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Leave Japan in the right order.

A Cyprus company pays 15% against about 31% in Japan, and with non-dom status you pay no tax on dividends. Japan's exit tax and a 10-year inheritance rule follow you, so we plan the order first, then build the Cyprus side.

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  • Fixed prices
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日本語で読む

Half the corporate rate, side by side.

Japan stacks five taxes on a company's profit, then taxes the dividend. Move the slider to your own profit.

€200,000
In Japan
Corporate tax
−€61,280
Tax on dividends
−€28,181
You keep
€110,539
In Cyprus
Corporate tax
−€30,000
Health contribution (GeSY)
−€4,505
You keep
€165,495

More in your pocket+€54,956every year

More in your pocket +€54,956 every year

Japan: 30.64%, five taxes on company profit plus the defence surtax, for fiscal years from 1 April 2026, then 20.315% on listed dividends. A dividend from your own unlisted company is added to your other income and taxed at up to about 55.9%, so your real gap is likely wider.

Headline rates for a founder who takes the profit out as dividends and has become Cyprus tax resident with non-dom status. Your own figures will differ. This is an illustration, not tax advice.

What Japan keeps hold of.

Japan's exit costs aren't on the company's tax return. They sit in your shares, your estate and the order you file things in. Plan them with a Japanese adviser.

  • Exit tax from ¥100 million in securities

    If your shares and other securities are worth ¥100 million or more, and you lived in Japan for more than five of the last ten years, Japan taxes them as if you sold them the day you leave. The national part is about 15% of the gain.

  • Name a tax agent before you go

    You can put off paying the exit tax for five years, or ten if you extend, against security. But only if you name a tax agent (nōzei kanrinin) before you leave. Name one afterwards and the deferral is gone for good.

  • Ten more years of inheritance tax

    A Japanese national stays inside Japan's inheritance tax on worldwide assets for ten years after leaving, and a Japanese heir has the same ten-year clock. Both clocks must run out. Rates reach 55%. Shares in a Japanese company stay taxable in Japan for good.

  • Local tax follows 1 January

    Anyone with a Japanese address on 1 January owes local inhabitant tax of 10% on the previous year's income. Leave on 2 January and you still pay the full year. Leave before 1 January if you can, and name a second tax agent at your city office.

  • CFC rules, until you've left

    Japan's CFC rules tax a foreign company's profit on its Japanese owner. They spare only companies taxed at 20% or more, and Cyprus is 15%. While you live in Japan, the profit of a Cyprus company without real substance is taxed as your income, at up to about 55.9%.

  • Come back, and it's cancelled

    Return to Japan within the deferral period and the exit tax on assets you kept is cancelled. That holds even if you paid it, as long as you return within five years.

What Cyprus changes.

One corporate rate with no surtaxes, no tax on dividends as a non-dom, and no inheritance or gift tax at all.

Corporate tax
15%
One flat rate, with no local surcharges.
Tax on dividends
0%
As a non-dom, for up to 17 years.
Days a year for tax residency
60
Under the 60-day rule, with a home and a business here.
Wealth or inheritance tax
0
Cyprus has neither.
  • Japan isn't in the EU, so the Yellow Slip isn't your route. You need a Pink Slip, the residence permit for non-EU citizens. We file it with you, with a lawyer for complex cases.
  • Shares in a Cyprus company count as Cyprus assets. Once you and your heirs are past the ten-year rule, value held in one is outside Japanese inheritance tax.
  • Japan and Cyprus have no tax treaty, so Japan withholds 20.42% in full on royalties and most service fees you invoice into Japan. Price it in.
  • The IP Box taxes qualifying income at an effective 3%. It works once you've left Japan, never while its CFC rules still apply to you.

The order decides the cost.

Some steps stop being possible once the one before has happened. Read this as a sequence, not a calendar.

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  1. First

    Value your securities

    A Japanese tax adviser checks whether your shares and other securities reach ¥100 million, and whether you lived in Japan for more than five of the last ten years. We can recommend one if you need it.

  2. The year before

    Time the income and the date

    Your adviser times large dividends or gains so you can leave before 1 January. Together we settle what the Japanese company does after the move.

  3. 2 to 3 months before

    Name the tax agents

    Before you leave, your adviser registers a tax agent with the tax office and a second one with your city office, and arranges security for any exit-tax deferral.

  4. Month 1We do this

    Form the Cyprus company

    We register it with tax, VAT and VIES, and your books open the day you order. You become its director, which counts towards the 60-day rule.

  5. Month 1 to 3We do this

    Apply for your Pink Slip

    Japan isn't in the EU, so you need a Pink Slip. We check which route fits you, prepare the application and file it with you, and bring in a lawyer where the case is complex.

  6. Month 3 to 6

    A home and the decisions

    Rent or buy the Cyprus home the 60-day rule needs. Move the board and its decisions to Cyprus, and keep the records Japan's CFC tests are judged on.

  7. From month 12We do this

    Tax residency and non-dom

    We register your Cyprus tax residency and non-dom status. Your adviser files the exit-tax return, then the yearly notice due every 15 March to keep the deferral.

The Cyprus side, done for you.

Fixed prices, excl. VAT, agreed before you start. Government fees are charged at cost, on top of our fee, once your application is approved.

Questions Japanese founders ask.

Still unsure? Talk to a person on WhatsApp, or book a free call below.

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Only if your securities are worth ¥100 million or more and you lived in Japan for more than five of the last ten years. Japan then taxes them as if you sold them the day you leave. Shares, funds and derivative positions count. Property, cash and crypto don't. The national part is about 15% of the gain. You can defer it for five to ten years, with security and a tax agent named before you leave.

When your base of life is no longer in Japan. There is no 183-day rule. Japan looks at your home, work, assets and family, so you can spend more than half a year abroad and still be resident. With no treaty to settle it, move the family, the home and the work. If you leave mid-year, your final return is due when you leave, unless you name a tax agent.

No. Under the 60-day rule you can be Cyprus tax resident with 60 days a year here, a home you rent or own, a business or job in Cyprus, and no more than 183 days in any other country. Directing your own Cyprus company can count as the business. Japan claiming you no longer rules you out in Cyprus, but it doesn't end your Japanese residence either.

Eventually. A Japanese national abroad stays taxed on worldwide assets for ten years after leaving, and a Japanese heir has the same ten-year test. The family is out only when both clocks have run. Shares in a Japanese company stay taxable in Japan for good, so moving the value into a Cyprus company is what changes the picture. Cyprus has no inheritance or gift tax.

That plan runs into the exit tax anyway. If a parent who meets the same two tests gives or leaves those shares to you while you live abroad, Japan treats the parent as having sold them. Income tax on the gain then comes on top of gift or inheritance tax. Plan the shares with your Japanese adviser before you move.

You can, but it rarely pays. The company doesn't become Japanese, because Japan only looks at where the head office is. But while you live in Japan, its CFC rules tax the company's profit on you at up to about 55.9% unless it has real substance in Cyprus. A company that licenses IP is caught whatever its substance. A taxable presence in Japan is still a risk too.

It stays Japanese wherever you live, until you close it. Keep it if it has Japanese customers, staff and revenue. Close it if it only ever served you. Leaving it as an idle shell costs the most. It keeps the filings going, keeps a Japanese asset in your estate, and suggests your life never really moved.

No. Japan withholds 20.42% in full on dividends, interest, royalties and most service income paid to Cyprus, and nothing settles it if both countries claim you. The two still exchange tax information, so the move has to be real. If Cyprus later taxes a gain Japan already taxed on exit, Japan gives a credit even without a treaty.

Not if you hold Japanese nationality. The lump-sum refund is only for people without it, so your contributions stay in the system and pay out under the normal rules. A foreign founder can claim within two years of leaving, with at least six months of contributions and fewer than the ten years that earn a Japanese pension. We haven't confirmed whether Japan and Cyprus have a social security agreement, so ask before you go.

Plan your move with us.

Tell us what you own and when you'd like to move. We'll tell you what applies, what it costs, and what to do first.

  • Which rules at home affect you
  • The order to do things in
  • A fixed price for the Cyprus side

30 minutes, by video, free

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We form your company, apply for your residency with you and keep your books.

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