Zeirishi means "a certified public tax accountant" and has "a national license" as a tax specialist. Zei literally means tax. Zeiri means tax laws and Shi means a specialist. You can understand that zeirishi is a tax specialist who is well versed in tax laws and Japanese tax system.
In Japan, a certified public accountant (CPA) is different from a certified public tax accountant (CPTA) because both licenses are different. However, a CPA can obtain the qualification as a CPTA by the registration of the license only. An attorney at law can also be a CPTA as same as CPA.
In general, if you want to obtain the license of CPTA, you need to pass 5 special state examinations.
The subjects of examination is following;
Required two accounting subjects : Bookkeeping and Financial statements
A Required subject from two tax laws : Income Tax Act or Corporation Tax Act
Selected subjects : Inheritance Tax Act, Either the Consumption Tax Act or the Liquor Tax Act, National Tax Collection Act, Either the Local Tax Act relating to prefectural inhabitants tax and municipal inhabitants tax or the Local Tax Act relating to enterprise tax, Local Tax Act relating to fixed assets tax
For example, the first case to pass 5 examinations is the following;
1. Bookkeeping
2. Financial statements
3. Income Tax Act
4. Inheritance Tax Act
5. Either the Consumption Tax Act or the Liquor Tax Act
The second case to pass 5 examinations is the following;
1. Bookkeeping
2. Financial statements
3. Income Tax Act
4. Corporation Tax Act
5. Inheritance Tax Act
We do not have the statistics that shows how long the examiners pass the 5 examinations to obtain the license because the government agency does not open it in public. Passing all the examinations and obtaining a license as a CPTA, varies from person to person. But according to some websites, on an average, a person spends 7 years before passing the 5 examination.
People who obtain the license of CPTA are awarded a special badge as shown in the picture.
