What the Registration number (T-number) is
The Registration number (T-number) is the number National Tax Agency assigns to a taxpayer in Japan. It follows you across every tax you deal with: Consumption tax, income tax and withholding. Businesses that pay you will ask for it before they release payment, because they report their suppliers to National Tax Agency by this number.
Who needs one
Anyone who wants to issue a qualified invoice (適格請求書) registers as a 適格請求書発行事業者 and receives a 登録番号, the T-number. Only a taxable business can register, and registering makes you one: the NTA states that once registered you file consumption tax even if base-period taxable sales are ¥10 million or less, until you cancel. A tax-exempt business that registers therefore gives up its exemption. Businesses selling only to consumers often do not register at all, because no customer needs the input tax credit.
How to register, step by step
- Decide whether you need one. If you sell only to consumers, a T-number buys you nothing and costs you your exemption.
- File the 適格請求書発行事業者の登録申請書 through e-Tax. An English version of the form and instructions is published. On paper, post it to the 業務センター covering your 納税地 — not to an インボイス登録センター, which is now only the contact point for chasing an application.
- If you are tax-exempt and registering part-way through a period, enter a 登録希望日 at least 15 days after the day you file.
- Register an email address in e-Tax so the 登録通知 is flagged in your 通知書等一覧. Allow about a month by e-Tax and about six weeks on paper, on the NTA's own published estimate.
- Put the T-number on your invoices, and confirm it resolves on the public 公表サイト before you send the first one.
How to find or check a Registration number (T-number)
Search the NTA's 適格請求書発行事業者公表サイト at invoice-kohyo.nta.go.jp, entering the 13 digits without the T. It confirms whether the number was a valid registration number at the time of the transaction. Corporate Numbers are separately searchable by company name or address at houjin-bangou.nta.go.jp; unlike マイナンバー, the Corporate Number is public and carries no restriction on use.