Avoid Single Tax with Time-Limited Marriages, Pre-book Your Divorce Date

To avoid the single tax, a 'time-limited marriage' service has emerged with contracts lasting up to one year. The divorce date is selected in advance from a calendar at the time of application, with the Ministry of Justice commenting 'It makes processing easier,' as eternal love gets compressed into annual contracts.

2025-08-04

Translations: JA

Money Maze

To avoid the single tax, a “time-limited marriage” service has emerged with contracts lasting up to one year. The divorce date is selected in advance from a calendar at the time of application, with the Ministry of Justice commenting “It makes processing easier.” Eternal love has been compressed into annual contracts.

The new service was launched by startup company “Batsu Counter Inc.” The product is called “Marriage ON/OFF.” Opening the website reveals a UI identical to home appliance extended warranties, where users can select validity periods of “3 months, 6 months, or 12 months,” with divorce dates selected via dropdown. The representative proudly states, “Even if it’s shorter than a refrigerator warranty, you can save on emotional repair costs.”

The background is the “single tax” bill, whose introduction next fiscal year is virtually certain. With plans to tax up to 7% based on unmarried individuals’ annual income, social media is filled with laments like “The tax office confesses before love does.” So the company proposes “class change to married status, even if just formally,” developing a “round-trip love set with stamps” that packages marriage and divorce certificates together, delivered the same day to government offices by motorcycle courier.

The service fee is ¥9,800 per month. According to tax simulations, a single person earning ¥6 million annually can avoid approximately ¥360,000 in single tax, making it “cheaper than love” by their own comparison. They even offer “half-price divorce certificate coupons for friend referrals,” prompting wedding venue staff to laugh ruefully about “the arrival of the Yakushii (government office magazine) era over Zexy.”

The Ministry of Justice’s Family Register Division welcomes this, saying “It’s easy to organize files when divorce dates are predetermined.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare warns of “birth rates fluctuating in 12-month cycles, potentially turning statistics into calendar patterns.” Religious groups protested “treating sacred vows as subscriptions is blasphemy,” but the company smoothly deflected with “our payment model has only ten terms, fewer than the Ten Commandments.”

Most users are “wallet realists” in their 20s and 30s. In trial operations, the most popular divorce date was after long holidays, analyzed as “love tends to ventilate during extended breaks.” In contrast, those choosing Christmas divorces are practical types seeking “present cost savings.” The company AI coldly recommends: “Romantic feelings are seasonal. Like ingredients, early consumption is advised.”

The bar association points out “repeated three-month renewals create a triple layer of common-law and overlapping marriages, causing legal lumps.” The company responded by composing a poem: “Even lumps are proof of love,” ending their answer. In government building corridors, staff facing mountains of divorce certificates have been reported taking tourist-style photos, saying “I saw Mt. Fuji in clear files.”

The subscription model has crossed oceans. In Korea, promotional videos spread saying “easier than changing kimchi,” while France reviewed it as “this year’s marriage certificates are younger than Beaujolais.” UNESCO officials hold their heads saying “It’ll expire before becoming cultural heritage,” but the company PR delivers a sharp response: “Romance is fresh produce. Dehydration is outside our service scope.”

The remaining issue is “accounting standards for love.” The Financial Services Agency sent a public questionnaire asking “If recorded as intangible fixed assets, what’s the depreciation period?” The company CTO presented “Round to zero forever with Excel’s ROUND function,” freezing the venue. Batsu Counter stock hit limit down with negative charm at that moment, but individual investors bought back after closing, noting “tonight’s single tax alert will ring again.”

Will this “short-term government bond of love” enrich the market? With divorce papers hidden in tuxedo pockets instead of resignation letters, rings thinner than fixed deposit interest. As countdown wedding bells finish ringing, only single tax invoices claim eternity.

Stakeholder Comments

Batsu Counter CEO: “We just freeze-dried marriage. Whether you add hot water (love) is your responsibility”
Ministry of Justice Family Register Division Chief: “The pleasure of adding expiration dates to file names works better than IT modernization”
Ministry of Health Statistics Officer: “I want to avoid birth rate graphs becoming ECGs”
AI Pledge: “I auto-delete in 3 months. No ghosting”
Wedding Ring (personified): “Has the 100% recycling rate era arrived?”
Single Tax Bill (personified): “Being called heavier than love makes me blush”
Romantic Feelings: “I wasn’t told I’d be sent on short-term dispatch”
Economic Analyst: “An era of day-trading micro-lot happiness”
Divorce Certificate Paper: “Queuing for stamps again today. Taking shifts with Marriage Certificate”
National Tax Agency PR: “Tax payment is eternal, no expiration date here”