---
title: "National Tax Agency Guidance: Dividends, Non-Taxable Income, Depreciation and the Blue-Form Tax Return"
url: https://memocore.ai/memos/6a5f62e963d783ad687093a1
project: "Doing Business in Japan"
tags: "japan-business, links-and-contacts, tax-sole-proprietor, tax-corporate, tax-filing, tax-social-insurance, hiring-and-hr"
updated_at: "2026-07-21T12:15:37.326Z"
---

# National Tax Agency Guidance: Dividends, Non-Taxable Income, Depreciation and the Blue-Form Tax Return

The National Tax Agency (NTA) publishes official explanations covering several core individual and corporate tax topics. Two pages explain how dividend income is taxed for individuals — the rates, how to declare it, and the choice between withholding at source or including it in the general tax return. Two more pages describe which types of income are exempt from income tax, such as certain allowances, benefits and part of business-trip expense reimbursements. A dedicated PDF lists depreciable asset types and their corresponding depreciation rates and useful-life periods, used when calculating depreciation of company or sole-proprietor fixed assets for a tax return. An English-language page explains the blue-form tax return (aoiro shinkoku) for a new business: the advantages over the standard white form (larger deductions, ability to carry forward losses), the bookkeeping requirements, and the deadline for applying to switch to the blue form; a related NTA page covers the inheritance/gift-tax deferral program for owners of unlisted small and medium companies transferring the business to an heir. Finally, an English-language NTA PDF guide (2024 edition) explains the basic principles of individual income tax for those who do not read Japanese, and a separate NTA guide covers withholding tax (gensen choshu) on salaries and fees paid at source, including the requirements for issuing pay slips to employees.

Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/1330.htm — dividend income taxation for individuals, part 1. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/1250.htm — dividend income taxation for individuals, part 2. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/2011.htm — types of income exempt from income tax, part 1. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/gensen/2582.htm — types of income exempt from income tax, part 2 (withholding). Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/taxes/shiraberu/taxanswer/shotoku/pdf/2100_01.pdf — official list of depreciable asset types and depreciation rates. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/jigyo-shokei/index.htm — inheritance/gift-tax deferral program for unlisted SME owners transferring the business. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/pdf/incometax_2024/01.pdf — official English-language income tax guide PDF, 2024 edition. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/publication/pamph/gensen/shikata_r07/pdf/16.pdf — official withholding tax (gensen choshu) guide, including pay-slip requirements. Source: https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/12010.htm — English-language explanation of the blue-form tax return for a new business.