Ⅴ
1Efforts to Enhance Taxpayer Convenience andto Boost Efficiency of Tax Administration
Introduction of the Social Security and Tax Number System(“My Number System”)（1）Outline of the Social Security and Tax Number System
The social security and tax number system is the base of a morefair social security and tax system, and contributes to the people ’s
convenience and a higher efficiency of administration as infrastructure ofinformation society.
Upon the introduction of the Social Security and Tax Number System,
the NTA will act as an entity assigning corporate numbers and also as anentity utilizing individual and corporate numbers.

Mascot character for My Number“Maina-chan”〜 Individual number (My Number) 〜
From October 2015, a 12-digit individual number will be designated to anyone holding residentialregistration. The number will be notified by municipal offices that will send a notification card to
the residential registration address. The use of individual numbers is limited to the proceduresprescribed by law or municipal regulations, such as procedures in the fields of social security,taxes, and disaster measures.

〜 Corporate numbers 〜
From October 2015, a 13-digit corporate number will be designated to each corporation, suchas stock companies. The number will be notified by the NTA that will send a written notice to thecorporation’s registered location. The following three types of information on the corporation,etc., will, in principle, be publicly announced and available to anyone; (1) trade name or name, (2)location of headquarters or main office, and (3) corporate number.

（2）Actions as an entity assigning corporate numbers〜 Assigning corporate numbers 〜

Corporate numbers will be assigned to (1) established registered corporations, such as stockcompanies, (2) national authorities, (3) local governments, or (4) among the corporations orassociations without juridical personality, etc., other than those listed in (1) through (3), thoseobligated to file and pay corporation or consumption tax, or to withhold income tax from salaries,etc. The NTA will designate corporate numbers based on the registration information provided by
the Ministry of Justice or other information without requiring any particular notification procedures,and will also send the number notifications.
* A corporation or association without juridical personality other than those mentioned above can also receive a designated number bysubmitting a request to the NTA Commissioner if it meets certain requirements.

The NTA will announce the designated corporate numbers via the Internet. The Internet site will
provide a function to search for a corporate number from a corporation’s trade name or location,
and a function to download data so that the publicized information will be available for users’
secondary use.

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National Tax Agency Report 2015

〜 Promoting the utilization of corporate numbers 〜
About the NTA

Corporate numbers, unlike individual numbers, have no limit on their range of use, and it isimportant to utilize them in broad fields as a part of the social infrastructure. Cooperating with
relevant ministries and agencies, the NTA is striving to explain the system under the slogan of“find, connect, and expand” and to encourage the utilization of the system by national and local
administrative agencies and private organizations.

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers■ The expected role of corporate numbers

Find, connect, and expand
with corporate numbers.

NTA
Provisionofinformation

Searching and downloading
information on corporations
Providing Web-API *PublicNotifications announcement

Notifyingcorporate
numbers

Searching and downloading
information on corporations
Providing Web-API *Administrative
agencyCompanies
Companies
企業間連携
One-stop
Cooperation
service for
amongnotifications andcompanies
applications

Cooperation
among
administrative
agencies

New services to utilize

Members ofthe public

Corporations, etc.

Members of the public

Improvements in efficiency
in the public administration
Improvements in impartiality
and fairness

Reducing the clerical burden
on corporations

Creating new value

Efforts to Enhance Taxpayer
Convenience and to Boost
Efficiency of Tax Administration

Administrative agency

Proper Management ofLiquor Administration

Find

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Administrative
agencyProper and Fair Taxation
and Collection

Designation and administration

From October 2015
Start of notificationof corporate numbers

A corporation’s name and location can be found from its corporate number.
● A corporation’s name and location can be easily confirmed by using the corporate number as the key.
● Its latest name and location will be available, and it will improve efficiency in registering and updating

the information of business partners.

Companies become connected via their corporate numbers.
● Multiple departments or group companies manage the information of business partners by different

Expandcodes. Adding corporate numbers will improve efficiency in compiling information on the said business
partners and the name-based aggregation of this information.
● If administrative agencies are able to exchange among one another information about each corporation
using corporate numbers, they will become able to identify a corporation, conduct name-based
aggregation, and link information more efficiently.

Proper Administration ofServices by Certified Public
Tax Accountants (CPTAs)

Connect

New services utilizing corporate numbers will be expanded.
If administrative agencies can provide a one-stop service for administrative procedures such as
notifications and applications by sharing information utilizing corporate numbers, it will reduce theburden on corporations (companies).
● If the private sector develops an infrastructure to share information on corporations by utilizing
corporate numbers, these corporations can improve the efficiency of their clerical work, such as
reducing the volume of attached documents for transactions among corporations, and can also
provide citizens with useful information on corporations.
●Evaluation ofPolicies* “Web-API” is the method of delivering data that enables users to obtain three types of publically available information (trade name, location, and corporatenumber) automatically by submitting from their own system via the Internet a simple request that specifies extraction conditions to the NTA's system.

Statistics

National Tax Agency Report 201548

ⅤEfforts to Enhance Taxpayer Convenience and toBoost Efficiency of Tax Administration（3）Actions as an entity utilizing individual and corporate numbers〜 Utilization in the national tax field 〜Upon the introduction of the Social Security and Ta x Number System, an individual orcorporation will have to fill in numbers (individual or corporate numbers) of the submitting party
and of the party who will receive the payment on statutory statements on the declaration form andstatutory statements they submit to the tax authority.
When individual numbers are provided, it is necessary to confirm the identity of the individual toprevent identity fraud. Therefore, the NTA enact a notice that establishes specific procedures toconfirm the identity of individuals in the national tax field.

〜 Improving convenience for taxpayers 〜
Taking the opportunity of the introduction of the Social Security and Tax Number System,
the NTA is considering further improving convenience for taxpayers. Specifically, (1) attachinga certificate of residence can be omitted in a declaration procedure to receive, for instance, ahousing loan tax credit, and (2) electronic filing can be centralized for the withholding record andthe payment record of salaries/pensions, which are currently submitted to both the national andlocal governments.
In the FY2015 tax reform, the necessary revisions were made for the omission of attaching acertificate of residence.

〜 Recognizing income properly and more efficiently 〜
In the field of national taxes, as numbers will be required on documents such as declaration formand statutory statements, the NTA expects that name-based aggregation of statutory statements
and matching with declaration form will become more accurate and efficient, and, in turn, income
will be recognized more accurately. As a matter of course, it is difficult to recognize and verify
some transactions, including information on business income and foreign assets and transactions,with statutory statements only. Therefore, we have to note that recognizing all income is difficult
even with these numbers.

〜 Conducting public relations activities 〜To facilitate the introduction of the Social Security and Tax Number System, the NTA is actively
conducting public relations by publishing FAQs and other information regarding the Social Securityand Tax Number system on its website and communicating to the relevant private sectors andindustrial associations for the use of the numbers in the field of national taxes.
Latest information on the Social Security and Tax Number System and inquiries
・The Cabinet Secretariat website for the Social Security and Tax Number System:
http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/bangoseido/index.html
・My Number call center (Navigation Dial (0570 service):
NTT’s Japan-wide call handling service)
0570-20-0291 (in English)* Callers will be charged a fee for telephone calls via Navigation Dial. Inquiries can be made from 9:30 to 17:30 on weekdays(not available on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and New Year holidays).

Latest information on the Social Security and Tax Number Systempertaining to national taxes (including corporate numbers)

Available by clicking

on the top page of the NTA website (in Japanese) :http://www.nta.go.jp/mynumberinfo/index.htm
As the latest information will be updated from time to time, please check the “NewsCorner” section.

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National Tax Agency Report 2015

2Measures to improve user convenience for wider useand establishment of e-Tax
About the NTA

To promote even greater convenience when using e-Tax, the NTA is preparing to implement thefollowing measures:（1）Introduction of a new identification method for e-Tax

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

When an individual taxpayer files an income tax return from home by e-Tax, his/her personal
identification needs to be authenticated for each submission using a digital certificate stored on
their Basic Resident Registration Card based on the Public Certification Service for Individuals andan IC card reader/writer (hereafter referred to as “a digital certificate, etc.” ).
From January 2017, along with the conventional identification method, a new identification
method that does not require a digital certificate, etc. will be implemented.

Proper and Fair Taxationand Collection（2）Submission of attached documents in the form of image data ine-Tax

Remedy forTaxpayer Rights

Even when tax returns or applications are filed by e-Tax, attached documents, such as acertificate of expropriation, capital relationship diagram, and a copy of the articles of incorporationneed to be separately submitted by post or by other means.
From April 2016, the NTA plans to sequentially allow the submission of these attacheddocuments in the form of image data.

Efforts to Enhance Taxpayer
Convenience and to Boost
Efficiency of Tax Administration（3）Provision of a function to convert data into a format acceptable toe-Tax

3

Proper Management ofLiquor Administration

Even when a corporation tax return is filed by e-Tax, among the financial statements andstatements classified by account titles prepared using accounting software, those not prepared ina data format compliant with e-Tax need to be separately submitted by mail or by other means.
From April 2016, the NTA plans to provide a function to convert these documents to data in aformat compliant with e-Tax.

Optimization of operations and systems

Proper Administration ofServices by Certified Public
Tax Accountants (CPTAs)〜 Promotion for optimization of operations and systems 〜

Evaluation ofPolicies

In order to improve convenience for people and achieve more simple, efficient, reliable andtransparent administrative operations by utilizing ICT in administrative areas and reviewing
operations and systems, the “e-Government Establishment Plan” was decided in July 2003.
In addition, the “Declaration to be the World’s Most Advanced IT Nation” was decided on in June2013 to enable Japan to be the society that utilizes IT at the most advanced level in the world.
Based on this decision, the “Roadmap for official information system reform” and the “Investment
plan for official information system” were decided on to reform information systems.
According to the basic principle of these plans, the NTA shall strive to advance information
systems for national taxes, ensure security, reduce expenses, and improve convenience fortaxpayers.

Statistics

National Tax Agency Report 201550

Ⅴ

Efforts to Enhance Taxpayer Convenience and to
Boost Efficiency of Tax Administration

Ensuring stability and reliability of ICT system and information security
Because the national tax-related operations are closely connected to public rights and obligations, failure
in its ICT system is likely to have a large impact on citizens and impair the credibility of tax administration.
Therefore, the NTA is working to maintain stable operation of ICT systems by regularly updating ICT equipment.
Since the NTA holds and accumulates large amounts of taxpayer information, it takes great care for theprevention of its improper use and leakage. For instance, the NTA allows its officials to use only the necessary
information for their work and conducts security audits regularly to ensure information security.
At the computer center which stores data for e-Tax and the KSK System, the NTA built an information
security management system (ISMS)1 which complies with international standards, and in 2007, obtained
certification based on the ISMS compliance evaluation system (certification based on ISO/IEC27001: 2005 andJISQ27001: 2006)2.

Kokuzei Sogo Kanri (KSK) System
The KSK System, which links all Regional Taxation Bureaus and Tax Offices, is a computer system to centrally
manage national tax receivables etc. by inputting the data of past tax returns and tax payment, or a variety ofother information. Moreover, this data is analyzed for use for tax examinations and the collection of delinquenttax. As such, the system also facilitates sophisticated and efficient administration.

Tax Offices
OCR entry of tax return
OCR Equipment

Taxpayers/CPTAs

Taxreturns

SapporoPCe-Tax

Sendai

OnlineKanazawa

KantoShinetsu

NagoyaHiroshima
Osaka
FukuokaTakamatsu
Okinawa
OfficeKumamoto

OnlineInternetTokyo

Computercenters

1 An Information Security Management System(ISMS) is an organizational initiative to implement the planning, operation, review and improvement
which are required in order to maintain a situation of appropriate management for confi dentiality and completeness and usability of information
assets which should be protected.
2 ISO/IEC27001:2005 is one of the standards created by the International Organization for Standardization. This became a global standard
for information security management systems in October 2005. JISQ 27001:2006 is a Japanese domestic standard published in May 2006,
corresponding to ISO/IEC27001.

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National Tax Agency Report 2015