading documents behind it, later bank reviews and administrative procedures are affected.
Not the other way around. That was the whole design of this engagement.
Offices in Minato-ku were narrowed down by whether they could be used for the stated appliance and trading business, then taken through to a signed lease.
We worked out in advance what the review would ask, kept the paper trail for the capital intact, and went into the interview with it.
With the articles and business purpose aligned to Japanese practice, the tax filings that fall due immediately after incorporation were prepared in parallel.
Registration was treated as the midpoint, not the finish, and the account and tax framework followed without a break.
Project start
Document review, fit of the stated business purpose, and what the premises would have to satisfy.
Preparation
Several rounds of narrowing candidate offices, with the incorporation documents translated and notarised.
June 2021
Company registration completed and the capital paid in.
Premises secured
A working base the company operates from.
December 2021
With a major Japanese bank, giving the company its own settlement route.
Framework
Tax registrations filed, consumption tax and withholding tax processes established, and the company ready to run.
The finish line was not incorporation but a business able to operate in Japan.
The company can now sell smart home products in Japan, run the brand, develop channels and handle after-sales service in its own name.
A working office in Minato-ku, Tokyo. That the address exists and is in use became the basis for everything that followed.
With the account open, money moves between parent and subsidiary, and domestic transactions settle, without going through anyone else.
Bookkeeping, year-end close, consumption tax and withholding tax were set up alongside incorporation, so the load after launch stayed light.
Premises, bank account and tax were sequenced as one plan rather than three separate procedures, which is what shortened the whole thing.
For a new foreign-owned company the bank account is the real obstacle. Preparing a record of where the capital came from, and evidence that the business is real, is most of the work of getting through the review.
The approach here transfers to any Chinese manufacturer setting up a sales subsidiary in Japan.
There is no charge for an initial consultation. We can work in English, Japanese or Chinese, around where your business currently stands.
