What this document is
Immigration sorts your employer into four categories by size and by the tax the company has already paid. The higher the number, the more papers: category 1·2 needs almost nothing from the company, category 4 must submit financial statements. The exact conditions of each group are below.
What it must show
- GROUP 1 — public bodies and the largest firms. Listed companies · mutual insurance companies · national or local government · independent administrative institutions · special/authorised corporations · recognised public-interest corporations · certified innovation-creating or Youth-Yell companies.
- GROUP 2 — large taxpayers. Organisations whose withholding tax for last year was ¥10 million or more on the 法定調書合計表 statement. Institutions approved to use the online residence-application system also count as group 2.
- GROUP 3 — ordinary small companies. The company did file last year's 法定調書合計表 but the tax was under ¥10 million — most Japanese SMEs sit here.
- GROUP 4 — new companies / no filing yet. No 法定調書合計表 filed for last year: founded less than a year ago, or never liable. This group must also submit the business licence, corporate registry, financial statements or business plan and a company brochure.
- Can't ask HR? Ask exactly: “Is the company listed?” and “Was last year's withholding tax ¥10 million or more?” If unsure, choose group 3 — a fuller document set; extra papers are accepted, missing ones send you home.
- Dispatch workers: the category follows the dispatch agency (contract and salary), not the site you go to — and you must add papers about the actual workplace.
Notes
You can change your answers any time — the document photos you already took are NOT lost.