Start your free trialMakeLeaps was built in Japan, for businesses in Japan. Because it’s completely multilingual, we have some customers overseas who are using our software, but all of our features are designed to be of maximum benefit to companies and freelancers operating in Japan.
This software is backed by Webnet IT, a Japanese company operating in Japan since 2003, and was co-founded by Paul Oswald and Jay Winder.For more information about the team, please check out our about page.
“I’ll answer this one directly. I came to Japan in 2001, and I started sending invoices for my freelance services in 2002.In 2003, I started to send out a lot more invoices, and I started running into all sorts of problems. So I built a basic prototype inside my original company designed to solve my problems. After showing this software to my entrepreneur friends, everyone wanted to buy it. This was both exciting and frustrating. Exciting because I had accidentally built something that people desperately wanted to buy and use. Frustrating because it’s 50 times more difficult to build a solution that works for every company, instead of just one company (my own).
I got very lucky when I met my co-founder Paul Oswald, and we started building MakeLeaps together back in 2010. Let me take a moment to thank you for your interest in reading this far! Please feel free to contact me directly any time if there’s any way I can help you get more value from MakeLeaps. My email address is jay@makeleaps.com.”
– Jay Winder
Our system is a secure, distributed cloud architecture and operates in a similar way to other cloud services like Google Apps. Once you sign up Makeleaps, you can login to your account from anywhere in the world.
No. You can simply use your web browser, and access your data securely from anywhere in the world.
We have carefully been looking after the confidential information of customers. Protecting our customers privacy and confidential information is built into our corporate makeup. You will find more of our security policy here (Japanese).
Yes. We go to extreme lengths to protect your confidentiality, data and privacy.
If you have any further questions about your data, please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@makeleaps.com.
No, only the people you give access, and the MakeLeaps server administration team.
Yes. Each plan sets a certain number of active members who can work as a team in one account. Please refer to our pricing page. Active members will have access to your work and can edit documents. During the 30-days free trial , the account owner can make a group and can manage access levels of each group member.
Yes. You can set the document number by simply putting numbers you want to use.
E.g. 1) “sample_02″ follows “sample_01″
E.g. 2) “sample_12b” follows “sample_12a”
Numbering order : 012 … 789aAbB…yYzZ.. “10”follows Z.
Please note that if you choose the existing document number, the data will be overwritten by new data.
If you have any questions , please contact support@makeleaps.com.
If you made a mistake while creating a document you may want to delete it. By doing this it will be removed from all reports, lists, workflows, etc…
Be aware that deleted documents are not completely removed from the system and may be recovered from the history page. Document numbers that had been used by deleted documents may not be reused by future documents.
MakeLeaps Payments is a feature that allows you to collect payments from your clients via credit card. When you securely sent an invoice with MakeLeaps Payments activated your client will have the option to pay by credit card when he receives the document. MakeLeaps Payments saves you time and trouble and allows you to collect your invoices faster.
For more information in Japanese click here
You can save contents in each document such as line items, remarks and bank details.
After setting Presets, you can create a new document and simply add document number, document date and client information and they are ready to be sent.
Yes. You can set Create Document Preset with default values for line items and other fields. You can then quickly fill in Documents with these Presets.
Yes, You can use the variables below when setting up your presets (document templates). You can use the variables to automatically set the document number, project title, line items and messages. Each placeholder will be replaced with the appropriate dates/numbers when you create the document using the preset.
Rules:
| General Rule | @(date|[placeholder]) |
|---|---|
| (For Document Numbers) | Insert _001 (or equivalent) at the end of the document number |
| (For English documents) | Insert %en before variables that need to be in English |
Variables:
| Pattern | Before Saving | After Saving |
|---|---|---|
| Year（yyyy） | %Y | 2017 |
| Year（yy） | %y | 17 |
| Month (m) | %m | 1 – 12 |
| Month (mm) | %M | 01 – 12 |
| Month | %enM | January |
| Month (Abb) | %enm | Jan |
| Day (d) | %d | 1 – 31 |
| Day (dd) | %D | 01 – 31 |
Examples:
| Pattern | Before Saving | After Saving |
|---|---|---|
| Date | @(date|%enM %Y) | January 2017 |
| Date | @(date-1M|%enM %Y) – @(date+11M|%enM %Y) | December 2016 – December 2017 |
| Date | @(date|%enm %Y) – @(date+2M|%enm %Y) | Jan 2017 – Mar 2017 |
| Document Number | @(date|%Y)_001 | 2017_001 |
| Document Number | @(date|%y%M)_001 | 1701_001 |
*Date variables reflect the issue date of the document.
Please click on “Your Company” in the application, “Edit Company”, and turn on “Enable Japanese Withholding tax”. Then you will be able to apply withholding tax to individual line items in your invoices.
It is very important to always check with an accountant regarding tax and withholding tax for your specific business situation. We have a number of excellent accountants and tax accountants who are MakeLeaps partners.
Tax on the amount up to 1 million yen | Tax on the over 1 million yen |
Expenses × 10.00(%) | (Expenses – 1 million) × 20.00(%) + 1 million |
Tax on the amount up to 1 million yen | Tax on the over 1 million yen |
Expenses × 10.21(%) | (Expenses – 1 million) × 20.42(%) + 1 million |
Yes. From the Car Plan and above, MakeLeaps supports batch creating invoices through our custom format. Please download our sample data file here (sample data is currently in Japanese only).
You will receive an email notification confirming the time and date your invoice was sent. This email notification also includes the invoice number and your client name.
You can change the notification setting from the left menu [Team] > [(click your name)] > [Notification].
The button is grey unless you have filled out your client’s address.
Not necessarily. Please bear in mind that Nexway do not support returning post to sender if it is not deliverable.
In the future, we’re planning to have these options and many more. Unfortunately though for now, we do not support these features.
This entire process costs ¥158 tax exclusive yen, including the stamp fee and sales tax.
This feature allows you to send your document by post to any address in Japan.
Sending documents properly in Japan is very time consuming. With the click of a button we’ll do it all for you.
Once your documents are sent, you’ll receive an email notification.
Sending one invoice takes one MailPoint.
An actual document will be printed, automatically sealed into an envelope, and then sent to your client. Step by step:
Your invoice quality, style, and presentation is a direct reflection of your company and services. We have spent a lot of time and effort making your invoice look great, and we’re very sensitive to your image and to details. Please check out these pictures for an idea of what your client will see when they open your invoice.
If you have mistakenly sent a document by post, you can cancel your order.Documents sent by post will be available for canceling for up to 30 minutes after clicking the “Sending” button.
To cancel your order, you can find the correspondent document in the [List View] and click on the [Cancel Sending by Japan Post] button. Alternately, you can cancel it from the [Document View] page [Send] menu. 1 MailPoint (¥158 tax exclusive) will be refunded per one message after the cancellation.
It is also possible to cancel from the [Sent Documents] page in the [History] section by clicking the [View details] link.
Your invoice will be sent by the end of the next business day from when you clicked “Send by Post”.
Examples
Our printing and posting partner company is Nexway (株式会社ネクスウェイ). MakeLeaps and Nexway have been collaborating since February 2015. All invoice data is strictly managed and handled by both companies. You will find more of our security policy here (Japanese).
With the “Custom Mail Domain” add-on, you can configure the sender address to be from your own domain.
This add-on is a paid option and is available only for customers in the Organization plan or above.
Please contact support for further details.
If you have mistakenly securely sent a document, you may attempt to cancel it. Documents have been sent by secure send are send immediately but will be able to cancelled as long as the recipient has not yet clicked the link to view the document.
To cancel a secure send, find the document in the list view and click on “Cancel Secure Send”. Alternately, you can cancel the document from the Document View page “Send” menu.
It is also possible to cancel from the “Sending List” or “History” section by clicking the “View details” link.
Secure Send is the best way to send documents to your clients, and the best way for your clients to receive documents. It’s free, secure and environmentally friendly.
When securely sending a document the recipient will receive an email with a link to the document. The document can be downloaded or in the case of an invoice even paid if MakeLeaps Payments is activated for your account.
The link is unguessable and expires after 60 days. With optional settings, additional password protection could be enabled to the documents.
Each contact selected in the “Send to” section of the sending screen will receive their own email with the secure send link. By clicking the edit button you can select additional client contacts with an email address.
Each team member listed in the “Team Notification” section of the sending screen will receive a notification that the documents have been sent. To change which of your team members receive notifications edit your Notification Settings.
For ¥4630 (tax exclusive) per month, custom domain setting allow you to use your own email address when sending documents via the MakeLeaps app.
If you’re looking for more help or have a question to ask, please contact us at (support@makeleaps.com). We’ll also be able to help you by chatting with you online. To start a new chat or to continue an existing one, you can click on the “Chat” icon in the lower right-hand corner of your browser.
MakeLeaps “Sales management” feature means the ability to create/convert documents, send by email or post, and mark as sent or paid anytime. Check Pricing.
The MakeLeaps “Time Tracking” feature offers the ability to enter your team members’s time entries and add them to a timesheet. You can use this feature with any paid MakeLeaps plan.
Business days between 10am to 6pm(JST).
If you’re looking for more help or have a question to ask, please contact us at (support@makeleaps.com). We’ll also be able to help you by chatting with you online. To start a new chat or to continue the existing chat, you can click on the “Chat” icon on the lower right-hand corner of your browser.