HR seminar for Office Managers
We will be holding a seminar to discuss the following topics below. Our guest speaker will be Mr. Ichiro Otsuka, attorney from Tokyo Roppongi Law Office. Our certified social insurance and labor consultants and tax professionals will also be offering presentations. If you are interested in participating, please send your notification to the following e-mail address by November 7h, 2008 (noon)
distribution@okamoto-co.com
Date: November 11, 2008 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Place: Training room at Okamoto & Company.

Public Notice of Financial Statements
According to the new Company Law, a company is required to provide notice of the summary financial statements to the public through the official government gazette or newspaper. However, in the past medium-small sized companies avoided issuing public notices of financial statements. Penalties have not been levied ; however, the trend is towards stricter enforcement of this law.

Shareholder meeting
A shareholders meeting must be held within three-months of the fiscal year-end. Approval of the financial statements for the year and distribution of profits and elections of directors should be decided at the annual general shareholder’s meeting. Tax returns will be filed subsequently based on the approved financial statements.

Director’s remuneration
Director’s remunerations should either be authorized in the Articles of Incorporation or annual general shareholder’s meeting (with appropriate minutes provided). The director’s remuneration should be the fully deductible, if the amounts are fixed and approved during the annual shareholders’ meeting. If bonuses are expected to be paid in a particular month and the tax office is notified of this within certain period of time, the bonus will become deductible for corporate income tax purposes.

National pension premium rate increased
(Not covered at Seminar)
National Pension premium rate increased to 15.35 % (employer and employee pay 50% of each) in September 2008. Starting this year, the National Pension premium rate will continue to increase by 0.354 % every September until it reaches 18.3 % in 2017.

Establishment of Health Insurance Association, “Kyokai Kenpo“
Some of governmental health insurance work will be transferred to Health Insurance Association, “Kyokai Kenpo” operated by each local city. The Association handles benefits for sickness or maternity, maintaining health insurance plan and collecting premiums. Documents submitted to the Association are directly returned to companies.

Pension Notifications
In the past, pension confirmation letters (tokubetsubin) were mailed to individuals whose pension information was likely to be inaccurate. Starting from April 2008, these pension confirmation letters are being mailed to all pensioners for confirmation purposes. Once you receive the letter, please make sure to clarify any unclear points by visiting to your local social insurance office or calling the Pension hotline before responding back.

Status of Social Security Agreements (Not covered at Seminar)
The following countries currently have agreements with Japan: Germany, U.K., South Korea, United States, Bergin, France, and Canada

Electronic File Cabinet
We will be storing selected documents (e.g. articles of incorporation, corporate registry, corporate tax returns) in PDF for your reference in a secure portal from January 2009. If you are interested in this free service, please contact distribution@okamoto-co.com for an application.

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