October 2022
Survey of Corporate Attitudes towards Invoice System
76.6% of corporations say they “understand the content” of qualified invoice system
— 41.5％ flummoxed by transactions with tax-exempt suppliers —
Introduction
The new “qualified invoice retention system” (invoice system) that will take effect as of October 1, 2023, is a purchase tax credit method that reflects the multiple Japanese consumption tax (JCT) rates. Although registration is not mandatory, suppliers must apply for registration as a registered invoice issuer in order to issue qualified invoices.
Businesses that have not yet submitted applications are hastening to do so or to study the issue, because applications for registration must be submitted by March 31, 2023 in order to receive the purchase tax credit immediately after the start of the system.
Teikoku Databank has therefore conducted a survey on corporate opinion regarding the invoice system. This survey was conducted along with the TDB business trends survey for October 2022.
*Survey period: October 18, 2022 – October 31, 2022; Companies Surveyed: 26,752 nationwide; Valid Responses: 11,632 (Response Rate: 43.5%）.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey website (https://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 Among corporations, 76.6% indicated that they “understand” the invoice system. On the other hand, 20.0% said they “Do no understand it”, and a very small percentage of corporations (0.3%) indicated that they “Have never heard the word before”.
- 2 Regarding registration status for the invoice system, 52.9% of corporations indicated that they “Have already applied for registration as of September 2022”. Together with the 22.6% who said they “Plan to apply between October 2022 and March 2023”, 75.5% of corporations are expected to apply for registration within fiscal year 2022.
- 3 Only 3.8% of corporations have already confirmed their registration status for the invoice system for customers who are JCT taxpayers. By contrast, 25.4% “Are now in the process of confirming registration status” and 45.8% “Plan to confirm registration status by the start of the system”.
- 4 A full 51.1% of corporations think that the purchasing transactions they engage in with tax-exempt suppliers following the start of the new system will be conducted during the transitional period. However, many seem uncertain how they want to proceed, with 41.5% stating that they “Do not know”.