How do I verify my Japanese business?

There are three things you’ll need to do to start using Wise Business in Japan: register and verify your personal details with Wise, set up a business profile, and verify your business. We’ll need some documents from you to do this, depending on the type of business you own.

Register your business profile

Please enter the business details here.

Verification for sole traders

If you're a sole trader, you must be the owner of the business to set up a business account.

First, you'll need to provide your personal details. You'll then need to:

Verification for other businesses

There are 5 common types of Japanese company which we can onboard with us:

  • 株式会社 (kabushiki-kaisha, "KK") For-profit corporation (INC)

  • 有限会社 (yugen-kaisha, "YK") Limited company 

  • 合同会社 (godo-kaisha, "GK") Limited liability company (LLC)

  • 合名会社 (gomei-kaisha, "GMK") General partnership

  • 合資会社 (goshi-kaisha, "GSK") Limited partnership (LP) 

Unfortunately, we can’t onboard trusts, foundations, charities and NPOs (non-profit organisations).

To verify your business:

  • The representative needs to be the account owner — if the representative lives in Japan, they’ll then need to verify their ID and selfie with a 4-digit verification code. In case the representative lives outside of Japan we would require a Proof of Address document in addition to their ID and selfie with a 4-digit verification code (the ID doesn’t have to be issued in Japan in this case).

  • Register the following details: - Business name - Business type - 13-digit Business MyNumber (法人番号), - The details of the business - Business address - Shareholders and beneficial owners (name, date of birth, address) and Directors.

  • Provide a Certificate of Registered Matters (issued within 6 months)

  • Register the representative’s email

What is a beneficial owner?

For KK and YK businesses, a beneficial owner is:

  • The natural person who directly or indirectly holds 50% or more of the total voting rights of the company

  • If there’s none — the natural person who directly or indirectly holds 25% or more of the total voting rights of the company

  • If there’s none — the natural person who is considered to have a controlling influence over the business, whether through investment, lending, business transaction, or other means

  • If there’s none — the representative of the company

For GK, GMK and GSK business, a beneficial owner is:

  • The natural person who holds the right to receive more than 25% distribution from the total business revenue or asset, or

  • The natural person who has a great influence on the company through investments, lending, business transactions, or other means

  • If there’s none — the representative of the company

Additional notes

  • We can’t onboard foreign-registered businesses (any businesses registered outside of Japan)

  • We can onboard a foreign company’s branch in Japan (like a UK company with a branch in Japan)

    • We’ll need an original registration document in that foreign country

    • Please mark the company type as Other

  • We may ask for extra information due to requests from our partner banks or for regulatory reasons.

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