Korea / Japan B2B Glossary

10-digit unique ID issued by the National Tax Service to Korean businesses; foundational for all B2B transactions and tax invoicing.

Electronic tax invoice issued between Korean businesses; auto-reported to the National Tax Service (Hometax).

Digitally signed employment contract with the same legal validity as paper contracts under Korea's Electronic Signature Act.

National Pension, Health, Employment, and Workers' Compensation insurance — mandatory when employing workers in Korea.

알림톡 is informational (order/booking confirmations); 친구톡 is promotional. Different legal rules and sending conditions.

Required registration for businesses selling goods/services via internet or phone in Korea.

Korean formal document to propose and get approval for decisions, spending, or contracts within a company.

13-digit unique ID assigned to Korean citizens; required for HR, tax, finance but strictly regulated under the Personal Information Protection Act.

Korean system where the payer deducts tax upfront and remits it to the NTS; applied to wages, business income, interest, dividends, etc.

Annual reconciliation of labor income tax done in January–February to balance monthly withholdings with actual annual tax.

Japan's 13-digit corporate ID assigned by the NTA; public information anyone can look up.

Japanese law permitting electronic storage of books, contracts, invoices; since 2022, electronic transactions must be stored electronically.

Japan's consumption-tax reform since October 2023 — input VAT credit is based on qualified invoices issued only by registered issuers.

Japan's 12-digit citizen/resident ID, required for HR, tax, and social insurance; strictly protected.

Japanese businesses registered to issue qualified invoices since the Invoice System started October 2023; must display T-number.

Japan's formal internal-approval process for decisions, spending, or contracts. A cornerstone of Japanese corporate culture.

Japan's health, pension, employment, and workers' comp insurance — mandatory on hire, electronically filed via HR SaaS.

Japanese law mandating business disclosure for consumer transactions (mail order, door-to-door, multi-level marketing, etc.).

Japanese system where payers deduct tax upfront and remit to the NTA; applied to wages, fees, interest, dividends.

Japan's annual employee income tax reconciliation in Oct–Dec, balancing monthly withholdings with actual tax liability.

Software as a Service sold to businesses. Subscription revenue, hybrid of self-serve and enterprise sales motion.

Customer Acquisition Cost / Lifetime Value. Their ratio determines business sustainability.

Percentage of customers who left within a period. Lower = stronger product value and customer satisfaction.

Freemium = permanent free tier exists. Free Trial = time-limited free access. The conversion and churn patterns differ fundamentally.

Evolution of SEO. Optimizing so LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) cite your site as a source in their answers.

Monthly Recurring Revenue / Annual Recurring Revenue. The most foundational SaaS metrics.

How much revenue from an existing customer cohort is retained and expanded in the next period. Above 100% means expansion overcomes churn.

Building apps/workflows without code or with minimal code. Citizen-developer market growing rapidly in Korean/Japanese B2B.

The process where new signups experience product value for the first time; the first 30 days determine ~70% of churn.

Growth strategy where the product itself drives acquisition, onboarding, and conversion. Free-tier → self-serve upgrade path.