WiseWise
Log inRegister
Log inRegister
  • Help home
  • How do I verify my Japanese business?

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:

  • Verify your personal account with ID, selfie, and a MyNumber document

  • Register the business name, address, business type and details of business activities

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 must be the account owner — if the representative lives in Japan, they’ll then need to verify their Japan-issued ID and selfie with a 4-digit verification code.

  • In case the representative lives outside of Japan, we'd need 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 registered address and trading address

    • Business directors

    • Beneficial owners (name, date of birth, address)

  • Provide a Certificate of Registered Matters (履歴事項全部証明書) issued within 6 months

  • In some cases, we may ask you to provide a document listing the beneficial owners of the business. We can accept the following documents:

    • Government-issued Beneficial Owners (BO) List (実質的支配者リスト)

    • Beneficial ownership certification issued by a notary (申告受理及び認証証明書)

    • Shareholder List (株主リスト) with Certificate of Company Seal Registration (印鑑証明書) 

    • Shareholders Registry Certificate (株主名簿記載事項証明書) with Certificate of Company Seal Registration (印鑑証明書)

Who is a beneficial owner?

For KK and YK businesses, a beneficial owner is:

  • An individual who directly or indirectly holds 50% or more of the total voting rights of the company

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

  • If there’s none — any individual 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:

  • Any individual who holds the right to receive more than 25% distribution from the total business revenue or asset, or

  • Any individual 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.

Was this article helpful?

Related articles

  • How do I verify my business in the Philippines?
  • What do you need to verify my Singapore business?
  • How can I verify my business?
  • How do I verify my business in Hong Kong?
  • Verify your US business