From the Commissioner
The environment surrounding the tax administration is fundamentallychanging due to the advance in globalization and digitalization of theeconomic society, etc. Even under such unprecedented situation, theNTA needs to firmly fulfill the mission of “helping taxpayers properly andsmoothly fulfill their spontaneous tax duties.”
To respond to the Covid-19 pandemic as well, usage of digital is rapidly
expanding in all areas including tax administration in recent years.
If usage of digital further expands in the tax system, it is expected itwould help taxpayers not only in terms of simplification of tax procedures
but also in terms of improved accuracy through prevention of simple errors
as well as improved productivity through better operational efficiency, etc.
In addition, for the tax authorities, too, we believe we would be able tofurther improve efficiency and realize sophistication of the taxation and tax
collection operations, through improved efficiency in operational processing
and using the obtained data.
Thus, in June 2023, we released “Digital Transformation for Tax
Administration: Future Vision of Tax Administration 2023,” which was arevision of the “Future Vision of Tax Administration 2.0” released in 2021,
for demonstrating that we will further promote DX for tax administration.
Towards the future vision of realizing a “society where all tax procedures
can be performed without going to a tax office,” we will comprehensively
review our services for taxpayers (such as improved convenience by using
e-Tax, etc. and provision of more consultation channels) from the viewpointof taxpayers perspective. Going forward, e-Tax and cashless payment will
become more convenient, so we would appreciate it if you use them.
The Invoice System for consumption tax will take effect in October 2023.
For the smooth introduction of the Invoice System, each business
operator needs to deepen the understanding of the system and deal
with and prepare for the system in accordance with the real status ofeach business operation. To help such endeavors, we have taken various
measures as follows through collaboration with relevant ministries andagencies: send lecturers to and conduct explanatory sessions for relevantbusiness associations, etc.; conduct enlightening PR activities using various
media, etc. In addition, a range of burden-mitigating measures will be
implemented in accordance with the tax system revision for FY2023.
There will be only some more months before the system takes effect.
Until then, we will keep striving to provide business operators withnecessary information including those on the tax system revision as wellas to do our best to respond to individual consultation requests, using allopportunities.
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NATIONAL TAX AGENCY REPORT 2023

Regarding the efforts to realize appropriate and fair taxation and taxcollection, we strive to protect the rights and interests of taxpayers as wellas to take rigorous measures across the organization against malicious
taxpayers not to make the taxpayers who have ﬁled tax returns and paid
taxes adequately feel unfair. Particularly, we proactively address thefollowing as priority issues: wrongful request for refund of consumption
taxes, cross-border avoidance of tax payments, etc.
Regarding these points, we strive to further ensure appropriate execution,
as consumption tax is one of the major tax items in terms of the size oftax revenue and people of the country have high awareness of the tax.
Particularly, regarding the cases of wrongfully trying to obtain refund
through false tax returns, we endeavor to properly respond to the casesthat are getting more complicated and sophisticated, with a strict stanceagainst them.
In addition, as for overseas investment and overseas transactions on therise, we implement in-depth investigations and ensure adequate collection
through information exchange and collaboration with the tax authorities offoreign countries.
Also, we strive to ensure higher efficiency in and sophistication of taxationand tax collection by using various data, for appropriately responding to
the incessant changes in economic activities in line with the digitalization ofeconomic society.
Through such various measures, we will further ensure that taxpayers
properly and smoothly submit tax returns and pay taxes. These measures
can be smoothly implemented only when taxpayers understand them andcooperate with us.
This National Tax Agency Report provides taxpayers with easy-tounderstand descriptions on the annual activities of the NTA and relevant
topics, using statistical materials, charts, photos, etc.
We would be happy if this report, the “National Tax Agency Report 2023,”
helps you better understand tax administration.
June 2023

Sakata Wataru
Commissioner of the National Tax Agency, JapanNATIONAL TAX AGENCY REPORT 2023

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