When your Business Manager visa becomes hard to renew, how do you wind up the company and the property? — Do not get the order wrong

Sell the property first, and wind up the company afterwards. Do it the other way round and you are stuck. Liquidating a company requires public notice in the Official Gazette, and that period may not be less than two months (Companies Act, Article 499, paragraph 1, proviso). Once the corporate legal personality is gone, property in the company's name cannot be moved.

This page is for owners of property held in a company's name, and deals with the order in which to do things when renewing a Business Manager status of residence becomes difficult. The requirements for the status itself are set out in Starting a group home business as a foreign national, and the process of selling before you leave in our feature on selling property before leaving Japan.

Last updated: ◯ ◯ 2026

Why are people finding their renewals do not go through at the moment?

Because the amendment that came into force on 16 October 2025 raised the requirements sharply.

The "Business Manager" status of residence is the status under which a foreign national runs a company in Japan. Its requirements were amended, and the guideline for the amount invested (the capital) was raised from JPY 5 million or more to JPY 30 million or more. Requirements were added at the same time: securing full-time employees, Japanese language ability to a certain standard, and confirmation of the business plan by an expert such as an SME management consultant (chusho kigyo shindanshi), a certified public accountant or a licensed tax accountant (zeirishi).

Transitional measures are said to be in place for those who already hold the status, but the conditions on which they apply differ with your own circumstances. The moment you think "the next renewal may be difficult" is the moment to start moving.

Whether a status of residence is granted is decided by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan. Neither this company nor this article guarantees any outcome. What is dealt with here is the sequencing question: if the renewal does not go through, how do you wind up the property and the company?

Which comes first?

Selling the property comes first. Winding up the company comes second.

The reason lies in the corporate legal personality. When the liquidation of a company is completed, that legal personality is extinguished. Once it is gone, the registration of transfer of ownership of property in that company's name cannot be made. The property is no longer in a state in which it can be sold.

Winding up a company also takes time.

How long does it take to wind up a company?

Two months at the very least.

A stock company is dissolved by a resolution of the shareholders meeting, among other grounds (Companies Act, Article 471). A dissolved company becomes a company in liquidation, and the following duty arises.

A company in liquidation must, without delay, give public notice in the Official Gazette to the effect that its creditors should state their claims within a specified period, and must give separate notice to each known creditor. However, that period may not be less than two months. (Companies Act, Article 499, paragraph 1)

Those two months cannot be compressed. And residual assets may not be distributed to the shareholders until the debts have been paid (same Act, Article 502).

In practice, then, the sequence runs like this.

Stage	What happens	Rough timing
1	Sell the property and bring the proceeds into the company	A few weeks, if sold before departure
2	Resolve on dissolution at the shareholders meeting and appoint a liquidator	—
3	Register the dissolution and the appointment of the liquidator (judicial scrivener)	—
4	Public notice in the Official Gazette (two months or more) plus separate notice to each known creditor	Two months or more
5	Payment of the debts, then determination of the residual assets	—
6	Approval of the settlement of accounts and registration of the completion of liquidation (judicial scrivener)	—
7	Tax notifications and the final tax return on liquidation (licensed tax accountant)	—

Move stage 1 to after stage 4 and you run out of time. And once you have gone all the way to completion of the liquidation, the means of selling has itself disappeared.

How do you work backwards from the day your status of residence expires?

Line up three dates.

Date	What changes
The date of delivery of the property	If you are a resident on that date, there is no withholding at source of 10.21%. If you have become a non-resident, the tax is withheld (At what point is non-resident status determined?)
The date you close your residence record (the moving-out notification)	Your seal registration ends and you can no longer obtain a certificate of registered seal — which the registration at completion requires (Can a foreign resident register a seal in Japan on the same day?)
The expiry date of your status of residence	The limit of your permission to stay in Japan

The order you want is: delivery → notification of your tax agent in Japan → moving-out notification → departure.

Where in that line you place the two months of winding up the company is the design question. If there is little room left before your status of residence expires, leaving Japan part-way through the liquidation is a possibility (whether the liquidator is in Japan, and other points, need to be considered case by case). This is the part to be built with a judicial scrivener and a licensed tax accountant.

What is different about property held in a company's name?

	In your own name	In the company's name
Seller	You	The company (signed by its representative)
Needed at completion	Certificate of registered seal, residence record and so on	The company's certificate of registered seal and its certificate of registered matters, plus identity verification of the representative
Tax on the gain	Income tax (capital gains)	Corporation tax (aggregated with other profits and losses)
Withholding at source of 10.21% for non-residents	Turns on whether you are a non-resident	Turns on whether the company is a foreign corporation. For a Japanese company it does not ordinarily arise
When to wind up the company	Not relevant	After the sale (the conclusion of this article)

Held in a company's name, both the tax treatment and the paperwork are a different animal. Proceed on the assumption that "it is the same as selling as an individual" and you will find documents missing on the day of completion.

Note too that where the representative lives in the property as company housing provided to a director (yakuin shataku), vacating it and restoring it become entangled with the timetable for the sale. Whether to sell while still living there is another point to settle early.

Who does what?

Who	What
Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd.	Brokerage on the sale of property held in a company's name. Scheduling worked backwards from the expiry date of the status of residence. Introductions to a judicial scrivener and a licensed tax accountant
Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office (a separate contract)	Preparing application documents relating to status of residence, including setting out the outlook for a renewal or a change
A judicial scrivener, with whom you or the company contract directly	Registration of transfer of ownership; registration of the dissolution and of the appointment of the liquidator; registration of the completion of liquidation
A licensed tax accountant, with whom you or the company contract directly	Corporation tax returns, the final tax return on liquidation, and notifications to the tax office

Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. and Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office are separate business entities and take instructions under separate contracts. With judicial scriveners and licensed tax accountants, we direct you or the company to contract with them directly, and we receive no referral fee.

What we cannot do: decide whether a status of residence is granted (that is for the Immigration Services Agency of Japan); act as agent in registration applications (for a judicial scrivener); calculate the tax and prepare the returns (for a licensed tax accountant).

What happens if unpaid tax is left behind after you leave?

It tells the next time you come to Japan.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan's guidelines evaluate the non-fulfilment of tax obligations as a negative factor in extensions of period of stay and changes of status of residence, and the revision of June Reiwa 8 (2026) added a note: "a decision on whether to grant permission may be made taking into account information on the status of fulfilment of tax and other obligations provided by relevant agencies". For permanent residence, even where payment has been made by the time of application, failure to pay within the original period is in principle evaluated negatively.

The year you wind up a company is a year in which a good many taxes move — corporation tax, consumption tax, resident tax. Winding up is not the end of it. There is more in How long does unpaid Japanese tax follow you after you leave?.

What this article is based on

Point	Source
Grounds for the dissolution of a stock company (a resolution of the shareholders meeting, among others)	Companies Act (Act No. 86 of Heisei 17 (2005)), Article 471
Public notice in the Official Gazette to the creditors of a company in liquidation, and separate notice to each known creditor. That period may not be less than two months	Companies Act, Article 499, paragraph 1
That residual assets may not be distributed to the shareholders until the debts have been paid	Companies Act, Article 502
Amendment of the requirements for the "Business Manager" status of residence (in force 16 October 2025; guideline for the amount invested raised from JPY 5 million or more to JPY 30 million or more; full-time employees; Japanese language ability; confirmation of the business plan by an expert)	Immigration Services Agency of Japan, "Amendment of the Ministerial Ordinance on Criteria for Landing and related provisions concerning the status of residence 'Business Manager'"; and the same Agency, "Status of residence: 'Business Manager'"
Fulfilment of tax obligations in extension of period of stay and change of status of residence (evaluation as a negative factor; provision of information by relevant agencies)	Immigration Services Agency of Japan, "Guidelines for permission for change of status of residence and extension of period of stay", item 7 (last revised June Reiwa 8 (2026))
Fulfilment of public obligations in permission for permanent residence	Immigration Services Agency of Japan, "Guidelines for permission for permanent residence", 1(3)イ (revised 24 February Reiwa 8 (2026))
Withholding at source (10.21%) when buying property from a non-resident, and the point at which that is determined	Income Tax Act, Article 161, paragraph 1, item 5 and Article 212, paragraph 1; Basic Circular on the Income Tax Act, 36-12; National Tax Agency, question-and-answer examples

This page provides general information only. Whether a status of residence is granted is decided by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, and neither this company nor this article guarantees any outcome. The requirements for a status of residence change with amendments and with the examination of each individual case. The conditions on which transitional measures apply differ with your own circumstances. The specific steps and the timescale of a liquidation, and the tax treatment, are matters for a judicial scrivener and a licensed tax accountant respectively.

Real estate brokerage is undertaken by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. (Real Estate Brokerage Business Licence, Governor of Tokyo (1) No. 113304), and the preparation of application documents relating to status of residence by Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office (registration No. 25087022), under a separate contract in each case. For registrations we introduce you to a judicial scrivener and for tax matters to a licensed tax accountant, and you contract with each of them directly. We receive no referral fee.

About the author Joji Uramatsu | Representative Director of Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. and its full-time Real Estate Transaction Specialist (takken-shi). Administrative scrivener. Former China Bureau Chief of the Mainichi Shimbun, with 34 years as a journalist; posted to China, Taiwan and Thailand in that role. Passed the Certified Social Insurance and Labour Consultant examination (practice scheduled to open September 2026).

Related links

• Feature: selling your property before you leave Japan
• At what point is non-resident status determined?
• How long does unpaid Japanese tax follow you after you leave?
• Starting a group home business as a foreign national (the requirements for Business Manager)
• Status of residence and visa applications (Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office)
• Contact us