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Director’s salary in Japan and tax

In the case you are one of director in Japan and you thought that you could receive certain amount of remuneration.
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In the case of director, the money you can receive is not salary ( Kyuyo ), but remuneration (  Hoshu = 報酬 ).
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Director is not employee, but employer, even if you are not representative director, but director.

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So, stipulation related to minimum wage is not applicable for director.
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And it is possible that you do not receive any remuneration.
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The amount of remuneration should be determined at the time of commencement of each fiscal year.
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The company can not change the amount of remuneration during term of office of director without your permission.
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( It means that at the time of end of your term of office, the company can change it.
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Moreover, it is possible that the company do not appoint you as director ).
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Even if it is determined by general meeting of shareholders and / or board of directors / representative director authorized by articles of incorporation, the company can not change it without your permission.
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There is  a judicial precedent.
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Once the amount of remuneration is determined, it is a part of matters agreed in contract.
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So, the contract bind both company and director (you ).
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So, even if there is resolution at general meeting of shareholders, the company can not reduce the amount of remuneration during term of your office.
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Even if the content of your work has changed, the company can not change the amount of remuneration without your permission.

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According to corporate tax law, company needs to pay same amount of remuneration periodically.

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Assumed that Yamada company ( its fiscal year is from 1st January to 31st December ) determined it pay you ( director ) remuneration of 1 million yen at end of each month.
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In that case Yamada company needs to conduct it and can not change it within the fiscal year.

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If Yamada company has changed the amount of remuneration to 1.5 million yen,  it can not include 0.5 million yen as deductible expense.
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If Yamada company has changed the amount of remuneration from 1 million yen to 0.7  million yen on November, authority consider that from 1st January of the year, the amount of remuneration has been 0.7 million yen.
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However, if there is unavoidable circumstances, Yamada company can reduce the amount of remuneration during fiscal year.

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