外国人暮らしのQ&A「 仕事の収入に消費税」

Q:

I earn a wage working for a company in a factory. I was promised, verbally, that I would be paid an extra 25% when I worked overtime, but I haven't made a work contract with my employer.
The document I was given about my pay for work done says that consumption tax is being paid, but why?
And I'm not being paid any extra for overtime.

A:

Although it seems that you have not made a contract with your employer regarding the work you do, from the document you provided, which bears the title 注文書 (chūmonsho / purchase order), it would appear that your contractual relationship with the company is not an employment relationship (koyō kankei / 雇用関係), but rather a service contract (ukeoi keiyaku / 請負契約).

This contract seems to have been made so that you, as a sole proprietor (kojin jigyō nushi / 個人事業主) can sell your service or labor (ekimu / 役務), i.e. your service of working in the factory, to the company. The company, as the purchaser of the service, would appear to be paying you for the service purchased, along with the consumption tax (shōhizei / 消費税) applicable to the amount of the purchase.

Please note that this is a presumption based on the document provided; without an actual written contract we are unable to ascertain the terms and conditions under which you are supposed to be working. You will need to ask the company for confirmation. One reason why it's important to have a written contract is so that you can check the conditions again when you need to.

In the present situation, you are holding consumption tax paid by the purchaser (the company) of your service, so you will need to declare and pay the consumption tax to the tax office. Sole proprietorships whose taxable proceeds for the year before last were 10 million yen or less are exempted from the obligation to pay the consumption tax received this year (but not if taxable proceeds for the period January to June of last year were higher than 10 million yen). For details on consumption tax, please consult your nearest tax office.

As for the agreement with the company that they would provide a 25% increase on the base payment for overtime, even if only a verbal agreement, if both parties had agreed then a contract is considered to have been established. If both parties confirm that such was the content of their verbal agreement, you may be able to receive the unpaid extra funds. Please ask the company directly for help to clarify the situation.

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