Certification Fees of Articles of Incorporation When Incorporating a Joint Stock Company in Japan

When incorporating a joint stock company in Japan, it is necessary to prepare articles of incorporation and then have them certified by a notary public.

Although the fee for certification of the articles of incorporation at the time of incorporation used to be a flat 50,000 yen, from January 2022, the certification fee be based on the amount of capital stated in the articles of incorporation as follows.

 When the amount of capital stated in the articles of incorporation is:

• Less than 1 million yen: 30,000 yen
• 1 million yen or more but less than 3 million yen:  40,000 yen
• 3 million yen or more: 50,000 yen

In other words, if the amount of capital stated in the articles of incorporation at the time of incorporation is less than 3 million yen, the certification fee will be slightly lower than before.

However, since it is difficult for a company with stated capital of less than 3 million to be trusted due to the perceived weakness of its asset base or when it is necessary to obtain residence status for managers and employees, it is common to invest 5 million or more to increase the capital amount to 5 million yen, this may not be relevant to foreign-affiliated companies expanding into Japan.  

Please note that when establishing a limited liability company, the articles of incorporation are prepared, but do not need to be certified by a notary public. As such, there is no need to pay for the certification of the articles of incorporation.