1. Accounting(Lease Accounting)
In the IASB, IFRS 16 “Leases” was released in January 2016, and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (the “ASBJ”) started to consider how to handle this accounting standard from the perspective of consistency with international standards. In the medium-term management policy announced in August 2016, lease accounting was set as part of efforts to make Japanese accounting standards internationally consistent. Based on this, it was approved at the ASBJ last December to discuss whether or not to start considering the accounting standards for leases under Japanese GAAP at the Technical Committee of Lease Accounting. The discussion has started.
Discussions on pros and cons are underway, and standard development seems to be prolonged.
2. Tax
” Multilateral conventions to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent base erosion and profit shifting” which Japan signed on June 8, 2017 (the tax treaty on the implementation of BEPS prevention measures, below, it is referred to simply as MLI (multilateral instrument) meaning multilateral treaty) has articles about the determining threshold of the existence of a permanent establishment (Articles 12 to 15). Of these, Japan has chosen to apply the provisions of Article 12 (prevention of tax avoidance through the Commissionaire scheme) and Article 13 (prevention of tax avoidance through the activity of a preparatory and auxiliary character), and not to apply the provision of Article 14 (prevention of tax avoidance through splitting-up of contracts for construction work etc.).
Regarding the 35 tax treaties that Japan has chosen to apply to the MLI, the concept of Permanent Establishment expanded based on the above provision will be applied, but as of July 1, 2018, the approval of the Diet that is necessary to ratify the MLI has not been obtained yet. The position of Japan for each Article of the MLI is posted on the following OECD website.
http://www.oecd.org/tax/treaties/beps-mli-position-japan.pdf
3. Labor Management (Award for employee-friendly and productive companies and workplaces)
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare recognizes companies that are making exemplary efforts to balance the improvement of productivity and employment management to make the workplace more attractive for employees. This “Award for employee-friendly and productive companies and workplaces” started 3 years ago in order to promote the efforts to create work environments in which anyone can continue to work comfortably.
The judging committee judges the efforts of the participant companies and the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare awards outstanding companies. The awarded companies are introduced via the Ministry’s various PR mediums such as their portal site. It is also the purpose of this award to introduce and spread news of the outstanding efforts to the public at large.
Participants who fulfill certain conditions can register between June 29 and August 31, 2018. (Resource: Portal site for employee-friendly and productive companies and workplaces)
4. This Month’s Words of Wisdom
Leave everything cleaner than it was when you got here.
(author unknown)
In the Russia World Cup, it seems to be a topic of conversation that Japanese spectators clean up after each match.
(My relative is going to Russia to watch the matches, I will confirm this when they come back.)
I think that the beauty of good manners is a virtue that we can be proud of.
For more details, please refer to Nagamine & Mishima JC Accounting K.K.
