Besteuerungsauswirkungen der Gesellschaftsrechtsreform in Japan

Abstract

With  the  enactment  of  the  New  Company  Law  in  May  of last  year,  Japan  has  significantly  reformed  her  legal  landscape.  Besides numerous  new  legal  rules  and regulations, the Company Law and corresponding  changes in the tax laws  also  led  to  significant  consequences  regarding  the  acquisition  of  corporations  and joint ventures. The objective of this article is to illustrate some of the major  new rules in this important area. After a general overview of the taxation of legal  entities in Japan, this article will highlight some of the tax benefits when keeping  the share capital at 100 million yen. Further, the taxation of family corporations  and  limited  liability  partnerships  is  highlighted.  Lastly,  the  new  rules  on  thin  capitalization  as  well  as  the  new  restrictions  on  the  usage  of  tax  loss  carry forwards will be introduced. The new rules will have an impact on domestic as  well as on foreign investments in Japan and it remains to be seen how they will  be interpreted and develop in practice in the future.