The year-end adjustment in freee — whose job is it?

In short: freee HR (freee人事労務) has a year-end adjustment feature, and no licence is needed to run it for your own company. But the year-end adjustment (nenmatsu chōsei) is a tax procedure that settles the over- and under-withholding of income tax, and doing it for another party for a fee is work for a tax accountant. Even if a shakai hoken roumushi runs your payroll, the year-end adjustment is not included.

"freee has a year-end adjustment button, but our retained shakai hoken roumushi says they can't take it on" — every year as December approaches, companies run into this apparent contradiction. This page is for owners and back-office staff planning to run the year-end adjustment in freee HR, and explains why something "in the software" cannot be handed to the labour consultant. Yotsuba does not handle it either; we point clients to a tax accountant.

Is the year-end adjustment part of payroll?

No — and this is where the confusion starts.

In monthly payroll, income tax is withheld according to the withholding tax tables. That is part of payroll, and within what you can ask a shakai hoken roumushi to do. The year-end adjustment, by contrast, settles the difference between the total withheld during the year and the tax actually due for that year (Income Tax Act, Article 190). The monthly withholding is a "provisional collection"; the year-end adjustment is the "once-a-year settlement". Same tax, different character of procedure.

And the settlement side is a tax procedure. That is why a payroll retainer does not automatically include the year-end adjustment.

The feature is in the software — why can't we hand it over?

Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act defines tax agency, preparation of tax documents, and tax consultation as the work of a tax accountant. Calculating the year-end adjustment, and the documents it produces — the withholding certificates, the statutory report summary, the salary payment reports — belong to this territory. Doing it for another party, for a fee, is the tax accountant's province.

If the structure looks familiar, you are right. As with the Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant Act discussed in We've brought in freee HR. So what does a retained shakai hoken roumushi actually do?, the definition of "tax documents" in item 2 of the Tax Accountant Act also expressly includes electronic or magnetic records. Paper or cloud data, the line is drawn the same way. The software's feature exists so you can do your own company's work yourself; the licensing line for having someone do it for you runs outside the screen.

freee's official help (updated 21 July 2026, viewed 14 August 2026) also divides what each plan can do.

Plan	What the year-end adjustment feature covers
Year-End Adjustment Paperless plan (年末調整ペーパーレスプラン)	Collecting employee information and exporting CSV only. It cannot calculate refunds and additional collections; the collected data is meant to be imported into payroll software or shared with a professional for the remaining work
Minimum plan (ミニマムプラン)	The administrator enters the data; calculation and reflection of refunds/additional collections are covered. No electronic filing — paper submission
Starter plan (スタータープラン, formerly Basic) and above	Employee self-entry, calculation, and electronic filing (advance setup in e-Tax and eLTAX required)

freee's features and plan structure change. The table reflects materials published as of August 2026; check the official help pages for the current scope.

Heading into December, who decides what?

Start the year-end adjustment in December and you will be late. There are three decisions.

Decision	Options
Who calculates and finalises	Complete it in-house in freee / engage a tax accountant
How the documents are submitted	Electronic filing (plan and e-Tax/eLTAX setup permitting) / on paper
The employee-facing schedule	When to request input (November is the benchmark), My Number administrator settings, how to collect insurance premium deduction certificates

If you have a retained tax accountant, agree by November on how far you enter data in freee yourselves and where you hand over. If you have none and in-house completion looks difficult, deciding to engage a tax accountant comes first.

How far can a shakai hoken roumushi take it?

Around the year-end adjustment sit tasks that can be handed to a shakai hoken roumushi. Drawing the line:

Task	Whom to engage
Monthly payroll and bonus calculation (including withholding)	A shakai hoken roumushi can take this
Social and labour insurance procedures, the annual calculation report and annual renewal	A shakai hoken roumushi can take this
The year-end adjustment's tax calculation and finalisation	A tax accountant
Preparing and filing the withholding certificates, statutory report summary and salary payment reports on your behalf	A tax accountant

In other words, "payroll to the shakai hoken roumushi, year-end adjustment to the tax accountant" — separate contracts — is the shape that follows the licensing lines. Since a year of accurate payroll data is the precondition for the year-end adjustment, keeping monthly payroll in order makes December lighter.

What can 四葉社会保険労務士事務所 do?

四葉社会保険労務士事務所, in Kohinata, Bunkyo City, handles monthly payroll, social and labour insurance procedures, labour consultation, and the drafting and revision of work rules. We do not handle the year-end adjustment; we point you to a tax accountant, whom you engage directly. No referral fees change hands. If you use freee HR, there is no need to change software.

Consultation is free of charge. We will start by sorting out how much you can do in-house and how to divide payroll from the year-end adjustment. Fees are in the fee schedule, and the questions we are asked most often are collected on the FAQ page.

Whom to consult

Tax — including the year-end adjustment, bookkeeping, closing and returns — is work for a tax accountant; registration for a judicial scrivener; matters in dispute for an attorney. Residence-status applications, subsidies and company-formation documents are handled by 四葉行政書士事務所 (a separate business from this office, engaged under a separate contract). In every case, no referral fees change hands.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can the shakai hoken roumushi who runs our payroll also do our year-end adjustment?
A. No. The year-end adjustment is a tax procedure, and performing it for another party for a fee is the work of a tax accountant (Certified Public Tax Accountant Act, Article 2, paragraph 1). This office does not handle it either; we point you to a tax accountant, whom you engage directly. No referral fees change hands.

Q. Do freee's plans differ in what the year-end adjustment feature can do?
A. Yes. According to the official help (viewed 14 August 2026), the Year-End Adjustment Paperless plan covers information collection and CSV export only; the Minimum plan calculates but cannot file electronically; the Starter plan and above can file electronically. Features change — check the official help for the latest.

Q. Do we need any licence to complete the year-end adjustment in-house?
A. No. Doing your own company's procedures yourselves sits outside the licensing lines. To file electronically you need a qualifying plan and advance setup in e-Tax and eLTAX.

Q. Doesn't splitting "payroll to the consultant, year-end adjustment to the tax accountant" double the work?
A. The contracts split; the work is continuous. If monthly payroll data accumulates accurately, the year-end side becomes lighter. Deciding by November who holds what is the practical way to avoid duplication.

Sources for this article

• Income Tax Act (所得税法, Act No. 33 of 1965), Article 190 (year-end adjustment) — current text confirmed on e-Gov on 14 August 2026
• Certified Public Tax Accountant Act (税理士法, Act No. 237 of 1951), Article 2, paragraph 1 (the definition of tax documents in item 2 includes electronic or magnetic records) — current text confirmed on e-Gov the same day
• The plan-by-plan scope of freee HR's year-end adjustment feature — freee Help Center, "The flow of the year-end adjustment in freee HR" (updated 21 July 2026, viewed 14 August 2026)

freee's features and plan structure change. Check freee's official help pages for the latest scope. This article is based on materials published as of August 2026.

The overall line between the software and the shakai hoken roumushi is drawn in We've brought in freee HR. So what does a retained shakai hoken roumushi actually do?; where freee's AI features (including AI Year-End Adjustment Assist) now stand is in How far has the AI integration between freee HR and freee Accounting actually come?; and how payroll pricing works in How much does it cost to have a shakai hoken roumushi run payroll?.

This article is general information. Judgments that fit your particular circumstances are made by a qualified professional after a meeting. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Shakai Hoken Roumushi (Certified Social Insurance and Labor Consultant), Gyoseishoshi (Certified Administrative Procedures Legal Specialist), Registered Real Estate Transaction Specialist).