Free invoice maker for Japan

Under the invoice system (インボイス制度), which started in October 2023, your client can only deduct the consumption tax they pay you if they keep a qualified invoice from you. Article 57-4(1) of the Consumption Tax Act lists what it must show:

1. 1Your name or business name, and your registration number (登録番号)
2. 2The date of the sale or service
3. 3What you sold or provided, marking any items taxed at the reduced rate
4. 4The total for each tax rate, before or including tax, and the rate applied
5. 5The consumption tax for each rate
6. 6Your client's name or business name

Only registered businesses (適格請求書発行事業者) can issue qualified invoices. If you are not registered, you can still send an invoice: just leave the registration number off.

Add up the items at each rate (10% standard, 8% reduced) and calculate the tax once for each rate. Rounding each line and adding up the results is not allowed. You can round the fraction of a yen down, up or to the nearest yen; Denpyo rounds down unless you change it.

When a business pays an individual for certain work, such as writing, design, illustration, lectures or professional services, it withholds income tax from the fee and pays it to the tax office. Show the deduction on your invoice so you and your client agree on the amount paid.

If the consumption tax is shown separately on the invoice, withholding can be calculated on the fee before tax, which is Denpyo's default. Not every client has to withhold (an individual who pays no salaries, for example), so you choose whether to switch it on.

A registration number is the letter T followed by 13 digits. Companies use their corporate number; sole proprietors are given a separate number by the NTA. Denpyo checks the format as you type, and the check digit of corporate numbers, but it does not look the number up in the NTA's register. To confirm a number is registered, search the NTA publication site.

Unless you have agreed otherwise, the cost of paying falls on the payer (Civil Code, Article 485), so the transfer fee is normally your client's. Say so on the invoice, for example 「振込手数料は貴社にてご負担ください」, to avoid short payments. If a client deducts the fee anyway, you can treat the difference as a discount on the sale; for less than ¥10,000, you don't need to issue a return invoice (返還インボイス).

A paper receipt (領収書) for a sale of ¥50,000 or more needs a revenue stamp, starting at ¥200. If the consumption tax is shown separately, the amount before tax decides. A receipt sent as a PDF, by email or by link, is not a paper document and needs no stamp. Invoices, quotes and delivery notes don't need one either, unless they are marked to show you have been paid.

Four documents follow a job from start to finish, and each one has a different purpose:

Quote (見積書)

Sent before the work starts: the price, scope and terms you propose, usually with an expiry date. It doesn't ask for payment.

Delivery note (納品書)

Goes with the goods or finished work and records what was delivered and when. If it shows the six required items, it can also serve as a qualified invoice.

Invoice (請求書)

Asks for payment: the amount due, the due date and how to pay. In Japan it is common to bundle a month's work into one invoice.

Receipt (領収書)

Confirms you have been paid. With a bank transfer the transfer record often serves as proof, but issue one if your client asks; on paper, check the revenue stamp rule above.