She’s Getting a Rep as an Irresponsible Ditz, but Come to Think of It, She’s Supposed to Be a Tax Accountant

It was the end of February when tax accountant Ashley Ono stopped by Itsuki Hashima’s apartment, and there was only one reason an accountant would be visiting a freelance writer at that time of year. It was time to file his income taxes.

Itsuki had enlisted her help for the first time last year, which resulted in a much larger refund than when he did them himself. He was hesitant at first, concerned that he’d be exposed to the disgrace of explaining his entire collection of porn games and DVDs again, but he hired her anyway. There was no doubting her talents, after all.

“Thanks for coming today. Um…go easy on me?”

“Hee-hee-hee! Absolutely.”

Ashley sweetly smiled at Itsuki as she went inside. Then:

“Oh, it’s Ashley, my favorite massage fan. Hello!”

The greeting came with a smile but also a hint of venom that only Ashley would detect. She stiffened.

The voice belonged to Chihiro, who was sitting by the low kotatsu table. She had a file containing all the relevant receipts and publisher paystubs.

“Eh…heh-heh-heh… Hello there, Chihiro,” Ashley said, trying to deflect her own agitation.

“Did you have a massage last night, too?”

“Um, yes…kind of…”

Realizing Chihiro wasn’t truly smiling at all, Ashley became increasingly uncomfortable, and her eyes began to dart around.

Chihiro had discovered Ashley’s vibrator under the TV stand while cleaning her office last week. While attempting to explaining it to her, Ashley made a spur-of-the-moment decision and lied, calling it a massager. She had already purchased a new one, so Chihiro took that one back home, but…

“…Did you discover the truth, then?”

“……”

Ashley shivered under the frigid gaze of Chihiro. “…Did you try it?” she asked timidly.

“Of course I didn’t!”

Chihiro blushed in anger and shame, but then her face returned to a blank slate.

“…All things in moderation, including your massages, all right?”

“Um, okay…”

She didn’t bother to hide her contempt for Ashley as she broke into a cold sweat.

“What kind of a massage are you talking about, Chihiro?” a curious Itsuki asked.

“I’ve just gotten into massages lately, okay?! Now, Itsuki, let’s get your taxes squared away!”

“Uh, okay.” Itsuki nodded, unsure what to make of his blushing accountant’s rapid change of subject.

Chihiro had already taken to organizing the receipts and paystubs by detailed types, which kept Ashley from making a game out of asking Itsuki to describe his X-rated purchases in detail, so it didn’t take long to wrap up the work.

Taking a breather with the bean jam mochi cake and green tea Chihiro provided, Ashley decided to come out with it.

“So that takes care of this tax return…but what are you going to do about next year’s?”

“What do you mean?” Itsuki raised an eyebrow.

“The anime based on your work debuts this July, right? If that results in a significant increase in your income, we won’t be able to work with a big pile of receipts like this.”

“Oh… So what should we do?”

“Most people go with the average taxation.”

“Average taxation…? I think I’ve heard of that.”

“It’s a system that can really only be used by people with extreme fluctuations in their yearly income, like pro athletes, fishermen, writers, or musicians. You can average out the year’s income with that of the past two years to reduce the amount of income tax you pay.”

“Uh-huh…”

Ashley smirked at Itsuki’s obvious failure to follow her. “Anyway, it’s an effective approach to take if you’re gonna make a lot more than usual this year.”

“Okay, so we’ll go with that for next year’s income tax?”

“That’s what I’m thinking right now…but there’s another common tax measure, too.”

“Oh?”

“Incorporation… In other words, starting a company.”

“Starting a company…?” This seemed to stop Itsuki in his tracks.

“Basically,” Ashley flatly explained, “you start a company and treat your royalties and page fees as company revenue. If you’re filing as a sole proprietor, then progressive taxation means the more you make, the higher your tax rate, but corporate tax is assigned a flat rate. So once you make over a certain amount, you’ll pay a lower tax rate if you post your income as company earnings.”

“I see…”

“But if your income falls below a certain line—in other words, if your tax rate is below the corporate tax rate—you’ll wind up paying more taxes instead. Starting a company requires some paperwork, and it’s not like you can close the firm if your income drops and start it up again once it rises. So starting a company’s a smart approach only if you expect to make enough money not just in the coming year, but for at least several years to come, on a regular basis. As a general rule… Well, I’d say the line’s at about ten million yen [approximately $95,000]. If you think you can reliably make at least ten million yen a year, then instead of taking advantage of average taxation for just that year, you’ll save money if you incorporate.”

“At least ten million a year over the long term…”

Itsuki paused. With the anime being broadcast this year, ten million in income seemed pretty likely. But could he keep making that same amount next year and beyond? That was beyond him to gauge. Of course, if he wanted to be an author on the same level as Nayuta Kani, ten million would have to be no sweat for him.

He wanted to shout out “I’ll be fine! Let’s incorporate right now!” But in this industry, there was no guarantee that good, consistent work would make you rich. Trends come and go, and individual authors go in and out of style. In recent years, the success of an anime wasn’t strictly linked to novel sales at all—sometimes a popular anime wouldn’t boost the books much, and other times a mediocre one would still be followed by breakout book sales. It was just hard to predict.

“Hmmm…”

Itsuki sat there, troubled, as Ashley calmly continued explaining.

“I know how hard it is for an author to predict his future, so you don’t need to give me an answer right now. Let’s discuss this again once you have an idea of how many copies of your new volume will get released pre-anime launch—and how many reprints we’ll see afterward. Personally, I hope you can become a stable enough seller before too long that you’ll have no regrets incorporating, but…”

“…All right. I’ll give it some careful consideration.” Itsuki nodded, resolute, as Ashley gave him a gentle smile.

“Wow, Ashley, I guess you weren’t just a day-drinking massage aficionado after all,” Chihiro offered venomously, and a drop of sweat ran down Ashley’s cheek.