How to say "to do administrative/paper work" in Japanese?

Question

How to say "to do administrative/paper work" in Japanese?

Instead of the job in an administrative body or an administrative department, I am referring to the kind of task that is administrative and that can concern everybody:

(1) The part of the work of a worker that is administrative, such as the boss of a restaurant who needs to prepare the contracts and insurance when hiring a new employee, or a plumber who fills the documents when paying the taxes of his/her enterprise, or a company employee who fills documents to justify the purchase of a new equipment.

(2) The work that a person needs to do in his/her daily life, like paying taxes, registering his new address at the city office, filling the documents for retirements, etc.

書類仕事をする seems appropriate (here, here), but I also saw 管理事務 and 管理の仕事.

I also don't know to what extent 書類 could be used alone, and if 行政 is ok, and how to use them.

Answer 1

Things you described in (1) are typical 書類仕事. This refers to (often annoying) paper tasks that are secondary to your main profession of plumbing, cooking, programming, etc. Even a freelancer needs to to some 書類仕事. This is a word that tends to sound negative.

管理事務 broadly refers to various types of clerical work done in the back office of a company. Large companies have many clerks dedicated for 管理事務, but a freelancer doesn't need this word (there is no one to manage), and a small restaurant owner seldom uses this word.

Things you described in (2) look like 役所(関係)の手続き to me, but I'm not sure if this is what you mean.

Answer 2

事務作業 can fit if you want to keep it vague/general. If you have something more specific to talk about, like tax, you can say something like 税金関係の手続き.

手続き implies a clearly defined set of forms and rules. For more open-ended work (or in cases you would expect to explore a lot to find out what forms are necessary), it might be a bit less appropriate.