Company resident tax, year-end payroll reports, the new 2026 levy, and payment methods

For small companies (fewer than 10 employees), filing the form 特別徴収税額の納期の特例に関する承認申請書 with every municipality where employees and the director live switches resident tax payments to a semi-annual schedule instead of monthly. The 給与支払報告書 form is filed electronically through eLTAX; it is a report on salary payments that a company must file with the municipality of each employee's residence, used to calculate next year's resident tax, and must be filed for anyone paid between January 1 and December 31 of the prior year, including the director. The deadline is usually February 2 (can vary by city hall); forms come in different colors depending on salary amount: orange from 1.5 million yen for a director or 5 million yen for an employee, crimson from 20 million yen, green for everyone else. If the number of statements for the year before last is 100 or more, filing must be electronic (eLTAX) or on optical disc; from January 2027 that threshold drops to 30. eLTAX notices can now also arrive online (openable only in the desktop version), duplicating the paper envelopes. January 31 is a further deadline for several reports: 法定調書合計表 (a summary table of payments and withholdings, filed with the tax office) and 償却資産申告書 (the depreciable-asset declaration, required even with no assets — though some municipalities, such as Shibuya, have recently allowed skipping the empty filing). A 支払調書 form is needed for each freelance contractor subject to withholding — it attaches to the 法定調書合計表 and requires the contractor's My Number (some leave this field blank, for example for a 司法書士). If a deadline falls on a weekend, it usually shifts to the nearest business day (about 90% confidence in this rule). A new mandatory social levy takes effect from April/May 2026: 子ども・子育て支援金 (a child-rearing support contribution), split equally between company and employee regardless of whether they have children — not to be confused with the older 子ども・子育て拠出金, paid only by the company and already reflected in payslips; the first calculation applies to the April salary, paid in May. From 2026, several other changes take effect: the income tax withholding table (from January 2026), pension premiums (from March 2026), and labor insurance premiums (from March 2026) — the combined effect of these changes is, on net, a reduced burden. Taxes and contributions can be paid through internet banking (e.g. SMBC) using a Pay-easy payment number matching the paper invoice; an eLTAX QR code can be paid via PayPay even on an overdue payment — unlike a barcode, which often fails once overdue — and can be split across installments on a credit card, or paid with PayPay money; PayEasy also works but does not accept credit cards. Some banks support auto-debit of tax payments, and nearly all accept payment by the payment number (the 3 digits on the invoice). If an invoice arrives without a Pay-easy code or QR code, it can be brought to the local ward office (kuyakusho), which will issue a slip with an eL-QR code payable through the "Digital" (MynaPortal) app.