Document Retention Periods in Japan and When They Start | Are Books and Receipts Kept 7 or 10 Years, and Which Years Can You Shred Now?

The short answer: people get “from when” wrong, not “how many years”

The usual mistake with retention periods is not the number of years but the start date. For a corporation’s books and receipts, the Corporation Tax Act says the 7 years run “from the day after the deadline for filing the final tax return”, not from the day after the fiscal year end. For a company with a March year end the filing deadline is 31 May, so documents for the year ended March 2025 are counted from 1 June 2025 and kept until 31 May 2032. Counting from the year end and shredding them on 31 March 2032 would be two months too early.

• A corporation’s books, financial statements and transaction documents such as receipts and invoices: 7 years under the Corporation Tax Act, starting the day after the filing deadline; 10 years for a fiscal year whose tax loss is carried forward.
• A company’s accounting books and financial statements (balance sheet, profit and loss statement and so on): 10 years under the Companies Act, from when the books are closed (for financial statements, from when they are prepared). For a kabushiki kaisha and similar companies this longer period is the one that counts.
• Minutes of shareholders’ meetings and board meetings: 10 years from the meeting date under the Companies Act.
• Sole proprietors: counted from the day after 15 March of the following year (the filing deadline); books 7 years, invoices, quotes and contracts 5 years. Under blue-form filing, receipts and bank books are 7 years (5 years if income two years earlier was 3 million yen or less).
• Employee registers, wage ledgers, attendance records and similar: 5 years under the Labour Standards Act, with a transitional rule allowing 3 years for the time being. The start date differs by document, such as the day of leaving or the day of the last entry.
• Employment insurance 4 or 2 years, health insurance and employees’ pension 2 years, workers’ accident insurance 3 years, individual health check records 5 years, and dependant exemption forms 7 years.

A retention period is the minimum: keep a document until that day and you have met the legal duty. You are not required to discard a document once its period ends, but knowing the right day to discard it keeps storage rooms and shared folders from filling up with old paperwork. The sections below go through the years and start date for each document and how the end date is counted.

Retention periods at a glance (corporations, sole proprietors, labour)

This table lists the retention period, start date and governing law for the main documents. Where more than one law applies to the same document, keep it until the later deadline.

The “starts from” column is the reference day for counting. Under Japanese law, when a period starts partway through a day, that first day is not counted and counting begins the next day (Civil Code Article 140). For example, the employee register for someone who left on 31 March 2025 is counted from 1 April and kept for 5 years, until 31 March 2030. The tax acts already say “from the day after the filing deadline”, so that day after the deadline is counted as day one.

Where the count starts: year end, filing deadline or 15 March

The start date depends on who owns the document and which law applies. A corporation’s tax documents start the day after the filing deadline, Companies Act documents the day after the year end, and a sole proprietor’s documents on 16 March of the following year. Even for the same “2025 books”, the deadline differs this much depending on the law.

“For 2025” means the fiscal year that ended in 2025 for a corporation (April 2024 to March 2025 for a March year end) and January to December 2025 for a sole proprietor. For a March year-end company, the Companies Act’s 10 years (31 March 2035) are longer than the Corporation Tax Act’s 7 years (31 May 2032), so the accounting books stay until 31 March 2035. Only in a loss year is the tax act’s 10 years two months longer, running to 31 May 2035.

A corporation’s filing deadline is two months from the day after its fiscal year ends. The deadlines by year-end month are below, and the retention period is counted from the day after.

Corporate documents: which applies, 7 years or 10?

Two laws apply to a corporation’s documents: the Corporation Tax Act, which prepares for tax audits, and the Companies Act, which requires a record of the company’s assets. Meeting only one of them is not enough; the actual retention period is the longer one that satisfies both.

• Corporation Tax Act: books and documents created or received in transactions (financial statements, receipts, invoices, quotes, contracts, delivery notes and so on) for 7 years from the day after the filing deadline.
• Fiscal years with a tax loss: if a fiscal year beginning on or after 1 April 2018 produces a loss that is carried forward and deducted from later income, that year’s books and documents are kept for 10 years. The carryforward period is 10 years, so the retention period matches it so the tax office can check the loss.
• Companies Act: a kabushiki kaisha and similar companies keep accounting books and “important materials relating to the business” for 10 years from when the books are closed, and financial statements and supplementary schedules for 10 years from when they are prepared.

The Companies Act does not list what counts as “important materials relating to the business”. That is why many companies keep the materials that back up their accounting records for 10 years: contracts, documents on acquiring shares or property, and invoices and receipts for large transactions. Whether to keep every small receipt for 10 years is up to the company, but when in doubt, matching the longer period is the safe choice.

Minutes of shareholders’ meetings and board meetings are kept at the head office for 10 years from the meeting date under the Companies Act. Minutes of an annual general meeting held on 27 June 2025 are counted from the next day and kept until 27 June 2035. Copies of shareholders’ meeting minutes must also be kept at branches for 5 years, except where, for example, the minutes are electronic and can be viewed at the branch. Some documents, such as the articles of incorporation, the shareholder register and registration documents, have no set period and are needed for as long as the company exists.

Sole proprietor documents: where 7 years becomes 5

For sole proprietors, the Income Tax Act sets separate periods for blue-form and white-form filers. In both cases counting starts the day after that year’s filing deadline (15 March of the following year).

If someone asks “how long do I keep receipts?”, the accurate answer is 7 years in principle for blue-form filers and 5 years for white-form filers. Blue-form filers can shorten this to 5 years only for cash and deposit documents, and only if their combined business and real estate income two years earlier was 3 million yen or less. For documents for 2025, that is judged on income for 2023.

As the table shows, a sole proprietor gains one more year of documents to discard every 16 March. From 16 March 2026, 7-year documents up to 2018 and 5-year documents up to 2020 may be discarded. However, consumption tax invoices of a registered business are kept for 7 years, and purchase documents that prove the cost of a fixed asset when it is sold (such as a property purchase contract) should be kept until it is sold, because without them the tax calculation works against you. Do not throw these out just by counting years.

Labour and social insurance documents: 5 years (3 for now) and different start dates

Companies and sole proprietors that employ people must keep employee registers, wage ledgers, attendance records and similar documents under the Labour Standards Act. A revision in April 2020 extended the period from 3 to 5 years, but a transitional rule allows 3 years “for the time being”. Penalties apply only if you discard them before 3 years, but the period for claiming unpaid overtime (the limitation period for wage claims) is also 5 years (3 for now), so keeping them for 5 years is the safer choice.

Documents that are added to every month, such as wage ledgers and attendance records, are counted from the last entry (the day the document is complete), so for current employees the count has not even started. If the wage payment date is later than the last entry, counting starts from that payment date. Grouping the documents of employees who have left by the year they left makes it easy to see when they can be discarded.

Special health checks for hazardous work have longer periods than general check-ups: 7 years for pneumoconiosis checks, 30 years for ionising radiation checks and 40 years from the day the worker stops the work for asbestos checks, among others. The annual paid leave register is kept for 5 years (3 for now) after the one-year period in which that year’s leave was granted ends. How to keep the register and the duty to have employees take 5 days a year are covered in the duty to take 5 days of paid leave a year.

Quick table: which years can be discarded in 2026

Documents may be discarded from the day after their retention deadline. This table shows which years can be discarded as of 2026. Corporations are assumed to have no filing deadline extension.

For a March year-end company, the Corporation Tax Act alone would let you discard documents up to the year ended March 2019, but the accounting books and financial statements fall under the Companies Act’s 10 years, so only those up to the year ended March 2016 can go. To avoid shredding the books along with everything else because “7 years have passed”, box the books separately from transaction documents. The accounting books for the year ended March 2017 reach the end of the Companies Act’s 10 years on 31 March 2027 and can be discarded from 1 April 2027.

For a different year-end month or an extended filing deadline, open the tool’s “discardable this year” tab and choose the year-end month and the extension. It lists the 7-year, 10-year and Companies Act 10-year deadlines for each fiscal year and the most recent year that can be discarded as of today.

Counting the end date: the day before the anniversary, month ends and holidays

Under Article 143 of the Civil Code, a period set in years ends on the day before the date in the final year that corresponds to the start date (the anniversary date). Seven years counted from 1 June 2025 end on 31 May 2032, the day before 1 June 2032, and keeping the document until the end of that day meets the duty.

1. 1

   Fix the start date

   Day one is the day after the filing deadline under the Corporation Tax Act, 16 March of the next year under the Income Tax Act, and the day after the year end or leaving date under the Companies Act and Labour Standards Act (the first day is not counted).

2. 2

   Add the years to find the anniversary date

   The same month and day in the start year plus the retention years is the anniversary date. Ten years from 1 April 2025 gives 1 April 2035.

3. 3

   The day before the anniversary is the end date

   31 March 2035, the day before 1 April 2035, is the end date (retention deadline). The document may be discarded from 1 April.

4. 4

   If there is no such date, use the month end

   If that date does not exist in the final year (such as 29 February), the period ends on the last day of that month.

Leap years shift dates slightly. A wage ledger last written on 29 February 2024 is counted from 1 March and kept for 5 years until 28 February 2029, or 3 years until 28 February 2027. A December year-end corporation’s filing deadline is the end of February the next year, so for the year ended December 2023 the deadline was 29 February 2024; counting 7 years from 1 March, the documents are kept until 28 February 2031.

Not counting the first day, and how to treat a deadline that falls on a holiday, work the same way for deadlines that count business days; see how to count business days.

Retention periods for electronic data and scans

When you keep records under the Electronic Bookkeeping Preservation Act, the retention periods are the same as for paper: 7 years for corporations (10 for loss years) and 7 or 5 years for sole proprietors, with the same start dates. What changes with electronic records is how they are kept, such as making them searchable and taking measures against tampering.

• Electronic transaction data: since January 2024, PDF invoices received by email, receipts from online shops and quotes exchanged through cloud services must be kept as electronic data. Printing them and keeping paper alone is not enough.
• Scanned records: if you scan paper receipts and the scans meet the requirements, you may discard the paper originals. The scans are kept for the same period as paper, such as 7 years.
• Books kept in accounting software: books created in accounting software from the start can be kept electronically. If you cancel the software you may lose access to the data, so keep exported data until the retention period has passed.

Electronic data takes up no space, so it rarely gets discarded, but without a rule on how long to keep it, it grows without limit. Split folders by fiscal year or tax year and put the retention deadline’s year and month in the folder name, and you can delete whole folders once their deadline has passed.

How to dispose of documents, and documents worth keeping longer

Documents past their retention deadline may be discarded, but many contain personal data or information about business partners, so how you dispose of them matters too. Disposing of them at the same time each year with the following steps avoids gaps.

1. 1

   Set one disposal day a year

   Pick a day just after the deadlines roll over: on or after 1 June (the day after the filing deadline) for a March year-end company, or on or after 16 March for a sole proprietor.

2. 2

   Write the deadline on each box or folder

   Group documents by year and write the deadline on the front, such as “keep until 31 May 2032”. Put books that fall under the Companies Act’s 10 years in separate boxes.

3. 3

   Take out only what is past its deadline

   Check the date and dispose only of boxes past it. Keep documents for years that are under tax audit or in litigation even if their deadline has passed.

4. 4

   Dissolve or shred, and keep a record

   Dispose of documents containing personal data through a dissolving service or a shredder. If you use a contractor, get a certificate of dissolution and record which documents for which year were discarded.

• Articles of incorporation, shareholder register, registration documents and internal rules: no set period; needed as long as the company exists.
• Purchase contracts and receipts for property and equipment: they support the acquisition cost and depreciation when you sell, so keep them for as long as you own the asset.
• Documents on transactions that may lead to disputes: keeping them until the limitation period for contractual claims (generally 5 years) has passed is reassuring.
• Employment records used for retirement allowances and pensions: proof of the period of employment may be needed later for retirement allowance rules or corporate pension calculations.

Writing the retention list and disposal steps into a document management policy lets you decide what to keep and what to discard on the same basis even when the person in charge changes. A quick way to draft one is to start from the list in this guide and add your own documents that you want to keep longer than the law requires.

Calculate your documents’ retention deadlines with the tool

In the Document Retention Period Calculator, choose a document under “corporation”, “sole proprietor” or “labour and social insurance” and enter the fiscal year end, the year or the leaving date, and it shows the retention period and deadline under each law and the first day the document may be discarded. For corporations you can also choose a filing deadline extension (1 to 4 months) and whether the year uses a tax loss carryforward. For Labour Standards Act documents it shows both the 5-year deadline and the transitional 3-year deadline.

• Books for the year ended March 2025 (March year end): 31 May 2032 under the Corporation Tax Act’s 7 years and 31 March 2035 under the Companies Act’s 10 years. The later date, 31 March 2035, is the retention deadline.
• A sole proprietor’s invoices for 2025: 5 years, to 15 March 2031. They may be discarded from 16 March 2031.
• The employee register for someone who left on 31 March 2025: 31 March 2030 for 5 years, or 31 March 2028 under the transitional 3 years.

The tool’s dates are a guide based on the statutory periods and the Civil Code’s counting rules. Deadlines can change in years when the filing deadline moved because of a holiday, under industry-specific rules, or while a tax audit or lawsuit is ongoing, so if you are unsure, check with a tax accountant or a labour and social security attorney.

FAQ

Are the 7 years for books counted from the fiscal year end?

For a corporation they are counted from the day after the filing deadline for the final tax return, not from the year end. With a March year end and no extension the deadline is 31 May, so books and documents for the year ended March 2025 are counted from 1 June 2025 and kept until 31 May 2032. For sole proprietors it is 7 years from the day after 15 March of the following year, so documents for 2025 are kept until 15 March 2033.

Does a corporation keep receipts and invoices for 7 years or 10?

Under the Corporation Tax Act it is 7 years (10 years for a fiscal year whose tax loss is carried forward). Accounting books and financial statements fall under the Companies Act’s 10 years, which takes precedence for a kabushiki kaisha and similar companies. Receipts and invoices are basically 7 years under the tax act, but many companies keep contracts and other documents that count as “important materials relating to the business” under the Companies Act for 10 years.

How long should a sole proprietor keep receipts?

7 years for blue-form filers (5 years if income two years earlier was 3 million yen or less) and 5 years for white-form filers. Both count from the day after 15 March of the following year, so receipts for 2025 are kept until 15 March 2033 under blue-form filing and until 15 March 2031 under white-form filing. Invoices, quotes and contracts are 5 years for both.

Are wage ledgers and time cards kept for 3 years or 5?

The Labour Standards Act says 5 years, but a transitional rule allows 3 years for the time being. The period for claiming unpaid wages is also 5 years (3 for now), so keeping them for 5 years is safer in case of disputes. Wage ledgers count from the last entry, time cards from the day of completion and employee registers from the day the employee left.

Which years’ documents can be discarded in 2026?

For a corporation with a March year end and no extension, Corporation Tax Act 7-year documents up to the year ended March 2019 can be discarded from 1 June 2026, and Companies Act 10-year accounting books and financial statements up to the year ended March 2016 from 1 April 2026. For sole proprietors, from 16 March 2026, 7-year documents up to 2018 and 5-year documents up to 2020 can be discarded.

Does keeping records electronically shorten the period?

No. Under the Electronic Bookkeeping Preservation Act the retention periods and start dates are the same as for paper: 7 years for corporations (10 for loss years) and 7 or 5 years for sole proprietors. Since January 2024, invoices, receipts and other electronic transaction data received by email or online must be kept in electronic form.

Must documents be discarded once the period has passed?

No. A retention period is the minimum, so keeping documents longer is not a problem. However, holding documents with personal data longer than necessary increases the risk of leaks, so it is a good idea to dissolve or shred them once the deadline has passed and keep a record of what was discarded.