Many small business owners in Japan are nearing retirement without a successor. The 事業承継・M&A補助金, run by the SME Agency with SMRJ, helps hand the business over, buy another company or close in an orderly way.
Round 16 (FY2025 supplementary budget)
The guidelines came out on 4 September 2026 and applications opened on 2 October 2026. There are four tracks:
- 事業承継促進枠: investments by companies planning to pass the business to family or employees.
- 専門家活用枠: expert costs in an M&A, such as due diligence and broker fees.
- PMI推進枠: post-merger integration (PMI): experts and equipment investment.
- 廃業・再チャレンジ枠: closures linked to a succession or M&A.
Check the final deadline and the amounts for each track in the guidelines on the secretariat site.
Practical rules
- Applications only online via Jグランツ, with a GビズIDプライム account, which can take 2–3 weeks.
- If someone prepares the application for you, since October 2025 the secretariat only accepts a 行政書士 (administrative scrivener) with a power of attorney.
- It is competitive: in round 15, 338 of 551 applications were approved.
Note: rules, amounts and deadlines change every fiscal year and every round. This article summarizes the official sources linked here as of publication and is not legal or tax advice. Always check the latest guidelines (公募要領) before signing any contract.
How KGA IT helps
In a succession or acquisition, IT is often forgotten: accounts and passwords only the owner knows, duplicate email and systems, data with no backup. KGA IT maps all systems and access, helps describe the IT integration in your PMI plan, unifies email and tools, and protects data during the transition. We do not prepare the application; we take care of the IT.
- Digital consulting: from ¥30,000.
- System management: from ¥10,000/month.
- Security assessment: from ¥15,000.
- Backup setup: from ¥8,000.
- Business IT plan: ¥49,800/month.
KGA IT is not a registered support provider (支援事業者) for any program and does not file applications on your behalf. What we do is handle the IT side: choosing and setting up tools, writing clear quotes, building your website, security and automation, and preparing the technical documents for you or your advisor.
Prices include tax. See the pricing page and all services. We work in 9 languages from Kosai, Shizuoka.
Official sources
Talk to KGA IT
The first consultation is free, with no obligation. Tell us what you want to do and we will show you which IT costs could fit your plan and what they cost. Reach us through the contact page, LINE or WhatsApp.