青色申告

2 articles

The ¥400,000 Rule: How Eligible Blue-Return SME Guesthouse Operators in Japan Can Write Off Furniture Instantly

Every time I furnish a new unit, I go through the same mental math: is this ordinary furniture purchase going to create a multi-year depreciation schedule, or can I just write the whole thing off this year? For a while I didn’t actually know the rule well enough to answer that quickly — I just handed the receipts to my accountant and hoped. Once I understood the ¥400,000 special measure properly, furnishing decisions got a lot easier to plan around.

If you’re a sole proprietor or small operator running a guesthouse in Japan, this rule is often an overlooked tax measure worth checking your receipts folder for.

Expense Tracking for Japan's Sole Proprietors: What You Actually Need

There’s a whole industry built on making expense tracking sound terrifying. Accounting software vendors, tax prep firms, YouTube influencers — they all want you to believe you need a complex system, a premium subscription, and probably a small accountant army to survive as a sole proprietor (個人事業主) in Japan.

You don’t. Here’s what the National Tax Agency actually wants, and a simple system that gets you there without losing your mind.