BM visa: profit requirements, required reports, and salary obligations

Showing a profit is critical for renewing a business manager (BM) visa starting from the second year — the first year allows a loss under unofficial immigration criteria, and from 2023 this shift to the second year has been officially codified. A BM visa can still be renewed despite losses if the applicant: commissions an independent "audit" on the company's viability for the coming year; shows secured investment; or shows substantial product investment alongside growing key metrics, such as customer count. Some lawyers and accountants advise against artificially "painting" profit in the first year of a business plan — for example, Fukuoka's startup support recommends showing a planned loss in year one and profit in year two, which contradicts advice from one seminar recommending showing profit right away; opinions diverge here and this is unconfirmed. A real case: a company's annual loss of -6,000,000 yen was adjusted "on paper" to -1,500,000 yen to support a visa renewal — such adjustment is permissible, but showing positive momentum over time matters; conversely, a large and steadily growing profit (for example, over 1 million yen in a partial year) is viewed positively by immigration, though the tax office will then expect comparable profit going forward each year. Required financial reports for the BM visa and annual report include the balance sheet (貸借対照表) and profit & loss statement (損益計算書); Freee can export a ready PDF report (残高試算表, 損益計算書, 貸借対照表). Renewal also typically needs a short statement from an accounting specialist (with a CPA stamp) on financial condition and business plan — reportedly a simple wording with a stamp can be enough. When applying for a BM visa without a prior year's withholding report — relevant for new companies with no employees or salaries in the previous year — applicants may be asked for a document titled "Documents Explaining the Reason for Inability to Submit the Total Statutory Report of Withholding Tax Certificates for Employee Salary Income from the Previous Year"; the fix is to attach an explanatory cover letter with the company's founding date and tax report, or a "Certificate of exemption from withholding tax for foreign corporations." Separately, if a director is denied a visa or leaves the country but the employment contract (and salary obligation) is not terminated, the company must still withhold and pay income tax on the "salary" as long as the contract formally remains in force; a non-resident (without a visa) is subject to a higher income tax rate. Finally, per a lawyer cited by one participant, immigration authorities have gained direct access to social contribution payment data and will check payment timeliness when renewing a visa — the next renewal round is expected to be "meticulous" about this.