From the Commissioner
The NTA’s mission is to “help taxpayers properly
and smoothly fulfill their tax duties.” To fulfill thismission, the NTA has so far engaged in various
measures.
First of all, from the standpoint of taxpayer services,
the NTA has taken steps to improve the filings andpayments methods that are more convenient for
taxpayers by utilizing ICT, including online nationaltax return filing and tax payment system (e-Tax) andfiling assistance on the NTA website.
Especially the use of e-Tax is steadily expanding with the measures taken for
the improvement of user convenience, including omission of certain attacheddocuments to be submitted, and the support of the parties concerned.
Secondly, in conducting proper examinations and collections, we have strictly
responded to large and vicious fraudulent cases, as well as proactively responded tothe affluent class and internationalization in order to meet with changes in society
and the economy, while protecting taxpayers’ interests.
Particularly in order to cope with international tax avoidance cases, we utilize
the statement of foreign assets that were submitted after January 2014 and promoteinternational information exchange based on tax treaties for transactions whose
facts cannot be fully understood with information obtained in Japan. We arealso taking measures to encourage large enterprises to enhance their corporate
governance in tax administration.
Regarding the consumption tax rise, we provide information, consultation andguidance to enable business operators to properly make filings and payments withfull understanding of the consumption tax system and the content of amendment.
1

We are also taking measures properly in cooperation with relevant ministries to provide
consultation on special provisions for the obligation to indicate the total price with tax andthe refusal of shifting consumption taxes.
I consider it is important that taxpayers make filings and payments with understanding
and trust toward tax administration, and hope to promote a “tax administration that
responds to the public trust” through different efforts as above.
To gain taxpayers’ understanding of various measures taken by the NTA, I also consider
it is important to “improve the external communication.”
We have so far done our best to provide easy-to-understand information on the NTA’s
creation and implementation of effective plans for various issues, measures, policy
initiatives and on evaluation and verification of the results of their implementation throughwebsites, press releases, etc.
“The National Tax Agency Report” (annual report) is one of such efforts anddescribes the NTA’s activities of the past year, including the topics of the year in clearly
understandable terms.
“The National Tax Agency Report 2014” provides easy-to-understand explanations of the
NTA’s activities, sometimes using statistic data, etc. as in the past issues.
We hope this report helps deepen your understanding.

September 2014

Nobumitsu Hayashi
Commissioner
National Tax Agency, Japan
2

CONTENTS
From the Commissioner

1

Ⅰ About the NTA

5

1 Assignment and missions of the NTA … 5(1) Assignment of the NTA …………………… 5(2) Missions of the NTA ……………………… 5

2 Concepts for management oftax administration ………………………… 7(1) Enhancement of services for taxpayers … 7(2) Proper tax examination and collection
and remedy for taxpayer rights …………… 7(3) Proper management of liquor
administration ……………………………… 8(4) Promotion of administrative work efﬁciency
and enhancement of organizationalfoundations ………………………………… 8(5) Policy evaluation and improvement of tax
administration ……………………………… 8

3 Overview of the national tax
organization ………………………………… 9(1) National revenue and taxes ……………… 9(2) NTA budget and number of personnel …… 9(3) Organizational structure of administrative
authorities for national tax …………………10

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers
1 Providing information, etc. ………………11(1) Information provided on the NTA website 11(2) Tax education ………………………………13(3) Brieﬁngs for taxpayers ……………………14(4) Advance inquiries …………………………14(5) Tax consultation ……………………………15

2 e-Tax (online national tax return ﬁling
and tax payment system) …………………16
3 Filing for tax return …………………………18(1) Promotion of ﬁling using ICT ………………18(2) Response to diverse taxpayer needs ……19

4 Proper withholding tax system
operation ………………………………………20
5 Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants(CPTAs) system ……………………………20(1) Promotion of document attached by
CPTAs to tax returns ………………………21(2) Promotion of e-Tax usage …………………21

6 Cooperation with private organizations … 22
【Column】Response to the Great East
Japan Earthquake ……………………………23【Column】Actions taken for the amended
Consumption Tax Act …………………………25

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection
1 Promotion of proper and fair
tax administration …………………………26(1) Priority matters addressed in the tax
examinations ………………………………27(2) Information collection ………………………28(3) Criminal investigation ………………………28(4) Approaches to enhance the corporate
governance concerning tax administration …29【Column】A variety of efforts to ensurecompliance ……………………………………31

2 Reliable tax payment ………………………33(1) Establishment of voluntary tax payment …33(2) Reduction of tax delinquency ……………34(3) Ofﬁce of Tax Collections Call Center ……36
(4) Auction by Internet …………………………36(5) Accurate and efﬁcient management ofclaims and liabilities ………………………36

3

11

26

3 Addressing international transactions …37(1) Changes in the environment
concerning international transactions ……37
(2) Addressing international taxation …………38(3) Examination of international taxation
cases …………………………………………40(4) Transfer pricing issues ……………………40(5) International cooperation intax collection ………………………………41

4 Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) …42
5 Cooperation and coordination withforeign tax authorities ……………………43(1) Technical cooperation for developing
countries ……………………………………43(2) Participation by tax authorities ininternational conferences …………………44

Ⅰ

45

Ⅱ

Ⅴ Proper Management of Liquor Administration

49

52

Ⅳ

【Column】Introduction of the Social Security
and Tax Number System ……………………54

Ⅶ

Statistics

56○ Criminal investigation …………………………59○ Remedy for taxpayer rights ……………………59○ Tax consultations ………………………………60○ Taxpayer satisfaction …………………………60

Ⅴ

Ⅵ* The ﬁscal year ranges from April 1 through March 31 of the following year (i.e. ﬁscal year 2013: April 1, 2013
to March 31, 2014), while the operation year is from July 1 through June 30 of the following year (i.e. operation
year 2012: July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013).

Revision of Operations
and Systems○ Tax revenues and budget ……………………56○ Tax returns and taxation ………………………57○ Tax examinations ………………………………58○ International taxation …………………………58○ Delinquency ……………………………………58

55

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅷ

Evaluation of Policies

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Ⅵ Revision of Operations and Systems

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection(5) Providing information to liquor business
operators ………………………………………50【Column】Approaches to develop theenvironment for export of Japanese liquors …51

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers(1) Request for reinvestigation …………………46(2) Request for reconsideration …………………46(3) Litigation ………………………………………46(4) Trend in remedies for taxpayer rights ………46【Column】Outline of revision of the request
for review system for national tax ……………48(1) Initiatives to ensure safety of liquor andenhance quality levels ………………………49(2) Measures for appropriate labeling of
liquors …………………………………………50(3) Response to social demands ………………50(4) Initiatives to develop a fair trading
environment in liquor …………………………50

About the NTA

Ⅳ Remedy for Taxpayer Rights

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Ⅷ
Statistics

4

About the NTAⅠ

The NTA is the administrative agency in charge of the assessment and collection of internal taxes. The Agency
was organized in 1949 as an external organ of the Ministry of Finance.
The NTA supervises 12 Regional Taxation Bureaus (including the Okinawa Regional Taxation Office,and the same applies hereinafter) and 524 Tax Offices throughout Japan. The NTA Head Office plans the tax
administration, and supervises and oversees the administration of the Regional Taxation Bureaus and the Tax
Ofﬁces. Each of the Regional Taxation Bureaus, which are supervised and overseen by the NTA, supervises andoversees the assessment and collection administration of Tax Ofﬁces in its jurisdiction. In addition, the Bureaus
directly assess and collect taxes from large taxpayers. The Tax Ofﬁces under the guidance and oversight of the
NTA and Regional Taxation Bureaus serve as the frontline organizations which assess and collect national taxes,
and as the administrative bodies maintaining the closest relationships with taxpayers.
There is also the National Tax College which trains tax ofﬁcials, while the National Tax Tribunal serves as a
special body engaged in examining requests for review from taxpayers.

1

Assignment and missions of the NTA(1) Assignment of the NTA
Article 19 of the Act for Establishment of the Ministry of Finance provides that the NTA achieves its
duties of Realizing proper and fair assessment and collection of internal taxes. To fulﬁll these duties, theNTA provides public relations activities and tax education (taxpayer services) to help taxpayers understandand perform their tax obligations, and reliably corrects taxpayers who fail to fulﬁll their tax obligations byproviding proper guidance and tax examinations (promotion of the proper and fair tax administration) inorder to prevent good taxpayers from feeling that taxation is unfair.
In addition, the NTA works to carry out its duties as set forth in Article 19: Sound development of theliquor industry and Ensure proper administration of services by Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants (CPTAs).

(2) Missions of the NTA
The NTA believes that in carrying out these duties, it is critically important to gain the understanding andconﬁdence of citizens, who are the taxpayers.
To this end, the NTA puts together standards of assigned duties and its code of conduct, which areprovided to tax ofﬁcials and released to the public as the Missions of the NTA (see page 6 on right).

NTA

5

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Missions of the NTA
Mission: Help taxpayers properly and smoothly fulfill their tax duties
AssignmentⅡ(1) Development of tax payment environment

Ⅴ

Work for proper administration of CPTA services, to ensure that CPTAs play important roles in theproper and smooth administration of the self-assessment system, based on the missions assigned.
Ⅵ● The above duties shall be carried in accordance with the following Code of Conduct.
(1) Code of Conduct for performing duties

Ⅷ
Statistics① Respond to taxpayers in good faith.
② Maintain conﬁdentiality about information acquired on the job, and maintain ofﬁcial discipline.
③ Work to gain the specialized knowledge required to accomplish assigned tasks.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies① Maintain tax administration transparency, so that taxpayers are knowledgeable of the legal andregulatory interpretations and administrative procedures.
② Work to improve taxpayer convenience in ﬁling and payment.
③ Work to improve the administrative processes in order to improve efﬁciency in tax administration.
④ Work to actively collect and use information and data, to accurately implement tax examinations andprocedures against tax delinquencies.
⑤ Take strict action against taxpayers who engage in malicious tax evasion and tax delinquency.
(2) Code of Conduct for ofﬁcials

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Code of Conduct

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration① Stabilize the business foundations of the liquor industry, and ensure brewing technology research anddevelopment and the quality and safety of liquor.
② Work for effective use of resources related to liquor.
3 Proper administration of services by Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants (CPTAs)

Ⅳ
Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights① To achieve proper and fair taxation,(i) Properly apply the relevant laws and regulations.
(ii) Work to achieve proper tax filing, and reliably correct errors by conducting examinations andguidance for people who ﬁled improper returns.
(iii) Work to help taxpayers pay taxes by the due date, and implement procedures to collect taxes fromdelinquent taxpayers.
② Respond properly and promptly to taxpayers requests for review, to address infringements of
taxpayers legitimate rights and interests.
2 Sound development of the liquor industry

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection① Provide and publicize easily understood accurate information on legal and regulatory interpretations
and procedures concerning tax ﬁling and payment.
② Respond quickly and accurately to inquiries or consultations from taxpayers.
③ Make efforts to obtain broad cooperation and participation of the related ministries, agencies, andcitizens in order to build cooperation with tax administration and understanding of the roles of taxes.
(2) Promotion of proper and fair tax administration

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers● To achieve the above mission, the NTA carries out its duties as stipulated in Article 19 of the Act for
Establishment of the Ministry of Finance, while keeping in mind transparency and efﬁciency.
1 Achieving proper and fair assessment and collection of internal taxes

Challenges● The NTA correctly and flexibly copes with changes in an economic society faced with the advanced
use of ICT and globalization, etc., while continuously reviewing and improving the organization and tax
administration operation in order to meet taxpayer needs.

6Ⅰ About the NTA

2

Concepts for management of tax administration
The NTA's mission is to Help taxpayers properly and smoothly fulﬁll their tax duties.
To fulﬁll this mission with the people's understanding and trust, the NTA manages its tax administration

based on these basic concepts:① Improve services, so taxpayers can do simple, convenient and smooth ﬁling and payment② Do proper examinations and collections, while protecting taxpayer rights and interests③

Provide easily understood information on NTA's various initiatives, and improve tax administration
based on evaluation and veriﬁcation of the results of implementing various measures

The NTA carries out the following initiatives based on these basic concepts.

NTA Initiatives(1) Enhancement of services for taxpayers○ Use websites etc. to provide tax information needed for ﬁling etc., so taxpayers make correct tax ﬁling
and payment themselves.
○ Work to provide excellent ﬁling and tax payment means that are highly convenient for taxpayers, using
ICT such as e-Tax and ﬁling assistance on the NTA website.
○ Respond to advance inquiries and advance pricing arrangement of transfer pricing tax system, so thetaxpayer can predict in advance the tax treatment of its own economic activities.
○ For the withholding tax system, provide more thorough information and publicity to withholding agents, towork for its proper administration.
○ CPTAs play important roles in proper ﬁling and payment by taxpayers. Therefore, work on cooperation
with tax accountants' associations, for wider use and establishment of e-Tax, use of the system of
document attached by CPTAs to tax returns, etc.
○ Based on the thinking that tax education should be worked on by the entire society, provide support for
its enhancement, and cooperate with related ministries, agencies, educators, and private organizations
such as tax accountants' associations.

(2) Proper tax examination and collection and remedy for taxpayer rights○ Perform proper examination and collection, such as taking a strict stance against malicious taxpayers,
while protecting taxpayer rights and interests.
○ Be fully aware that dispositions for taxation and delinquent tax are forcible procedures against taxpayer
rights and interests. At the examination stage, correctly understand what the taxpayer asserts,
objectively scrutinize it, and accurately conﬁrm the facts, then apply the laws and regulations.
○ Systematically work in response to increasingly complex economic transactions, etc. Work to enhance
the system to collect information, and accurately prioritize issues such as response to the increasing
diversity of asset investments and fraudulent refunds for consumption tax.
○ For international transactions, exchange information with foreign tax authorities based on tax treaties,
and take a strict stance towards tax avoidance etc. in which taxation problems are found.

7

Ⅰ
About the NTA○ Corporate governance on tax matters is important for maintaining and enhancing tax compliance oflarge enterprises. Therefore, advance initiatives such as exchanging opinions with executive ofﬁcers,etc., and describing effective examples. At the same time, prolong the intervals of examinations for those
corporations with enhanced corporate governance based on the mutual trustful relationship, and allocate○ Achieve proper and speedy processing of a request for review, which plays an important role in securing

Ⅱthe execution of proper tax administration, as well as develop environment for more user-friendly request
for review system.

(3) Proper management of liquor administration○ Make efforts to assure the safety and to enhance the quality level of liquor in cooperation with the
National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB), in every step involved from its production to consumption.
○ To respond to social demands, such as preventing underage drinking, work to ensure proper sales
control of liquor, so there is proper compliance with the duty of assigning liquor sales managers andsigns in liquor display locations.

Ⅳ
Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights○ Implement a survey on actual trade practices based on the Guidelines on Fair Liquor Trade, toencourage of liquor business operators to push forward voluntary activities to ensure a fair tradeenvironment for liquor. If transactions such as setting irrational prices are found, provide guidance for
improvement, and work together with the Fair Trade Commission when necessary.

Ⅴ○ To appropriately perform the NTA's duties under harsh ﬁscal conditions, work to secure the necessary
structure, staff and budgets, appropriately allocate them, and take the taxpayers viewpoint in working to

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration(4) Promotion of administrative work efficiency and enhancementof organizational foundations

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

more examination work to those corporations in need of improvement.

boost efﬁciency and cut costs.
Ⅵ

Especially for the income tax return ﬁling period when ﬁlings are concentrated in a short period of time,
focus to encourage use of e-Tax which contributes to enhanced taxpayer convenience.
○ Accurately assign personnel corresponding to their experience and abilities, while paying attention tohiring and promoting female staff. To enhance needed specialized knowledge, provide excellent guided
development policies such as training.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies○ Thoroughly control administrative documents and information.

(5) Policy evaluation and improvement of tax administration○ To gain the people's understanding and trust, provide easily understood information on the NTA's creationand implementation of effective plans for issues the national tax authorities should work on, about policy

Revision of Operations
and Systems○ Constantly review to simplify and boost efﬁciency, for example by computerization of clerical processes.

Ⅷ
Statistics

initiatives and various measures, and on evaluations and veriﬁcations of results of their implementation.
Work to improve tax administration, based on evaluation and veriﬁcation of the results of implementationof various measures.

8

Ⅰ About the NTA

3Overview of the national tax organization(1) National revenue and taxes
National revenue (initial budget for general account revenues) in ﬁscal 2014 stands at ¥95,882.3 billion,of which ¥50,001 billion is from taxes and stamp revenues. Deducting from them customs tax revenues andstamp revenues from Japan Post Holdings Co., Ltd., leaves ¥42,379.5 billion (about 85%)1 as national tax
revenues.
The income tax, corporation tax, and consumption tax account for about 80% of tax revenues.
● National revenue（general account revenue budget）
FY2014 general account revenues（initial budget）
Others4.6（4.8%）
Construction
bonds
6.0（6.3%）
Government
bonds
41.3（43.0%）

Total
95.9
(¥trillion)Taxrevenues
50.0（52.1%）

Specialdeficit-financing bonds
35.2（36.8%）*

Inheritancetax
1.5（3.1%）FY2014 expenditures（initial budget）

Consumption
tax 15.3（30.7%）

Social security-related
expenditures
30.5（31.8%）

Others 8.2（8.5%）

Others1.0（2.0%）

Total
50.0(¥trillion)

Liquortax
1.3（2.7%）● National expenditures

Tobacco tax 0.9（1.8%）
Customs duty 1.0（2.1%）

Motor vehicle
tonnage tax 0.4（0.8%）
Gasoline tax
2.5（5.1%）
Stamp
revenue 1.1（2.1%）

Withholding
income tax
12.3（24.5%）

Corporation
tax 10.0（20.0%） Self-assessment
income tax
2.5（5.1%）

Government
bonds, etc.
23.3
（24.3%）
Interest anddiscountfees
10.1（10.5%）

Total
95.9
(¥trillion)

Publicproject-related
expenditures
6.0（6.2%）

Grants of
Expenditures for
local
education
allocation tax, etc.
and science16.1（16.8%）
5.4（5.7%）
Economic
Defense-related
cooperation expenses Energy counter measure expenditures
expenses 1.0（1.0%）
0.5（0.5%）
4.9（5.1%）

Government bonds are revenues generated by special deficit-financing bonds issued to compensate for the revenue shortfalls andconstruction bonds to ﬁnance public project-related expenditures. All are debts which are to be repaid in the future.
The total amount of each item and the amount indicated as Total do not exactly match, due to rounding of fractional ﬁgures.

(2) NTA budget and number of personnel
The NTA budget (initial) in ﬁscal 2014 stands at ¥708.6 billion, and general expenses excluding salary
cost amount to ¥143.3 billion. As for general expenses, priorities are placed on Kokuzei Sogo Kanri (KSK)
System (hereinafter called KSK system . See page 53 for detailed information on the KSK system.) to
improve administrative efﬁciency and e-Tax (see page 16 for detailed information of e-Tax) to enhancetaxpayer services.
The headcount at the NTA stayed at around 52,000 from the 1970s through the ﬁrst half of the 1980s.
Thereafter the number increased, as the consumption tax was introduced in ﬁscal 1989. After hitting apeak in ﬁscal 1997, the headcount decreased by more than 1,000 over the 9 years until ﬁscal 2006.
The headcount turned to increase during the period from ﬁscal 2007 to ﬁscal 2011. However, it turned
to a net decrease in ﬁscal 2012 and the latest number is at 55,790 in ﬁscal 2014.
In the face of the tough ﬁscal situation of today, the NTA is trying to cut administrative expenses andstreamline the headcount, while securing the budget and headcount necessary to perform the NTA's
duties.
FY1975

FY1997FY2014(Reference)
FY2014 / FY1975

Budget (¥ billion)

236.0

654.8

708.6

300.3%

Headcount (persons)52,44057,202

55,790106.4%① Number of income tax returns ﬁled (1,000 persons)

7,327

20,023

21,434292.5%② Number of corporations (1,000 cases)

1,482

2,793

2,985

201.4%③ Number of establishments subject to commodity tax (1,000 cases)

117

ー

ー

ー

④ Number of enterprises subject to consumption tax (1,000 cases)

ー

2,521

3,247

ー

8,926

25,337

27,666309.9%①＋②＋③＋④ (1,000 cases)＊ ① Number of income tax returns ﬁled in ﬁscal 2014 shows the ﬁgure for 2013.
② Number of corporations in ﬁscal 2014 shows the ﬁgure as of June-end 2013.
④ This shows the number of submissions of Notification of Opting to Taxable Status for Consumption Tax. The figure in fiscal 2014shows the ﬁgure as of March-end 2014.
(Reference) indicates the percentage for ﬁscal 2014, with ﬁscal 1975 as 100.
1

9

Tax revenue of the national tax organization is calculated based on the ratio of the NTA revenue ﬁnal account amount divided by the taxes andstamp revenue ﬁnal account, from April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013.

Ⅰ
About the NTA(3) Organizational structure of administrative authorities for national tax
The NTA supervises 12 Regional Taxation Bureaus throughout Japan (including Okinawa Regional
Taxation Ofﬁce) and 524 Tax Ofﬁces throughout Japan to process tax administration.1

Tax Bureau Planning and drafting of the tax system

Ⅱ(Local Branch Offices)

National
Tax Agency(Internal Subdivisions)

Commissioner’s
Secretariat

Collection
Department(Councils, etc.)

National Tax Council 2

National Tax College
The National Tax College trains new
recruits and provides important job
training to tax officials working in thefield so that they can keep pace withthe most recent changes (326persons, 0.6%).

Taxation Department
This Department directs andsupervises divisions within the
Taxation Groups of Tax Offices, andconducts difficult tax examinations
such as on large-scale andmalicious taxpayers.

Collection Department
This Department directs andsupervises
the
RevenueManagement and Processing
Groups and the Collection Groups
within the Tax Offices, and initiates
procedures
forlarge-scaledelinquent taxpayers.

Large Enterprise
Examination Department
This Department carries out
examination of large-enterprises
and others.

Criminal Investigation
Department
This Department investigatesmalicious tax evaders and pursues
criminal responsibility.

National Tax Tribunal

Regional Tax Tribunals (12)& Branches (7)The National Tax Tribunal makes
decisions on requests for reconsiderationfrom taxpayers regarding decisions madeby the Regional Commissioners orDistrict Director of the Tax Office,pursuant to the laws/regulations about
national tax (472 persons, 0.8%).

(Regional Tax Tribunals): Sapporo,
Sendai,
Kanto-Shinetsu,
Tokyo,
Kanazawa, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima,
Takamatsu,
Fukuoka,
Kumamoto,
Okinawa(Branches of Regional Tax Tribunals):
Niigata, Nagano, Yokohama, Shizuoka,
Kyoto, Kobe, Okayama

Ⅲ

Co-ordination Division
Special Officer(Public Relations)
Revenue Management
and Processing Group

Ⅳ

This Group receives tax returns,
issues certificates of tax payment,
receives cash for tax payment,
general consultation on taxation,etc. It also inputs tax returns,
manages national tax claims, andadministers refund procedures,
postponements of tax payment, andpayments in-kind.

Collection Group
This Group provides consultation
on tax payments, and executes
procedures
againsttax
delinquencies.

Ⅴ

Individual Taxation Group
This Group carries out consultation
on income tax and sole proprietor’s
consumption tax, and related
examinations.

Property Taxation Group

Ⅵ

This Group carries out consultation
on inheritance tax, gift tax, income
tax imposed when land, buildings,
or stock were transferred, andrelated examinations. The Groupalso determines road price ratings,
which are used as reference incalculating inheritance tax, etc.

Corporation Taxation Group

Ⅶ

This Group provides consultation on
corporation tax, consumption tax on
corporations, withholding income
tax, and other taxes including stamp
tax and gasoline tax, as well as
related examinations.

Evaluation of
Policies(Attached Institutions)Management andCo-ordination Department

Tax Offices are points of contact with
taxpayers, working as first-line bodies toprocess tax administration (42,666
persons, 76.5%).

Revision of Operations
and Systems(Facilities)

The Regional Taxation Bureaus(including Okinawa Regional Taxation
Office) direct and supervise the Tax
Offices in their jurisdiction. The
Bureaus also carry out front-line
operations, including the provision oftax consultations and other services totaxpayers, carry out tax examinationon large-scale, wide area and difficultto-process cases, and conduct
disposition for delinquent taxes(11,508 persons, 20.6%).

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Large Enterprise
Examination andCriminal
Investigation
Department］

Tax Offices (524)Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Taxation
Department［

Sapporo, Sendai, Kanto-Shinetsu, Tokyo,
Kanazawa, Nagoya, Osaka, Hiroshima,
Takamatsu, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Okinawa

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

The NTA plans and draws up
programs
to
implement
taxadministration, standardizes theway to interpret tax laws, anddirects and supervises the Regional
Taxation Bureaus and Tax Offices(818 persons, 1.5%).

Regional Taxation
Bureaus (12)Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Ministry of Finance

Chief Examiner(Liquor Tax and Industry)
Ⅷ
Statistics

The
Examiner
carriesout
consultation on liquor tax, related
examinations, and back office work
for liquor sales licenses.

1

The headcount and percentage indicated in each department represents the prescribed number of personnel in ﬁscal 2014, and its percentage of theoverall number of personnel in the NTA (as of the end of May 2014).
2 The National Tax Council addresses the following: ① deliberation on matters requested by the NTA Commissioner and the Director-General of the
National Tax Tribunal, where the Director-General of the National Tax Tribunal determines the case by interpreting laws differently from the notiﬁcation
issued by the NTA Commissioner; ② implementation of CPTAs examination and decision on the disciplinary actions applied to CPTAs; and ③
deliberations on the establishment of labeling standards for liquor, and other matters.

10Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers

Ⅱ〜 Enhanced taxpayer services achieved by public relations activities, tax education, tax
consultation, etc. 〜Japan adopts a self-assessment system for most of national taxes. Under this system, taxpayers themselves
determine the amount of tax and pay it. On the other hand, for local taxes, the official assessment system isgenerally adopted.
For national taxes, the official assessment system was used before World War II, in which tax authorities
calculated income, and notiﬁed taxpayers of the tax amount. In 1947, in order to democratize the tax system, theself-assessment system was adopted for three taxes (income, corporation, and inheritance), and this method hassince been adapted to many of the national taxes.
In order for the self-assessment system to function properly, it is necessary for taxpayers to have a high levelof awareness regarding tax payment, and to proactively and properly fulfill the obligation of tax responsibilities
as provided by the constitution and law. To this end, the NTA is working to enhance a variety of services for
taxpayers to help them correctly ﬁle and pay taxes by themselves. These include (1) public relations activities andtax education relating to the signiﬁcance and function of taxes and knowledge about the tax law, (2) clariﬁcationof legal interpretation and of practices and procedures, etc., and (3) centralization of taxpayer contact points, (4)efforts to improve taxpayer convenience in tax consultation and ﬁling returns.
In order to check that the tax returns ﬁled by taxpayers, and to guide them to ﬁle correctly, there is a needto provide accurate tax examinations and guidance, and cooperation and coordination with Certiﬁed Public Tax
Accountants (CPTAs) and relevant private organizations. Furthermore, if national taxes are not paid by the duedate, the NTA encourages voluntary tax payment, and if they are still not paid, then it is necessary to work on
certain collection of national taxes, e.g. by implementing disposition for delinquent tax. To this end, the NTA works
to promote proper and fair tax administration, giving appropriate instructions and conducting examinations on
taxpayers who need to be corrected in order to have accurate ﬁlings, as well as conducting strict and appropriatedelinquent tax collection based on laws and regulations, while considering the actual situation of each delinquent
taxpayer.

1

Providing information, etc.

〜 Various public relations activities to improve taxpayer services 〜
For taxpayers to proactively and properly ﬁle and pay taxes, they ﬁrst of all must understand their tax
payment duty.
To this end, the NTA carries out public relations activities to enhance a variety of services for taxpayers
to help them correctly ﬁle and pay taxes. These include signiﬁcance of tax payment, provision of information
regarding tax law and procedures, tax education and efforts to enhance convenience of tax consultations andtax procedures.
As specific public relations, focused on the NTA website www.nta.go.jp (accessed 166,410,000 times
in ﬁscal 2013), the NTA provides a variety of information on the signiﬁcance and roles played by taxes, andon the tax system. The information is provided through mass media such as TV and newspapers, public
relations media such as pamphlets made available at the Tax Ofﬁces as well as municipal ofﬁces, and various
explanatory meetings.
The NTA also responds to general inquiries and consultations related to taxes on the telephone, whileproviding information on the interpretation and handling of general tax law through the NTA website, etc.
Furthermore, it responds to advance inquires where there are questions in tax application to transactions
taxpayers are going to make. The NTA thus works for proper self-assessment by taxpayers.

(1) Information provided on the NTA website〜 The NTA website is designed with a focus on taxpayer convenience 〜
The NTA website provides information on tax ﬁling and payment procedures, etc. To enable anyone toeasily use it, the NTA is working to enhance the website's guidance functions according to user aims, andpays attention to convenience for the visually disabled and elderly by providing text enlargement, voice
reading functions, etc.
To give people easy access to the information they want to know, the NTA website's top page isdesigned to give entry to various information as shown below.
The NTA also has a website for cellular phones, etc. (http://www.nta.go.jp/m), which you can accessthrough a cellular phone or smart phone.

11

Ⅰ❶ Tax Answer System◆ Portal to the FAQ where frequently asked
inquiry and general answers are posted◆

Tax Offices

Portal to the pages of each Regional Taxation
Bureau* The following diagram is as of April 2014.
❹ Online national tax return filing and tax❸ Filing assistance on the NTA website◆

In this system, if a taxpayer follows the screen
guidance and inputs monetary amounts etc.,
taxes are automatically calculated, and tax
returns for income tax, consumption tax and gift
tax can be prepared◆ Prepared tax returns can be submitted by e-Tax
Printouts can be submitted by postal mailpayment system (e-Tax)◆ Information to support filing tax returns andpayment using e-Tax for “Prior preparation,”“Advanced registration,” “Flow of procedures,” etc.

❺ Road price rating map

Ⅱ◆ Road price rating information for 3 years
throughout Japan

❾

Ⅲ

⓫

❶
❸
Ⅴ

❷

❺

Provide information on properties for public
auction (selling of seized properties by bidding,etc.) executed at Regional Taxation Bureaus andTax Offices throughout Japan, information on
auction procedure, etc.

❼ See on video clip◆◆

The tax Information and the work of tax
offices❽❽ Tax learning section◆

Section to have fun learning about taxes, with
games and quizzes for both children and adults◆ Provides tax education learning materials for❿ Introduction◆ Explain “the role of taxes and the work of tax

offices” by using movie and illustration for easy
understanding

school teachers❾ Text enlargement/voice readings◆

Support functions for the elderly and those
who have visual disordersⅦ

The role of taxes and the work of tax offices⓫ Email magazine◆

Registration of “What’s new? and Emailmagazine delivery service”

Ⅷ
Statistics

Specific explanations of tax procedures, how
to prepare tax returns, e-Tax use, etc.
Shows the NTA activities like tax examinationand collection, in an easily understood drama
format❼Evaluation of
Policies❻ Auction information◆❻

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Ⅵ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration❹

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Ⅳ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection❿

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers❷ Search for Regional Taxation Bureaus andAbout the NTA

Overview of the NTA website*1 Newly created to provide information on the Great East Japan Earthquake.
*2 The NTA website and the free video sharing site YouTube deliver videos with information on the NTA activities (including publicity activities of each
Regional Taxation Bureau and Tax Ofﬁce) and support for self-assessment procedures.

12

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers(2) Tax education〜 Developing the environment for, and providing support for enhanced tax education 〜
The NTA works on developing the environment
for, and providing support for enhanced tax
education, based on the thinking that tax educationneeds to be provided continuously in stages inbasic school education and be worked on by theentire society. The NTA is working to develop theenvironment for, and provide support for solid tax
education, so that children and students who willserve as the next generation correctly understandthe signiﬁcance and roles of taxation which forms
the country's basis, and to foster sound taxpayer
consciousness.
Furthermore, the Council for Promoting
Tax Education among related ministries, etc.
Tax☆Space UENO
(consisting of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the NTA, etc.)
continuously meets to discuss effective support measures.
Past work includes dispatching teachers to tax education classes on the request of schools,
development and distribution of tax education supplementary materials, organizing tax essay contests,
via cooperation from the relevant privateorganizations, mainly by councils for promoting
tax education established in each prefecture(members comprised of government, local
authorities, educational leaders, etc.).
Also, a Tax learning section is provided on
the NTA website, http://www.nta.go.jp/shiraberu/
ippanjoho/gakushu/index.htm (in Japanese
language), to enable students and those who areinterested to study taxes on their own. Pages
that describe the purpose and role of taxes areprovided for easy understanding, as well as
tax education material in electronic form foreducational leaders such as school teachers touse for educational purposes.
Also, Tax ☆ Space UENO , facility fortax education, is set up in the Tokyo-Ueno Tax
Ofﬁce, where Tax Ofﬁce Tour and Experiential
Tax learning section
Learning events are held.
For detailed information, please see the NTA website, http://www.nta.go.jp/tokyo/shiraberu/gakushu/
taiken/01.htm (in Japanese language)【Tax☆Space UENO contacts for questions or to apply to use it】
Special Ofﬁcer (Public Relations), Tokyo-Ueno Tax Ofﬁce
Tel 03-3821-9001 (Representative) (Ext 361, 362)
● Number of lecturers dispatched to Tax Education Class, etc.
Fiscal year

2011

2012

Fiscal year

Ofﬁcials

8,199

8,551

Non-ofﬁcials

15,031

17,542

Total

23,23026,093

Received fromhigh-school students
Received from juniorhigh-school students* The number for 2012 includes the number of lecturers dispatched touniversities and vocational schools.

13● Number of essays entered for Tax Essay Contest
2012

2013

182,736

181,500

584,661

583,142

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Providing tax knowledge through the Tax Museum

Ⅱ

Tax Museum(3) Briefings for taxpayers〜 Organizing various educational sessions to provide information about taxes 〜Ⅳ● Frequency of brieﬁngs and number ofparticipants
2011

2012

Frequency
held

23,443times
1,087
thousandpeople23,918times
1,155
thousandpeopleNumber ofparticipantsⅤ(4) Advance inquiries● Number of Advance Inquiries received
by written reply procedure
Fiscal year

2012

2013

Number of Advance
Inquiries Received

147

160
Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

In case taxpayers have some doubts regarding
tax treatment of any transaction conducted or to be
conducted, Tax Offices receive advance inquiries as apart of taxpayer services, and the inquiries and answers
that can serve as reference for other taxpayers aredisclosed as Q&As on the NTA website in order to help
other taxpayers to make ﬁling.
In advance inquiries, a written answer may beprovided under certain conditions, if so requested, andthe NTA also discloses such inquiries and answers on the
NTA website in order to help other taxpayers to improvepredictability.

Ⅵ

Revision of Operations
and Systems〜 Enhanced predictability for taxpayers 〜

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Operation year

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

To help taxpayers better understand the tax
procedures and tax system revisions, the NTA holds
brieﬁngs at Tax Ofﬁces throughout Japan.
Speciﬁcally, a variety of brieﬁngs are held to provide
information on taxes, including: 1) briefings on thenecessity of bookkeeping and maintaining accounting
books, with guidance on how to prepare tax returns andﬁnancial statements, 2) year-end adjustment brieﬁngs forwithholding agents, 3) briefings on revisions to the tax
laws, and 4) brieﬁngs for newly established corporations.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

The Tax Museum, located on the Wako
campus of the National Tax College has
valuable collections of historical documents
and materials regarding national taxes.
The Museum displays the large number ofcollections throughout the year and is open toa wide variety of visitors from specialists on
tax history to high school students and otherpeople.
Besides, specialized staffs at the Museum
engage in research of archives and past tax
system.
For further information, please visit the
National Tax College section within the NTA website,www.nta.go.jp/ntc/english/● Number of Q&A examples posted on website
Fiscal year

2012

2013

Number of Q&A posted

1,756

1,784
Ⅷ
Statistics◎ Examples of answers provided in writing● Handling of income tax on daily allowance paid to sailors on board● Handling of expenses incurred for the installation of ballast water treatment apparatus

14

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers(5) Tax consultation〜 General tax consultations are handled at centralized telephone consultation centers 〜
Tax consultations are provided as part of taxpayer services, so that taxpayers can do proper selfassessment and tax payment themselves. These provide information on taxation, and answer generalquestions on taxation. The NTA established Phone Consultation Centers in Regional Taxation Bureaus toanswer taxpayer questions and provide consultation on taxes. These provide centralized handling of generaltax consultations.
For foreigners, there are also Tax Counselors who can handle tax consultation in English, who areassigned to Phone Consultation Centers at Regional Taxation Bureaus in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
Also, the NTA website provides information in its

Tax Answer, which posts general answers tofrequently asked questions (it also provides a mobile phone site.).
For further details, please refer to the NTA website, http://www.nta.go.jp/taxanswer● Phone Consultation Center: Number of consultations
and number of times Tax Answer was accessed
Number of times “Tax Answer” accessed
Number of Phone Consultation Center consultations（thousands）

70,00060,00065,27548,03550,00040,000 33,372

35,96953,33840,76031,99330,00020,00010,000
0

3,647

4,877

5,136

5,039

5,302

5,006

5,190

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

（fiscal year）

The number of access to the “Tax Answer”
system has increased since FY2008.
Phone Consultation Center◎

Frequently asked questions to Tax Answer system(ﬁscal 2013)

Mobile site of Tax
Answer can beaccessed from thecode on the right.

1. When taxpayer has paid medical-care expenses(medical expenses deduction)
2. Income tax rate
3. Medical expenses covered by tax deduction〜 Tax Ofﬁces will provide individual and speciﬁc tax consultation services on a priorappointment basis 〜
When consultation by interview is required, for example if it is necessary to check speciﬁc documents
or facts, there is an appointment system at the Tax Ofﬁce with jurisdiction. This serves to eliminate wait timeat the Tax Ofﬁce, as part of our efforts for effective and efﬁcient operation which matches the content ofconsultations.

15About the NTA

2 e-Tax (online national tax return ﬁling and tax payment system)

Ⅰ〜 Strongly promote various measures in order to encourage and stabilize the use of e-Tax 〜
e-Tax enables users to file income tax and special income tax for reconstruction, corporation tax,
return ﬁling, etc. via internet instead of submitting paper-based documents. All tax items can be paid via directⅡpayment, the Internet, Pay-easy1 compatible ATMs, etc.
e-Tax enables taxpayers and CPTAs to file and pay
from homes and ofﬁces without actually visiting tax ofﬁces
or banks. Also, when taxpayers use tax and accounting
software compatible with e-Tax, they will reduce paperwork
done digitally.
e-Tax also directly reduces administration work suchas receiving tax returns at the counter or by postal mail,

Proper Tax
Examination andCollectionⅢ

as the set of work from data preparation to filing can be

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

consumption tax, gift tax, stamp tax and liquor tax returns, as well as submit statutory records, apply for blue

and inputting data. It also indirectly reduces documentⅣ

efﬁciency of tax administration.
In order to encourage and stabilize the use of e-Tax,
the NTA has shortened tax refund period for filings madevia e-Tax, enabled the submission of a certain attachment

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

management costs for tax authorities, thereby promotes the

documents such as medical receipts by individuals to claim medical deduction to be omitted2 and enabledⅤtaxpayers.

● e-Tax● Obtain digital certificates● Obtain IC card

Internet

Taxpayers

CPTAs

Directpayment
instruction
Directpayment
information

Receiving
ceivingstem
systemⅥ

T a x Offic e
Sending data
(payments
etc )(payments, etc.)

Evaluation of
Policies● Online tax payment using
Internet banking or ATM

Ⅶ

Mullti--pa
Multi-payment
networknenetww

Internet

ATM

FinancialFFinnancial institutionsBO
OJ revenue agencies）
OJ（BOJ

Remit togovernment
deposit

Revision of Operations
and Systems

readers/writers

Sending data(tax returns,
etc.)

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

digital signature by the taxpayers to be omitted in cases where CPTAs file returns online on behalf of the

Bank of Japan

Ⅷ
Statistics

1

Pay-easy is a service where taxpayers can pay taxes, public utility charges and other charges through PCs, cellular phones or ATMs without queuingat the counters of ﬁnancial institutions or convenience stores.
2 In case submission of attachment documents are omitted, the entries of descriptions of the attachment documents are required to be inputted andtransmitted together with tax returns.
In order to check on the entries of descriptions, if it is necessary, the Tax Ofﬁces may ask taxpayers to submit or present original copies during a ﬁveyear period from the legally required due date for ﬁling.

16

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers

The NTA has also promoted various measures which have been incorporated in the Business Process
Reengineering Plan (revised in March and September 2013) of NTA which was established in May 2012
based on the New Plan for the Utilization of Online which was decided in August 2011.
In fiscal 2013, we continued to work inthe same areas as in fiscal 2012, such as the ● Number of applications, etc. which used e-Tax
provision of 24-hour service to receive final
income tax returns, extension of business hours
on weekdays, and omission of digital signaturewhen requesting a tax payment certificate online
and receiving it at the counters of Tax Ofﬁces, as（thousands）

well as reviewed the tax refund period of filings
made via e-Tax.
Based on the Declaration to be the World's
Most Advanced IT Nation which was decided onJune 2013, the Policy for the Improvement ofConvenience of Online Procedures (hereinafter
the Improvement Policy ) was decided in April
2014 to promote measures for the improvement of
online procedures in consideration of user needs.
The NTA will make an Improvement Action
Plan based on the Improvement Policy andimplement various measures for wider use andestablishment of e-Tax as well as work for the
improvement of taxpayer convenience and more
efﬁcient administration in a planned manner.

20,000■ 3 procedures which depend on prevalence rate, etc.
of the Public Certification Service for Individuals■ 12 procedures other than above
17,710

16,63017,02017,300

9,220

9,510

9,720

7,410

7,510

7,580

7,690

FY2010FY2011FY2012FY201315,00010,01010,0005,000

0* The figures are the number of utilization of focusedprocedures in “Business Process Reengineering Plan”.

The number of utilization of e-Tax increases steadily.

● Actual values, etc. of performance criteria of Business Process Reengineering Plan
Baseline(Actual result of
FY2010)Results(FY2011)

Results(FY2012)Target(FY2013)

e-Tax user satisfaction

66.4％

68.0％

70.6％

70％

User satisfaction of the ﬁling assistance on the NTA
website.

80.1％

80.1％

81.3％

85％

￥581

￥508

￥473

Decrease from theprevious year

99,729 hours(Actual result of
FY2011)

99,729 hours

102,860 hours

Increase from theprevious year

3 procedures which depend on prevalence
rate, etc. of the Public Certification Service for
Individuals

41.1％

44.2％

46.9％

50％

12 procedures other than above

70.1％

73.1％

75.7％

76％

57.3％

61.9％

65.5％

65％

Criteria of Performance
Criteria relating to improved user convenience

Criteria relating to efﬁciency of administrative management
Cost per application received online
Paperwork processing time
Percentage of online use, etc.
Percentage of online use

Utilization rate of ICT

17

Ⅰ
About the NTA

3Filing for tax return〜 The number of taxpayers who ﬁled tax returns totaled 21.43 million. More than halfﬁled for tax refunds 〜

income taxes for reconstruction for 2013, thus one out of five residents filed taxes. Of these, over 12.40
million people ﬁled for refunds, comprising over half of people ﬁling income tax and special income tax forreconstruction returns.

Ⅲ● Trend of individual tax return ﬁlers（millions）

25
20

Ⅳ

Since 1999, the number of taxpayers who filed tax returns
totaled to over 20 million (one fifth of Japan’s population).

1050Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

21.43

15

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

In response to diverse needs of taxpayers who file tax returns, the NTA is working to provide diverse
services, to reduce the burden of ﬁling.

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Tax ﬁling is a procedure under the self-assessment tax system, in which the taxpayer calculates income
and tax amount for a one year period, and files and pays taxes. In addition to persons obligated to file,
there are people who file taxes to obtain an income tax and special income tax for reconstruction refund,for example because they paid large medical bills. 21.43 million people ﬁled their income taxes and special‘67 ‘68 ‘69 ‘70 ‘71 ‘72 ‘73 ‘74 ‘75 ‘76 ‘77 ‘78 ‘79 ‘80 ‘81 ‘82 ‘83 ‘84 ‘85 ‘86 ‘87 ‘88 ‘89 ‘90 ‘91 ‘92 ‘93 ‘94 ‘95 ‘96 ‘97 ‘98 ‘99 ‘00 ‘01 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10 ‘11 ‘12 ‘13（calendar year）

Ⅴ(1) Promotion of filing using ICT〜 e-Tax and ﬁling assistance on the NTA website 〜

using ICT such as filing assistance on the
NTA website and e-Tax, taxpayers can file tax

PCs where people can use filing assistanceon the NTA website, and taxpayers who came

23,674

23,15021,85320,00021,52521,434The users of ICT increased 1.2 times in 4 years.
14,070Ⅶ
12,754

11,163

10,453

9,796

15,00010,000

Ⅷ

5,000

0

9,604

2009

10,396

10,69011,071

2010

2011

2012

11,638

Statistics

to consult about filing use the PCs to prepare
tax returns and transmit them using e-Tax,experiencing the convenience of ﬁling using ICT.

25,000Ⅵ

Evaluation of
Policies

returns conveniently without visiting Tax Ofﬁces,
anytime and without calculation errors.
To this end, the NTA carries out various
activities such as publicity and briefings etc.,
so more taxpayers file using ICT. Also, at
consultation sites of Tax Offices, there are■ Number of filers using ICT■ Number of filers not using ICT（thousand people）

Revision of Operations
and Systems

The NTA is actively using the advances in
ICT in recent years to provide taxpayer services,using ICT to enable filing from home, etc. By● Filers who used ICT to ﬁle an income tax return

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Various services are provided to meet with various needs of taxpayers→Implemented systems to enable easy and convenient filing process

2013（calendar year）

18

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers〜 Income tax and special income tax for reconstruction returns prepared at theassistance on the NTA website totaled 8.52 million cases 〜

ﬁlingWith the ﬁling assistance on the NTA website, if a taxpayer enters the amounts and other necessary
information according to guidance on the PC screen, income amounts and tax amounts are automaticallycalculated, and it allows taxpayers to complete their tax returns for income tax and special income tax forreconstruction, consumption tax and local consumption tax for private business operators, and gift tax aswell as ﬁnancial statements for blue returns.
e-Tax can be used to ﬁle the prepared data directly from this website area, or it can be printed andsubmitted to the Tax Ofﬁce by post, etc.
The number of users has increased each year since the ﬁling period for 2002. In the ﬁling period for2013, the number of people who submitted income tax and special income tax for reconstruction returns
prepared with ﬁling assistance on the NTA website reached 8.52 million cases including those prepared via
PCs set up at consultation sites. This comprised over 40% of all people who submitted returns. About 61%of these submitted their returns via e-Tax.
We will continue our efforts to improve the system to make it easier to use based on feedback fromusers, so that it can be used by as many taxpayers as possible.
● Trend in income tax return submissions prepared in ﬁling assistance on the NTA website■ Persons filing tax returns (website) ■ Persons filing tax returns (Tax Office)（thousand people）

10,000
8,000

7,902

8,127

4,957

4,842

4,878

4,994

3,524

7,297
6,144

6,000
4,692

4,000

3,370
1,924

2,000
0

8,518

7,794

2004

4,660

2,765

1,664

602
695

3,808

1,323

1,705

1,927

2005

2006

2007

2,336

2,637

2,837

3,060

3,249

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

The use of filing assistance on the NTA website increased
by approximately 12 times in 9 years.

2013（calendar year）* Figures represent those submitted by the end of March of the following year.
The use of ﬁling assistance on the NTA website at PCs installed in the Tax Ofﬁce started from tax returns for 2004. However,the number of taxpayers who submitted returns using this method remains unaccounted for.
The number of taxpayers who submitted tax returns for years before 2003 remains unaccounted for.
The number of taxpayers who submitted tax returns for years since 2007 includes cases using e-Tax.

(2) Response to diverse taxpayer needs〜 Opening tax ofﬁce on Sunday during ﬁling period 〜
Taxpayers said that It's a problem that ﬁling consultations can only be handled on weekdays; I would
like it if they were also provided on days when government offices are closed. In response, the NTA
receives tax returns and provides ﬁling consultations on two Sundays during the tax return ﬁling period atsome Tax Ofﬁces, inside the Tax Ofﬁces and at joint meeting sites outside the Tax Ofﬁces.
For the 2013 tax return ﬁling period, the ofﬁces were open on February 23 and March 2, 2014, during
which 283,000 income tax and special income tax for reconstruction returns were ﬁled.
Also, to enable taxpayers and their agents to obtain necessary information and forms without visiting
Tax Ofﬁces, the NTA provides various ﬁling information via the NTA website, as well as arranging various
information sessions relating to ﬁling and free consultation sessions by CPTAs for small business owners.
The NTA plans to implement filing administration smoothly and efficiently by the limited number of staff,
while meeting the various needs of taxpayers.

19

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Cooperation with the local tax authorities

Ⅲ

Proper withholding tax system operation〜 Providing more through information and publicity to withholding agents 〜

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

4

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Among local taxes, tax mechanisms and taxpayers subject to local taxes are often the same as
for national taxation. Therefore, in an effort to simplify taxpayer filing procedures, the NTA is working on
close cooperation between national taxation (the NTA) and local tax (authorities) in system aspects andimplementation aspects. For example, in the case of income tax ﬁlings, the NTA provides such information to
local tax authorities, so there is no need to ﬁle for individual enterprise tax and individual inhabitant tax, which
are local taxes.
Also as an initiative for much more efficient national and local tax operations, income tax filing dataand other data are mutually provided between national government and local public bodies. Such increased
use of ICT is an effort to boost efficiency and reduce the costs of administrative operations of national
government and local public bodies.

In the withholding tax system, withholding agents finalize the taxation process by doing year-endⅣsalary earners. The withholding tax system is as important in tax administration as smooth operation of theself-assessment system.
To have withholding agents properly process withholding tax procedures and pay taxes, the NTA provides

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

adjustments, which eliminate the procedures for tax returns for a large portion of the over 50 million wage andinformation and publicity about the withholding tax system by holding brieﬁngs about year-end adjustment,

5

Ⅴ

Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants (CPTAs) system〜 Missions of Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants (CPTAs) 〜
CPTAs

Ⅵ

etc. ) are professional specialists on taxes. Their public mission is to respond to the trust of a person with a
tax obligation in line with the principles of the self-assessment system, and achieve proper tax compliance asprovided for in the tax laws and regulations, based on their independent and fair standpoint.
As of March-end 2014, 74,501 persons are registered as CPTAs, and 2,748 CPTAs corporations are
established.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants (CPTAs) and CPTAs Corporations (hereinafter referred to as

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

distributing guidebooks and pamphlets, etc.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies〜 Services provided by CPTAs 〜
CPTA services are ① tax proxy, ② preparation of tax documents, ③ tax consultation service. These
operations must not be performed by persons other than CPTAs etc., even at no charge. At the same time,
CPTAs etc. are required to fulﬁll various obligations and responsibilities. For example, they are prohibited fromproviding tax evasion consultation and engaging in conduct which harms the credibility or dignity of CPTAs etc.

Ⅷ
Statistics

Taxpayers are able to use CPTAs etc. services (tax return preparation or professional advice) to properly
ﬁle returns and pay taxes. In addition, because corporations and sole business proprietors often ask CPTAs
etc. to process accounting books or seek advice on accounting, they also play important roles in promoting
correct bookkeeping that constitutes the basis for ﬁling tax returns.

20

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers〜 Ensuring proper services are provided by CPTAs 〜
In order to ensure public trust in the CPTA system, the NTA utilizes every opportunity to alert people andprevent violation of the Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountant Act by CPTAs etc. Also, the NTA conducts appropriate
examinations of CPTAs etc., and take strict
action against CPTAs etc. who violate the● Number of disciplinary actions against CPTAs etc.
Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountant Act and so called(cases)fake CPTAs who conducts CPTA services
Fiscal
year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
without licenses, by applying disciplinary actions
Number ofand ﬁling accusations seeking prosecution.
disciplinary
29
37
34
41
50
The NTA discloses the names of disciplined
actions
CPTAs etc. in the official gazette and via the
NTA website.

〜 Coordination and cooperation with Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants' Associations, etc. 〜(1) Promotion of document attached by CPTAs to tax returns

The documents attached by CPTAs etc. to tax returns as provided for in the Certified Public Tax
Accountant Act clarify the roles played by them in ﬁling tax returns. The NTA is respecting such roles playedby them. Specifically, this system allows CPTAs etc. to attach to tax returns the documents regarding
the calculation, information arrangement, or consultation service that they provided for the preparationof tax returns. If the Tax Office intends to provide notification of the date, time and place it will conduct
a tax examination to a taxpayer who ﬁled a tax return along with such documents, then the CPTAs etc.
possessing the certiﬁcate evidencing the authority of tax proxy must be given the opportunity to state an
opinion on the items written in the attached documents, before the taxpayer is notiﬁed.
Because this system contributes to the correct preparation and filing of tax returns, facilitation andsimplification of tax administration, and eventually establishment of a trusted CPTA system, the NTA is
actively consulting with Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants' Associations and Japan Federation of Certiﬁed
Public Tax Accountants' Associations (hereinafter referred to as CPTAs' Associations etc. ) with an aim toenhance the content of attachments and raise the percentage of returns with attachments. The NTA is also
respecting this system. It is thereby further promoting and establishing this system.

(2) Promotion of e-Tax usage
CPTAs etc. play important roles in promoting use of e-Tax. The NTA requests CPTAs' Associations etc.
for cooperation to promote the use of e-Tax, as well as dispatching lecturers to training sessions arranged
by CPTAs' Associations etc. (see page 16 for detailed information of e-Tax).

〜 Revision of the Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountant Act 〜
For the amendment of tax system in ﬁscal 2014, the Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountant Act has been revised
to develop tax payment environment. To contribute to the smooth and proper management of tax ﬁling andpayment system, this revision amends the services and qualiﬁcation of CPTAs etc. for the improvement oftrust in CPTAs etc. and taxpayer convenience. The amended items are being implemented sequentially from
April 2014.

CPTAs' Associations and Japan Federation of CPTAs' Associations
In order to improve the work of CPTAs, CPTAs' Associations are designated in the Certiﬁed Public Tax
Accountant Act as organizations which provide guidance, liaison and supervision to CPTAs and CPTAs
corporations. There are now 15 CPTAs' Associations throughout Japan. CPTAs' Associations engage in awide range of activities, including ① Training to enhance the qualities of CPTAs, ② Dispatch of lecturers for
tax workshops in elementary, junior and senior high schools, universities, etc. to fulﬁll the tax education ③
Free tax consultation for small taxpayers.
The Japan Federation of Certiﬁed Public Tax Accountants' Associations is the only organization in Japan
speciﬁed in the CPTA Act, consisting of member CPTAs' Associations. The Federation provides guidelines,
liaison, and supervision for CPTAs' Associations and their members. It also handles the administration toregister members, and conducts research on the CPTAs etc. system. For further details, please visit thewebsite of the Federation at www.nichizeiren.or.jp

21

Ⅰ
About the NTA

6

Cooperation with private organizations〜 Provide necessary tax information to taxpayers in cooperation with relevant privateorganizations 〜ⅣCorporations associations

Ⅴ

Indirect tax associations
Ⅵ

Savings-for-tax associations

Tax payment associations

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Savings-for-tax associations are organized by taxpayers aiming at continually completing payment of tax within
the due date by means of savings. The associations are established pursuant to the Tax Fund Saving Partnership
Act, and there are now about 34,500 associations (as of March 2013). Savings-for-tax associations conduct
activities to promote payment of tax by the due date and coordinating tax essay contests for junior high school
students. For further details, please visit the website of the National Federation of Savings-for-Tax Associations at
www.zennoren.jp

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Indirect tax associations are organized for the purpose of contributing to the spreading of knowledge about
indirect taxes, and achieving fair taxation and proper administration in the self-assessment system. There are
564 associations nationwide with about 90,000 members (as of March 2013). Indirect tax associations makesuggestions to the government on ways to enhance the tax system and to improve tax implementation. They also
perform activities to spread knowledge about the consumption tax and to prevent tax delinquency. For further
details, please visit the website of the National Federation of Indirect Tax Associations at www.kanzeikai.jp

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Corporations associations are organized for the purpose of spreading knowledge of tax and establishinga proper self-assessment system. There are 483 corporations associations as incorporated associations, andmembership stands at about 840,000 corporations (as of December 2013). Corporations associations organize tax
education, tax awareness campaign, seminars on tax and management, etc. For further details, please visit thewebsite of the National General Federation of Corporations Associations at www.zenkokuhojinkai.or.jp

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Blue return taxpayers' associations are organized to widen participation in the blue return system and promote
the submission of proper tax returns through honest bookkeeping. They are formed mainly by sole businessproprietors who use the system. There are about 3,100 associations nationwide, and the total number of members
is about 850,000 (as of April 2014). Each blue return taxpayers' association performs a wide range of activities
including the guidance on bookkeeping, holding seminars, and encouraging ﬁling of blue returns. For further details,
please contact the nearest blue return taxpayers' association.

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Blue return taxpayers' associations

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

The NTA is implementing measures not only to provide information on taxes directly to taxpayers
but also to convey information on taxes via cooperation from the relevant private organizations, such as
blue return taxpayers' associations and corporations associations. These relevant private organizations areplaying a large role through various explanatory meetings held by each organization in achieving a proper selfassessment system and in spreading knowledge about taxes.
The NTA is working to strengthen coordination and cooperation between these relevant privateorganizations, for example by promoting measures for wider use and establishment of e-Tax and by holding
various joint events in Think About Tax Week.

Ⅷ
Statistics

Tax payment associations are organized under the jurisdiction of the Tax Offices of the Osaka Regional
Taxation Bureau, for the purpose of aiming to spread knowledge about taxes, promote proper ﬁling of returns anduplift tax payment morality. There are 83 tax payment associations, and about 170,000 members belong to theseassociations (as of March 2014). The associations carry out activities which have large public beneﬁts, such as
holding various brieﬁngs, conducting publicity activities, working on tax education, etc. For further details, please
visit the website of the Federation of Tax Payment Associations at www.nouzeikyokai.or.jp

22

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers

Column Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake (As of end of March, 2014)
1 Measures taken for the termination of extension of ﬁling and payment deadlines
for national taxes
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, the NTA notiﬁcation dated March 15, 2011 announced
the extension of ﬁling and payment deadlines for national taxes that would arrive on or after 11th dayof the same month in ﬁve prefectures, which are Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki.
Later this measure to extend the deadlines has been terminated gradually based on theconditions of each area. Regarding the last remaining 12 municipalities of Fukushima Prefecture,
namely Tamura City, Minamisoma City, Kawamata Town, Hirono Town, Naraha Town, Tomioka Town,
Kawauchi Village, Okuma Town, Futaba Town, Namie Town, Katsurao Village and Iitate Village, theNTA notiﬁcation dated January 31, 2014 announced the termination of extension of the deadlines on
March 31, 2014 in consideration of the situation of voluntary ﬁlings and payments.
However, considering the fact that the termination of extension of the deadlines requires
taxpayers of these 12 municipalities to make filings and payments for a period of multiple years,
the one-year procedure period is established and the taxpayers are required to make filings andpayments by March 31, 2015. For any taxpayer who continues having difficulty in filing or paying
taxes by this date, further extension of deadline can be permitted on application. The NTA will ask the
taxpayers to take necessary procedures in consideration of their individual circumstances.
The NTA has developed a system to provide appropriate consultations to the taxpayers taking
refuge in all over Japan at their nearest Tax Ofﬁce.

2 Consultation in ﬁling period for ﬁnal tax return
With the termination of extension of the deadlines, Tax Ofﬁces anticipated to receive consultations
on ﬁling by the taxpayers who would need time to prepare tax return forms for a period of multiple
years. In order to ensure taxpayer services during the filing period, backup staff from the Sendai
Regional Taxation Bureau and Tax Ofﬁces in the jurisdiction of Sendai Regional Taxation Bureau (about
2,200 staff in total) were dispatched to the Tax Ofﬁces in charge of 12 municipalities of Fukushima
Prefecture. In addition, each Taxation Bureau dispatched their staff (about 1,300 staff in total) to the
Fukushima Tax Office, Koriyama Tax Office, Iwaki Tax Office and Tax Offices in Sendai City for aperiod from Thursday, February 13, 2014 to Tuesday, March 18, 2014 as a support given by the entire
NTA to the Sendai Regional Taxation Bureau.
The Soma Tax Office and Koriyama Tax Office which are in charge of 12 municipalities ofFukushima Prefecture and the Iwaki Tax Ofﬁce in charge of areas having many refugees worked onofﬁce holidays in order to develop the environment which would facilitate ﬁlings by the disaster-affected
taxpayers.

3 Recovery support for liquor industry
In order to ensure safety of liquors against radiation and maintain the environment for export
etc., the NTA continued conducting radioactive examinations in ﬁscal 2013 on liquors and brewing
water (2,435 cases) in cooperation with National Research Institute of Brewing. Regarding the import
restrictions introduced after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the NTA issued necessary certiﬁcateson liquors in accordance with the requirement by the countries of export destination. (The NTA issued
1 certiﬁcate of date of manufacturing, 5,329 certiﬁcates of place of manufacturing, and 865 certiﬁcateson radioactivity examinations.)
The NTA will actively support the recovery of liquor industry through the measures mentioned
above.

23

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Special tax measures if damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake

Income tax

For losses of inventory assets and business use assets etc. due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, such loss
amounts can be included in necessary expenses when calculating amounts of business income for 2010.
Besides, for a certain amount of net loss that was caused for inventory assets and business use assets etc., theperiod of carry-forward deduction concerning the net loss amount was changed to 5 years (the Income Tax Act: 3
years).
①

If a dwelling was receiving application of special credit for loans relating to a dwelling, but can no longer be lived
in due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, application of the special credit for loans relating to a dwelling cancontinue to be received, during the remaining application period of special credit for loans relating to a dwelling, forthat dwelling.
② In the case of a taxpayer who lost a dwelling as it was destroyed by the Great East Japan Earthquake
subsequently reacquired an alternative dwelling, such a taxpayer may elect special measures for credit relating toreacquisition of a dwelling, instead of normal special credits for loans relating to a dwelling.
③ The above ① and ② can be applied simultaneously.

Corporation tax
Motor vehicle
tonnage tax
Stamp tax, etc.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Stamp tax on a contract on consumer loan is exempted for a money loan to a person victimized by theGreat East Japan Earthquake, at conditions which compared to conditions of other money loans are speciallyadvantageous, by a local government or government related ﬁnancial institution, etc.
For cases such as a building acquired to replace a building demolished and removed because it was destroyed
or damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and a building located in the area subject to the designation ofevacuation zone, etc. as of the date when such designation of evacuation zone, etc. was made, the stamp tax is
exempted for contracts on transfer of real estate and contracts on contracting of construction work made bythat victimized person. Also, registration and license tax in relation to the registration of transfer of ownership will be
exempt.

Ⅷ
Statistics

Liquor tax

If a person who was a user of a motor vehicle or a motorcycle damaged by the disaster acquires a replacement
vehicle and obtains a motor vehicle inspection certiﬁcate, etc. during the period until April 30, 2016, then by submitting
a notification of tax exemption for motor vehicle tonnage tax to a Transport Branch Office or Light Motor Vehicle
Inspection Organization, the motor vehicle tonnage tax which pertains to the initially obtained motor vehicle inspection
certiﬁcate, etc. is exempted.

Ⅵ

In cases where a liquor manufacturer whose manufacturing factory was seriously damaged by the Great East
Japan Earthquake ships some speciﬁc type of liquors during a period from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2016, if thetaxable volume of the previous year was 1,300 kl or lower, the liquor tax on up to 200 kl of the taxable volume of theyear is reduced.
For other measures and details, see the NTA website www.nta.go.jp or visit a nearby Tax Ofﬁce.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

If a vehicle or a motorcycle was damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and scrapped within the valid
period of its motor vehicle inspection certificate, then the owner can do the procedure for Permanent Deletion
Registration or for notice of demolishing or dismantling at a Transport Branch Ofﬁce or Light Motor Vehicle Inspection
Organization, and submit a request for refund of motor vehicle tonnage tax, and thereby obtain refund of motor
vehicle tonnage tax.

Ⅴ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

For corporations designated by an approved local government during the period December 26, 2011 throughMarch 31, 2016, which were newly established in the industrial park zone for reconstruction, the following special
measures defer the taxation of corporation tax in each business year from the designated date to the date 5 years
after from the designated date:① Tax deduction of reserves for re-investment allowed with the upper limit of income amount.
② Special depreciation is allowed with upper limit of reserve balance in the ﬁscal year when the corporation invests
in equipment or buildings in the industrial park zone for reconstruction again.

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights*

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

For ① casualty loss deduction methods determined in the Income Tax Act, and ② methods of tax reduction orrelease determined in the Act on Reduction or Release, Deferment of Collection and Other Measures Related toTax Imposed on Disaster Victims, people with housing and household assets damaged by the Great East Japan
Earthquake can choose to receive these reduction measures etc. for either 2010 or 2011.
Besides, in case of Method ① , for the casualty loss caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, the period ofcarry-forward deduction concerning the casualty loss amount was changed to 5 years (the Income Tax Act: 3 years).

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

In order to reduce the burdens of victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Earthquake Special
Measures Act entered into force on April 27, 2011.
Besides, in order to reduce the burdens of victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and to promote
policy measures to reconstruct from the Great East Japan Earthquake, necessary revisions were madeto laws, including the revision of a part of Earthquake Special Measures Act which entered into force on
December 14, 2011.
Under this Earthquake Special Measures Act, principal tax treatments applicable to those who suffereddamage from the Great East Japan Earthquake are as follows (As of April 1, 2014):

24

Ⅱ Enhancement of Services for Taxpayers

Column Actions taken for the amended Consumption Tax Act
1 BackgroundI n o r d e r t o s e c u r e s t a b l e ● Rise of consumption tax ratefinancial resources for social security
and achieve fiscal consolidation at
April 1,
April 1,
October 1,
Date of application
the same time, the Act on Partial
1997
2014
2015
Revision of Consumption Tax Act for
Comprehensive Reform of Tax System
5.0％
8.0％
10.0％
Consumption tax rate
to Secure Stable Financial Resources (Breakdown: National + Local)（4.0％ +1.0％）（6.3％ +1.7％）（7.8％ +2.2％）
for Social Security (Comprehensive* Although the Comprehensive Tax Reform Act provides that consumption tax rate
Tax Reform Act) was enacted in August
will be raised to 10% from October 2015, it will be discussed again under Paragraph2012 and relevant amendments were
2 of Article 18 of the supplementary provisions of the same Act by comprehensively
made to the Consumption Tax Act,taking into account the economic situation, etc.
including a rise of consumption tax ratein two phases.
With this rise of consumption tax, the Act on Special Measures for Correction, etc. of Actions that
Interfere with Shifting Consumption Taxes to Ensure the Smooth and Appropriate Price Pass-Through(Act on Special Measures for Shifting Consumption Taxes) came into force on October 1, 2013 in order toensure the smooth and appropriate shifting of consumption taxes.
This Act on Special Measures for Shifting Consumption Taxes prohibits any act that refuses theshifting of consumption taxes and any labeling that interferes with the shifting of consumption taxes andsets forth exceptions from the obligation to indicate the total price with tax as a special measure for priceindication.
Exceptions from the obligation to indicate the total price with tax
From October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2017, prices excluding tax can be indicated without indicating
prices with tax, if a measure to prevent the misrecognition that the indicated price includes tax is taken(misrecognition prevention measure), for example, by indicating ○○ yen (excluding tax) or ○○ yen(item price only).
2 Measures taken for the revised Consumption Tax Act(1) Provision of information and consultation on the revised Consumption Tax Act
The revision of the Consumption Tax Act affects many business operators, and therefore the NTA
is taking measures for providing information and consultation on the content of revision in close contact
and cooperation with relevant ministries and private organizations so that business operators can maketheir ﬁlings and payments with full understanding of the amended consumption tax system.
Major public relations and consultation activities
・Post a leaﬂet about the revision to the NTA website and also keep it at Tax Ofﬁces.
・Post Q&A about transitional measures, etc. to the NTA website.
・Explain the content of revision through various explanatory meetings, etc.
・Establish the revised consumption tax system consultation desk at each Tax Office to provide
consultations on the revised Consumption Tax Act, etc.
(2) Measures for smooth and appropriate shifting of consumption taxes
The entire government works for the smooth and appropriate shifting of consumption taxes withthis rise of consumption tax rate.
The NTA has created the detailed examples of misrecognition prevention measures, which arerequired for the application of exceptions for the obligation to indicate the total price with tax, andposted them to the NTA website and has also provided information on the exceptions at explanatory
meetings, etc. for business operators on the Act on Special Measures for Shifting Consumption Taxes.
The revised consumption tax system consultation desk at Tax Ofﬁces appropriately provides
consultation on the revised Consumption Tax Act and price indication (exceptions from the obligation toindicate the total price with tax) as well as carefully provides consultation on the shifting of consumption
taxes.
In addition, the NTA, as the government agency with jurisdiction over the liquor industry, provides
liquor business operators with necessary guidance and advices to prevent and correct any acts that
violates provisions of the Act on Special Measures for Shifting Consumption Taxes, and if any liquor
business operator performs an act that refuses the shifting of consumption taxes or makes an indicationthat consumption taxes are not shifted, the NTA will collect a report or conduct on-site inspection tosecure smooth and appropriate shifting of consumption taxes.
The NTA will continue taking appropriate actions for these measures in cooperation with relevant
ministries, etc.

25

Proper Tax Examination and Collection

Ⅲ

Ⅰ
About the NTA

1

Promotion of proper and fair tax administration〜 Balanced allocation of tax ofﬁcials and conduct strict examination to fraudulent tax
avoidance cases 〜● Number of cases related to tax examinations, etc.

*

2010

2011

2012

Number of examinations

283

289

199

Number of cases by brief contact

710

724

670

Brief contact means correction etc. of tax returns through written documents, telephone call orrequest for coming to tax ofﬁce.

Approximately 870,000 tax examination cases were conducted annually.

〜 Selection of tax examination through the ICT system, development of theadministrative system for efﬁcient data collection 〜Ⅴ〜 Additional income identiﬁed per tax examination amounting to ¥8.39 million for selfassessed income tax and ¥10.71 million for corporation tax 〜● Undeclared income amount of self-assessed income tax
and corporation tax found in ﬁeld examinations, per caseⅥ（¥million）

12
10

Corporation tax
Self-assessed income tax

8Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

6

10.71
8.87

4

8.39

9.11

2
0

Ⅷ
2012

2008

2012

（operation year）

Statistics

2008

Active promotion of initiatives for
effective examination
1

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Tax examinations aim to checkthe content of tax returns based on
taxpayers' records, and if mistakes
are discovered, to ask taxpayers
to correct them. We place great
importance on the examinationof malicious taxpayers using asufficient number of days for theprocedures.
The field examinations inoperation year 2012 found ¥8.39
million1 of undeclared income percase for self-assessed income tax,and ¥10.71 million for corporation
tax.

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Specifically, the subjects of tax examinations are selected through the KSK system, which contains
data related to income tax returns, corporation tax returns, and a variety of other data and information, fromthe viewpoints of business type, business form, and business size. Data and information are recognized as
essential to achieve proper and fair taxation, so we have in place a structure to efﬁciently collect data andinformation which will be very effective to use.

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Ⅳ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ(thousands)

Operation year

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

In order to achieve proper and fair taxation, the NTA takes care of its administration processes in an
effective and efficient manner by balancing its allocation of limited human and material resources. For
example, it makes full use of its organizational strengths to conduct accurate examinations of large-scale andmalicious taxpayers, while making only brief contacts for correcting simple mistakes.
Especially for taxpayers who try to illicitly evade tax burdens, the NTA analyzes information from various
angles, chooses subjects to examine, and conducts strict examinations.

Amount related to special and general ﬁeld examinations.

26

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection(1) Priority matters addressed in the tax examinations〜 Examination keeping in mind of increasingly diverse and international asset management 〜
For taxpayers who expect a high income but who ﬁled a low income or did not ﬁle, we are addressing
tax examinations keeping in mind diversiﬁcation and globalization of asset management.
◎ Cases in which the NTA identiﬁed overseas assets not reported for Japanese tax purposes● Based on materials provided by foreign tax authorities through information exchange under the tax
treaty (see page 39 for information exchange), the NTA discovered a failure to declare proﬁts thatwere acquired from ﬁnancial instruments held with overseas ﬁnancial institutions.
● Based on records of remittance and receipt related to foreign countries (see page 38 for a recordof remittance and receipt related to foreign countries), the NTA discovered the transfer of overseas
assets and the exclusion of the amount of transfer price from inheritance tax declaration.

〜 Prevent fraudulent consumption tax refunds by means of sufﬁcient examination, etc. 〜Consumption tax is one of the main
taxes, and is similar to a deposit, which
is why it attracts the strong attentionof the public. Therefore, proper tax
administration is especially necessary.
In particular, as there are cases where
fraudulent consumption tax refunds
were claimed through the ﬁling of false
returns, we work to prevent the filingof fraudulent refunds by instituting
sufﬁcient examinations of the facts. As
a result, if the reasons for a tax refund
are not clear, we make contact throughtax examinations, etc.

● Examinations of consumption tax (individual and corporation)（thousands）■ Number of examination cases ■ Number of undeclared cases

250

Failure to report income is found in
approximately 60% of taxpayers who
received an examination.

200
150

233
100

143
50
0

2008

172
108

2012 （operation year）◎ Examples of malicious fraud in the consumption tax● Consumption tax refunds were illicitly received by the trick of falsifying books etc., to disguise
domestic sales as tax exempt export sales.
● Personnel costs paid by a business are not tax deductible transactions, but by pretending thatthe costs were outsourcing costs for afﬁliated companies (temp agencies, etc.) which are deductible
transactions, fraudulent consumption tax refunds were received.
● Consumption tax refunds were illicitly received through the trick of falsifying books etc., by
disguising a lease (rental) transaction as a purchase and recording the leased asset as own ﬁxed
asset.

〜 Proper Performance of Examination Procedure 〜
In the revision of the tax system of 2011, the Act on General Rules for National Taxes was revised.
From the viewpoints to enhance the transparency of examination procedures and predictability for the
taxpayers, conventional operational handling was legislated concerning the examination procedures, whichcame into force in January 2013.
The NTA will endeavor to protect the taxpayers' profits concerning the national taxes, and properly
perform the examination procedures specified in the Act on General Rules for National Taxes, from theviewpoint of ensuring proper operation of tax administration.

〜 Accurate understanding of claims made by taxpayers and proper tax administration 〜

To build faith in the tax administration, it is important that taxation is applied with the properinterpretation of laws and regulations upon correct fact ﬁnding.
To this end, we always try to properly process taxation after correctly interpreting the assertions madeby taxpayers and studying the laws and regulations based on accurate fact ﬁnding. On this occasion, weare thoroughly adhering to the procedures and processes to ascertain whether all legal requirements areproperly met.

27

Ⅰ
About the NTA(2) Information collection〜 Collect data and information through every opportunity to use such information for
accurate guidance as well as tax examinations 〜● Number of information items collected（thousands）

300,000■ Information under mandatory submission■ Other information

Ⅱ

250,000
200,000
293,760

150,000
194,390
111,500

50,0000

2008

92,5502012 （operation year）

Ⅳ(3) Criminal investigation〜 Pursues criminal responsibility of malicious tax evaders 〜Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

In ﬁscal 2013, the NTA commenced 185 criminal investigations, processing 185 cases including thosecarried over from the previous ﬁscal year, of which it accused 118 cases to prosecutors. The total amount oftax evasion was ¥14.5 billion, with the average at ¥99 million per accused case.
Methods that were often used for tax evasion include excluding sales and booking ﬁctitious costs or
expenses. It was also identiﬁed that the payment of consumption taxes on the amount of food and drinks
received from customers had been evaded by ﬁling no tax returns. Funds obtained from tax evasion were,for example, stored as cash, deposits or securities, spent on imported luxury cars and vacation houses, or
thrown into foreign casinos.

Ⅵ● Status of criminal investigations
Number of cases Number of cases
conducted
closedcases

FY2012

190

191

129

FY2013

185

185

118

14,458（11,731）

Amount of tax evasion
per case (portion withaccusation ﬁled to theprosecutor)¥million
107
（135）

Ⅷ
Statistics

cases

Total amount of tax
evasion cases (portion
with accusation ﬁled to theprosecutor)
cases¥million
20,479（17,466）

Number of cases withaccusation ﬁled to theprosecutor

Revision of Operations
and Systems〜 Tax evasion cases for FY2013 amounting to ¥14.5 billion in total, of which prosecuted
cases accounted for ¥11.7 billion 〜ⅤProper Management of
Liquor Administration

The tax criminal investigation system pursues criminal responsibility of malicious tax evaders andaims to contribute both to realizing proper and fair taxation and to maintaining the self-assessment systemthrough the effect of punishing one to serve as a warning to all . In order to achieve this goal, the NTA,
apart from general tax examination, not only imposes correct taxes on taxpayers who intentionally evadetaxes through fraudulent acts or other offenses, but also investigates them with the exercise of compulsory
authority, which is equivalent to normal criminal investigation. Based on the investigation results, the NTA
ﬁles accusations to prosecutors and seeks for the institution of prosecution.
As business transactions have become broader, globalized, and computerized, the means of tax
evasion are becoming more complex and sophisticated. Tax investigators are making all efforts to expose
malicious tax evaders by appropriately responding to the changes in the economic and social environment.

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Information items collected increased
approximately 1.3 times in last 5 years.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ
100,000

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

The NTA, through every occasion, collects a variety
of information such off-the-books and fake transactions
as found in the course of tax examinations, in addition
to the withholding records of employment income,payment records of dividend, etc., which are required
to submit pursuant to the provisions of the tax laws.
The NTA uses such information for accurate guidanceas well as tax examinations.
The NTA constantly focuses on changes in
illicit forms and the increasing globalization andcomputerization of business transactions in recent
years. We actively collect information on new asset
investment techniques and transaction forms,
and collect information on overseas investments,
information on transactions with overseas companies,
electronic commerce transactions using the internet,
etc.

78
（99）

* Figures of tax evasion include additional tax.

28

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection〜 In ﬁscal 2013, 115 cases were convicted at the court of ﬁrst instance, including 9 cases
in which prison sentences without probation were issued 〜
In fiscal 2013, 115 cases among 116 cases were convicted at the court of the first instance, with anaverage prison sentence of 12.9 months and average fines of ¥12 million. 9 persons were sentenced toprison without probation. Prison sentences without probation have been handed down every year since 1980.
● Ruling status in the ﬁrst instance of criminal investigation cases
Percentage ofcases convicted②/①

Number ofconvictions withprison sentences
without probation ③

Amount of tax
evaded percase ④%

persons3¥million
76

months13.0¥million
16

9

52

12.9

12

Number of
rulings ①

Number ofconvictions ②

FY2012

cases
120

cases
119

99.2

FY2013

116

115

99.1

Term of prison Amount of ﬁnes
sentence perper person
person ⑤(company) ⑥* ④ to ⑥ exclude those combined with non-tax crimes.

Past cases where hidden properties were found in criminal investigations
Cash was found in a black plastic bag hidden inside a cushion in the living room of the residence.

(4) Approaches to enhance the corporate governance concerning tax administration〜 Establishment of relationship of trust and deliberate selection of examination 〜
From the viewpoint of maintenance and improvement of tax return ﬁling standard of Japan as a whole,maintenance and improvement of tax compliance of large enterprises is very important. For this purpose,
it's effective to enhance the corporate governance to raise awareness on tax matters to the front line oforganization.
To this end, the NTA, taking the opportunities of examination of large corporations, checks the statusof corporate government on tax matters, exchanges opinions with executive managers, and presents themeffective examples of approaches to promote their spontaneous efforts for the enhancement of corporate
governance.
The NTA will establish the mutual trustful relationship with those corporations under favorable corporate
governance on the tax affairs, and will prolong intervals until the next examinations for them, provided the
NTA has conﬁrmed the proper processing of voluntarily disclosed transactions with high tax risks. Thus, theNTA will focus its examination work on other corporations in need of improvement to enhance the efﬁciencyof tax administration.

29

Ⅰ
About the NTA(Reference) Strict control of information
The NTA has a variety information such as on personal income. If that information is easily leaked,
taxpayers cannot be expected to cooperate with the NTA, which would hinder smooth examination andⅡ

Public Service Act. The NTA has given regular training on information security to its ofﬁcials in order tothoroughly inform them of such penalty provisions. When interviewing taxpayers, tax officials consider
taxpayers' privacy and refrain from interviewing them in their storefronts or in front of their homes.

Ⅳ

To encourage taxpayers to properly ﬁle tax returns and pay taxes, delinquent tax may be imposed inaddition to originally payable national taxes, if tax returns are not properly ﬁled or taxes are not paid by
the due date. There are also cases where an additional tax for a deﬁcient return, or for no return, or an

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights(Reference) Treatment of additional tax and delinquent tax

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Based on the purpose of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information Held by Administrative
Organs, the NTA is also striving to conduct strict control of taxpayer information by making a periodic
inspection of the status of control of administrative documents.

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

collection.
This is why tax ofﬁcials who have leaked conﬁdential information obtained through tax examinations
are subject to a criminal penalty (up to two years in prison or up to a ¥1 million ﬁne) under the tax law,which is heavier than the penalty (up to one year in prison or up to a ¥500,000 ﬁne) under the National

additional tax for fraud are imposed.

DelinquentTax*

Up to two months from the day after the due date
for tax payment

Annual rate of 2.9%
(Special Standard Rate* ＋ 1.0%)

Starting on the date two months from the day after
the due date for tax payment

Annual rate of 9.2%
(Special Standard Rate* ＋ 7.3%)

Additional
Tax

Regular case

Fraudulent concealment case

Returns are ﬁled by the due date,but tax amount is understated.

Additional tax for deﬁcient
returns (10% or 15%)Additional tax for fraud case
(35%)

Returns are not ﬁled by the due date.

Additional tax for no return(15% or 20%)

Additional tax for fraud case(40%)
Ⅶ

Evaluation of
Policies

Where legitimate reasons are recognized with no causes attributable to taxpayers, additional tax for

Ⅵ

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Special Standard Rate is a rate announced by the Minister of Finance by December 15 of the previous year as the rate obtained by dividing
the total amount of average contractual interest rates on bank short-term loan of each month from October of the second preceding year to
September of the previous year by 12, plus 1 % per annum.

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅴ(In the case of 2014)

deﬁcient return or additional tax for no return will not be imposed.
Also, where certain requirements are met, namely, taxpayers have been granted postponement of tax
payments due to disaster or have failed to ﬁle returns or pay taxes due to erroneous guidance by the NTA
ofﬁcials, taxpayers may be exempted from all or part of a delinquent tax. The NTA has set up rules for whenno additional tax is imposed, and has published the rules on the NTA website.

Ⅷ
Statistics

30

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection

Column A variety of eﬀorts to ensure compliance<Changes of the environment surrounding the tax administration>
To ensure proper and fair taxation within the limited human resources and other resources, the
NTA has made efforts to operate its work effectively and efﬁciently according to priority of cases.
Recently, however, transactions like cross-border transactions and property transfers, as well as
e-commerce transactions, largely increased, which makes it difﬁcult for tax authorities to understandthe whole picture. The environment surrounding the tax administration has become severer.
Under such status, to ensure the taxpayers' compliance (that the taxpayers voluntarily and properly
execute their tax payment duties), we need to promote more efﬁcient tax administration utilizing various
contact methods in addition to on-site inspection and strengthen our efforts in such areas where that tax
evasion tends to occur.

<Efforts in other countries>
Such challenges are common to the tax authorities of not only Japan, but also other countries. In
other countries, while the tax authorities are focusing on ﬁeld tax examination to ensure compliance,
they are making efforts to enhance the compliance by combining various measures as follows. These
efforts are shared at international conferences and other occasions to be used as reference to realize
better tax administration.
1 Voluntary Compliance Program
Countries such as U.S.A., United Kingdom, and France, have a scheme that tax authorities
speciﬁes the period and requirements for application of the scheme to taxpayers and the taxpayers
who have voluntarily disclosed their foreign deposit accounts or incomes undisclosed to their tax
authorities and paid additional tax amount going back to the past can accept reduction or exemptionof penalties. Such a scheme has proved to be effective to a certain extent.
Internationally, such efforts to improve transparency of procedures and recommend voluntary
disclosure are evaluated to not only result in a short-term increase in tax revenue, but also lead to along-term enhancement of compliance.
2 Contact with a wide range of taxpayers by correspondence audits and other simple examinations
In order to conduct effective examinations, analysis on the possibility of occurrence of fault
by taxpayers (compliance risk) based on a variety of information and the selection of appropriate
approach based on the analysis are internationally recognized as important.
In countries such as U.S.A. and Canada, tax authorities conduct examinations that only involvethe dispatch of notices and exchange of written documents (Correspondence Audits) for simple
cases such as a discrepancy of information and contact a wide range of taxpayers, thus obtaining acertain level of result for enhancement of compliance.
331

Support for appropriate tax return ﬁling and establishment of cooperative relationship with taxpayers
In foreign countries, not only for the correction of errors and fraudulent calculations byexamination, etc., but also for the prevention of errors, foreign tax authorities place focus on support
for proper ﬁling, and establishment of cooperative relationship with taxpayers.
For example, the tax authorities of Australia provide careful support about the establishment ofa business, recruitment of employees, incorporation of business, etc. through visits by tax ofﬁce staff
or by telephone in order to make small business operators aware of the performance of their tax
liability and proper booking, as well as is making a series of efforts including the provision of various
information using the website and leaﬂets.

Ⅰ
About the NTA<Future measures to ensure compliance>

Ⅴ

Various approaches for securing compliance (Image)＜Field examination＞＜Measures to ensure proper filing by various of approaches＞

Enhancementof spillover effect andcheck-and-balance effectⅦ
Evaluation of
Policies

Compliance enhancement effectBy combining effective field examinations with a variety of approaches,
the NTA aims at enhancing compliance in the aggregate.

Enhancement
Focus on field
examination

Field examination
Enhancement

Measures to ensure proper
filing by various of approaches

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Ⅵ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

3 Utilization of various approaches to ensure voluntary and proper tax ﬁling
The NTA will enhance the efforts to promote voluntary and proper filing of a wide range oftaxpayers, by utilizing various approaches other than field examination. Such approaches include
support of self-checking before taxpayer's ﬁling, public announcement of matters with which a large
number of omissions of ﬁling are anticipated, invitation for voluntary review of ﬁling by sending written
inquiry, and strengthening of cooperative relationship with CPTAs Associations and relevant privateorganizations.

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

2 Enhancement of information collection and analysis functions
Aiming at analyzing compliance risk of taxpayers with precision, and finding tax evasions
effectively and efﬁciently, the NTA aspires to further enhance its information collection and analysis
functions. For this purpose, the NTA will strengthen the international information exchange framework
based on tax treaties. The NTA, in anticipation of introduction of social security and tax number
system, will also promote the system development so that it can utilize data and information suchas information under mandatory submission, which are effective for taxation, more properly andefﬁciently.

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

1 Focus on ﬁeld examination
Field examinations are highly effective for the correction of frauds and errors in taxpayers' ﬁlings,
and for leading taxpayers to proper ﬁlings. Conversely, it requires a large number of human resources
to conduct ﬁeld examinations. Therefore, the NTA allocates its examination work on the focused areas
which tend to generate frauds or which give a signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the compliance as a whole ifsuch frauds were overlooked (for example, tax evasion by using overseas transactions or fraudulent
refund of consumption tax, etc.). Also, in field examination, we will make efforts to enhance thespillover effect or check-and-balance effect so that the effect of enhanced compliance matches the
input of work.

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

The NTA, strengthening its efforts to tackle serious tax evasions, is making efforts to enhance
corporate governance on tax matters of large enterprises as mentioned above. From now on, byreferring to other countries' approaches, the NTA, continuing to conduct on-site tax examinations
properly, will promote shift to tax administration which actively incorporates other approaches for
ensuring compliance than ﬁeld tax examinations.
Speciﬁcally, the NTA will aim at enhancing compliance as a whole, focusing on the following three
approaches:

Enhancement

Ⅷ
Selectionof appropriate approachbased on risk analysis

Actual various approaches Contact with taxpayers

Statistics

Actual field examination

Strengthening of information gathering and analysis function

32

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection

2

Reliable tax payment(1) Establishment of voluntary tax payment〜 Approximately ¥46.3 trillion taxes paid into the national treasury within the ﬁscal year
(98.6% paid within the ﬁscal year) 〜
Self-assessed national tax becomes revenue when paid into the national treasury. In FY2012, about¥46.9 trillion of taxation (amount determined for collection) was self-assessed in Tax Ofﬁces, etc. Of this,about ¥46.3 trillion of tax (collected amount) was paid into the national treasury within the ﬁscal year, for a
98.6% collection ratio.

〜 Enhanced taxpayer services by offering various payment methods 〜
Under the self-assessment system, national tax is in principle assessed by taxpayers themselves, whothemselves pay that tax amount by the due date. Therefore, the NTA works on publicity so taxpayers do notforget the due date and make a late payment.
Moreover, to enhance taxpayer services, diverse payment means such as online payment using
internet banking, payment at convenience stores, and direct payment, have been introduced in stages for
taxpayers to be able to choose the payment method of national tax, instead of paying at the counters ofﬁnancial institutions and tax ofﬁces in cash with tax payment slips.
Taxpayers can also use transfer tax payments from a deposit account for self-assessed income tax andsole proprietors' consumption tax.

〜 Measures to prevent delinquencies 〜
A written notice is sent in advance to taxpayers who paid after the due date the previous time. After thedue date has passed, a phone call is placed to taxpayers before the payment demand letter is sent. The
NTA is thus taking measures to prevent delinquencies.

Direct payment (direct type online payment of national tax)
Direct payment is a procedure that enables taxpayers to pay tax by simple operation after ﬁling tax
returns digitally by e-Tax, by submitting an application indicating bank account information in advance.
Direct payment can only be used at bank accounts held at ﬁnancial institution which is compatible withdirect payment. This is why the NTA is working to expand the number of ﬁnancial institutions in which direct
payment can be used, by requesting that non-compatible ﬁnancial institutions become compatible, etc. As ofthe end of March 2014, it was usable in 377 ﬁnancial institutions.

National tax payment at convenience stores
For the payment of national taxes, taxpayers are able to make tax payments at night or on holidays atconvenience stores when ﬁnancial institutions or the Tax Ofﬁces are closed. Tax payments were made atconvenience stores in about 1.35 million cases in FY2012.
When making a convenience store tax payment, a tax payment slip with bar code is needed, with theamount limited to ¥300,000 or less. The bar-coded vouchers are issued by the Regional Taxation Bureaus
and Tax Ofﬁces with jurisdiction, in the following cases:① If the determined tax amount is notiﬁed before the due date (estimated income tax prepayment, etc.)② If the tax payment is demanded by letter or telephone (for all tax items)③ If the tax payment is under the ofﬁcial assessment system (for various additional taxes)④ If the taxpayer requested the issuance of tax payment slips for the determined tax amount (for all tax
items)

33

Ⅰ
About the NTA(2) Reduction of tax delinquency〜 Amounts under collection process reduced to 45.1% of that of the peak time 〜
Delinquency signiﬁes that the national tax was not paid by the due date and a payment demand letter
was sent. At the end of FY2012, the tax delinquency amount was about ¥1,270.2 billion.

■ Newly occurred（¥billion）

3,000

2,783.0
2,660.6

2,814.9

2,703.1

2,766.1

2,484.2

2,328.0

2,251.9

2,051.6

2,022.8

Ⅲ

1,784.4

1,704.8

1,684.4

1,867.3

1,615.1

1,411.8

1,500

1,553.8
1,420.1
1,495.5

1,169.1

1,361.7

1,270.2

1,000

500

‘89

‘90

‘91

‘92

‘93

‘94

*1

‘95

‘96

‘97

Figures are current cases in the process of collectionof delinquent taxes.
*2 Figures for local consumption tax are not included.

‘98

‘99

‘00

‘01

‘02

‘03

‘04

‘05

‘06

‘07

‘08

‘09

‘11

Decreased 14 years in a row after hitting a peakin fiscal 1998.

(billion yen)

Under collection
process at the end Newly occurredof the previous year
635.9

‘12

（fiscal year）

169.6

Collected

Under collection
process at the end of
the year

213.3

592.2

261.4

56.2

77.4

240.2

Self-assessment income tax

374.6

113.3

135.9

352.0

Corporation tax

175.4

68.6

80.4

163.5

Inheritance tax

130.6

35.7

50.6

115.6

Consumption tax

416.9

318.0

339.0

396.0

Total

2.9

1.6

1.8

2.8

1,361.7

593.5

685.0

1,270.2Ⅵ*1 Figures for local consumption tax are not included.
*2 Any fraction less than 100 million yen was rounded off, and therefore the sum of ﬁgures may not be equal to the total ﬁgure.

The NTA considers it important to ﬁrst of all avoid delinquency. In order to work for certain collection ofnational tax, the entire national tax organization is working to prevent delinquency and for early collection.
Therefore, for delinquent national taxes, from the viewpoint of fairness with the great majority of
taxpayers who pay within the due date, the NTA is working for early start and early completion, and works toresolve delinquencies under the following basic policy.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Amounts under collection process remains high at approximately ¥1.3 trillion→ Continue to work on preventing and reducing delinquencies with cooperationof all Tax Bureaus and Ofﬁces.

Ⅷ
Statistics〜 Appropriate action is taken in collection of delinquent tax while considering theindividual situation of each delinquent taxpayer 〜

Executing disposition for delinquent tax greatly impacts taxpayer rights and interests. Therefore, incollection of delinquent tax, appropriate action is taken based on laws and regulations while considering theactual situation of each delinquent taxpayer, based on an accurate understanding of the facts. Seizure or
auction or other disposition for delinquent tax can be done. On the other hand, tax payment relief measures
can be provided, such as postponement of tax payment, or suspension of conversion into cash.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Withholding income tax

Other taxes

Ⅴ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration● Tax delinquency in ﬁscal 2012 for each major tax item

Income tax‘10

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

0Ⅳ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

2,000

Under collection process

2,666.8

2,498.0

2,500■■ Collected

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Ⅱ● Trend of collection of delinquent tax, for all tax items

34

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection〜 Strict and resolute handling of large and malicious delinquent cases 〜
When collecting delinquent tax in a large and malicious delinquency case, strict and resolute action istaken, such as executing strict and accurate disposition for delinquent tax by search, seizure, auction, etc.
Particularly strict action is taken in especially malicious cases with an attempt to hide assets orotherwise evade execution of disposition for delinquent tax. This crime of evading disposition for delinquenttax1 is aggressively referred to the prosecutor.

〜 Organizational response, etc. of difﬁcult-to-handle cases 〜
To handle difficult-to-handle cases, for example where a party subject to examination has a broad
scope of assets, a considerable amount of ofﬁce work and use of sophisticated collection techniques are
required. For that reason, the NTA takes organizational actions such as disposition for delinquent tax bymanagement over a wide geographic area, with timely project team formation. The NTA also takes legal
action, such as a lawsuit to demand the rescission of a fraudulent act2 and actively uses legal means tocollect delinquent taxes.

〜 Certain handling of consumption tax delinquency cases 〜
The public is strongly aware of delinquent consumption tax, and delinquent consumption tax is anincreasingly large percentage of all delinquencies each year. Therefore, certain handling is executed throughRegional Taxation Bureaus and Tax Ofﬁces in order to conclude delinquency cases containing delinquentconsumption taxes. The NTA is working to reduce the balance of delinquent consumption taxes.
● Trend of collection of delinquent consumption tax■ Newly occurred（¥billion）

800■■ Collected

Under collection process

614.6

700

632.3

600

629.9

618.3

578.3
529.6

511.2

488.5

500

275.2
180.4

400

335.9

386.1

487.5

465.5

459.2
453.7

424.2

441.9

425.6

416.9

‘10

‘11

396.0

300
98.9

200

54.8

100

14.1

0

‘89

*1

‘90

‘91

‘92

‘93

‘94

‘95

‘96

‘97

‘98

Figures are current cases in the process of collectionof delinquent taxes.
*2 Figures for local consumption tax are not included.

‘99

‘0
‘00

‘01

‘02

‘03

‘04

‘05

‘06

‘07

‘08

‘09

‘12

（fiscal year）

Decreased 13 years in a row after
hitting a peak in fiscal 1999.

Revision of grace of payment and grace periods for asset conversion
Under FY2014 tax reform, the Act on General Rules for National Taxes and the National Tax Collection
Act were revised as follows with regard to the grace of payment and grace periods for asset conversion:
1 In order to reduce burdens on taxpayers and secure tax collection early and adequately, a new system
was established to grant grace periods for assets conversion on application by taxpayers in addition to theexisting system of grace periods for assets conversion that are granted under the authority of a District
Director of Tax Ofﬁce.
2 In order to facilitate the use of the system of grace periods for tax payments and assets conversion
under the authority of a District Director of Tax Ofﬁce and to secure adequate tax collection as well, theprocedures was improved, which includes rising minimum amount that requires a security, introducing
provisions on installment payments, and development of application forms and attached documents.
These amendments will come into force on April 1, 2015.
1

35

If actions such as hiding of assets are done to evade seizure or other disposition for delinquent tax, up to 3 years in prison or up to a ¥2.5 million ﬁne
can be imposed.
2 A lawsuit to demand the rescission of fraudulent act is a lawsuit to negate the validity of a legal act (fraudulent act) between the delinquent person andthird party, where such act harms the claimant (country). The lawsuit aims to take back from the third party that asset separated from the delinquent
taxpayer, and return it to the delinquent taxpayer (refer to Act on General Rules for National Taxes, Article 42, and the Civil Code, Article 424).

Ⅰ〜 Conduct effective and efﬁcient phone notices 〜● Collection of delinquent tax at the Ofﬁceof Tax Collections Call Center
Of 751,023 taxpayers issued reminders for payment by telephone
between July 2012 and June-end 2013, 521,394 have fully paid their taxes.
Issued reminders
60,183（8.0%）

Returned to thetax offices
75,098（10.0%）

Ⅱ

Receivedreminders via
telephone
751,023

Payment
pledged94,348（12.6%）

Ⅲ“Paid fully” and “Payment pledged”
consist approximately 80% of total.

〜 Sold approximately 900 items by internet auctions 〜

Ⅴ〜 Proper and prompt process realized by full use of systems 〜ⅦEvaluation of
Policies

Ⅷ
Statistics

Tax ﬁlings and refund ﬁlings create a huge volume of work to manage national tax claims and liabilities.
Tax Ofﬁces use the KSK System so that these claims and liabilities are managed accurately and efﬁciently.
There are about 39.5 million tax payments each year, which are mainly income tax payments.
To efficiently process this huge amount of payments, the NTA is working on more efficient processing
operations. There is optical character recognition (OCR) processing1 for tax payment slips at the Bank ofJapan, the income tax and sole proprietors' consumption tax payments by transfer account2, online tax
payment using internet banking etc., and direct online tax payment. Transfer procedures to pay refunds used
to be performed through written documents from Tax Ofﬁces, but the NTA centralized transfer processing
then adopted online transfer procedures. In these ways, the NTA is pursuing efﬁcient and speedy payment
processing.
Management of national tax claims and liabilities is a cornerstone of taxation and tax collection. We
are working to improve services by conducting procedures speedily and accurately through the advanced
application of ICT systems, delivering refunds to taxpayers as quickly as possible.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Ⅵ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration(5) Accurate and efficient management of claims and liabilities

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

The NTA has conducted internet auctions using a private-sector auction website, since June 2007.
Internet auctions are very convenient in such ways as the participants do not need to visit a real auction
site and can apply for the purchase 24 hours● Examples of properties that have been soldduring the auction period on the internet, andby internet auctions
can attract more auction participants. It isamong the effective means to sell the assets
or goods of high value that have been seized.
Four internet auctions were held in
FY2013. As a result, a total of about 6,000
people participated, and about 900 items
such as work of art, precious metals,
automobiles, real estate, etc. were sold, for a
total sales value of about ¥900 million.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection(4) Auction by Internet

Paid fully
521,394（69.4%）

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

The Ofﬁce of Tax Collections Call Center isbroadly in charge of new delinquency cases. Thisofﬁce provides phone notiﬁcation reminders using
a centralized phone notice system, for effective
and efﬁcient collection of delinquent tax.
Over the year from July 2012 to June 2013,
this ofﬁce provided notiﬁcations to about 750,000
people, of which about 520,000 people (69.4%)
fully paid, and 90,000 people (12.6%) pledged
payment.

About the NTA(3) Office of Tax Collections Call Center

1

OCR processing (optical character recognition processing) converts the characters written on a tax payment slip into electronic data. This electronic
data is communicated between the Bank of Japan and the NTA, providing more efﬁcient information transfer and paperless processing.
2 Tax payment by transfer account is a method of tax payment whereby the Tax Ofﬁces send tax payment slips to ﬁnancial institutions designated inadvance by taxpayers, and debit the amount of tax payment from their deposits and savings accounts. If it is necessary to send tax payment slips toﬁnancial institutions in large quantities, the Tax Ofﬁces send magnetic tapes containing data for an account transfer to the ﬁnancial institutions in orderto perform the work of account transfer efﬁciently. After the ﬁnancial institutions process the data, they record the processing results on the magnetic
tapes and return the tapes to the Tax Ofﬁces.

36

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection

3

Addressing international transactions〜 Strengthening examination system and cooperation with foreign tax authorities 〜
Cross-border economic activities by companies and individuals are becoming more complex and diverse.
These changes have brought international tax avoidance, in which revenues received overseas are notdeclared, or which use complex international transactions to avoid paying tax to any country on earnings
gained. On the other hand, there is the large problem of double taxation, in which more than one country havedifferent views and impose taxes on the same income. In response to these problems, the NTA is working on
internal improvements such as in its examination system, and is also building stronger cooperative relations by
sharing information and experience with the tax authorities of foreign countries. The NTA is also in discussions
with the authorities to resolve double taxation.

(1) Changes in the environment concerning international transactions〜 Cross-border business and investment activities expand 〜① Status of overseas establishments by Japanese corporations
The following is the status of overseas establishments by Japanese corporations. The number ofoverseas locally organized corporations increased from 13,875 in FY2003 to 23,351 in FY2012, about a
70% increase, with a particularly rapid growth of establishments in China.

● Trend in the number of locally established Japanese corporations by region
All Regions

Mid-East

China

Oceania

NIEs3

Latin America

EuropeASEAN4

North America(corporations)
25,00023,351

Trend in the number of locally establishedJapanese corporations is on the increase.
20,00017,65815,85016,37018,201

18,59919,25016,732

14,99615,00013,875

10,000

5,000

0

2003
*1

2004

2005

2006

“ASEAN4” signifies Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.

*2 “NIEs3” signifies Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.

37

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012
(fiscal year)(Source: “Basic Research on Overseas Business Activities,”by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)Ⅰ
About the NTA② Trend in the number of foreign corporations
The trend in the number of foreign corporations carrying out business in Japan is shown below.
There were 5,510 corporations in the 2012 operation year, which was 32 more than the previous year.
The number of foreign corporations in the past 10 years has shifted between 5,000 and 6,000.

（corporations）

6,000
5,816
5,890

5,757

5,914

5,800
5,614

5,719

5,478

5,500

5,510

5,000

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

* Foreign corporations ﬁling corporation tax return in Japan2012（operation year）

Ⅳ● Trend in the number of records of remittance and receipt related to foreign countries（millions of records）

600
500

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅴ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights③ Trend in the number of records of remittances and receipts related to foreign countries
A record of remittance and receipt related to foreign countries1 is to be submitted when a large
remittance is sent to a foreign country. The ﬁgure below shows changes in the number of these records
submitted. The number of records of remittance in the 2012 operation year was 5.64 million, which was
470,000 more than that of the previous year. It is approximately 2.3 times of increase compared to 2.44
million of the 1998 operation year, when this system was introduced.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ
5,390

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Ⅱ● Trend in the number of foreign corporations

400

473

200
298

311

321

2003

2004

2005

369

391

341

2006

2007

2008

515

517

2010

2011

564

Ⅵ

100
0

2009

2012

（operation year）

Revision of Operations
and Systems

300* From April 2009, the base amount for submission wad decreased from more than ¥2 million to more than ¥1 million.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies(2) Addressing international taxation〜 Enhancement of examination system 〜

1

Ⅷ
Statistics

The NTA is increasing the number of its Senior Examiners (International Taxation) who are dedicated towork on international taxation. We also established a department for specialized handling of international tax
avoidance cases. These are parts of our efforts to enhance and strengthen our examination system. The
National Tax College is a training institution for staff, which provides training on international tax related laws
and regulations, tax treaties, ﬁnancial transactions, language study, etc. This works to enhance staff abilities
for examinations concerning international taxation. The NTA also recruits lawyers and ﬁnancial specialists tohandle complex tax problems.
The record of remittance and receipt related to foreign countries is a report legally required to be submitted to the Tax Ofﬁces by ﬁnancial institutions.
These indicate the amount remitted to or received from overseas nations, if exceeding ¥1 million (statutory statement).

38

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection〜 Actions Taken against Base Erosion and Proﬁt Shifting (BEPS) 〜
In recent years, reduction of tax liability by global companies through tax reduction measures that utilize
a loophole in taxation law is becoming a problem under the situation where countries have worse ﬁnancial
condition after the Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and require more public burden.
In order to address this problem, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (see page 44 for the OECD
Committee on Fiscal Affairs) established a project related toJune 2012 and published theBase Erosion and Proﬁt Shifting (BEPS) in

BEPS Action Plan on July 19, 2013. The BEPS Action Plan was submitted

to the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (held in Moscow from July 19 to 20,2013) and obtained full support from G20 countries including Japan.
Regarding the implementation of this Action Plan, the OECD/G20 BEPS Project has been established
as a framework that allows the eight G20 members who are non-OECD members (China, India, Russia,
Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa) to give their opinions and participate in decisionmaking as OECD members do.
To enable each country to eliminate double non-taxation and impose taxes at a place where companies'
economic activities are actually performed, OECD is required to make recommendations, etc. on new
measures for securing international harmonization of tax system with respect to each item of the Action
Plan during a period from September 2014 to December 2015. The NTA, as the executive authority, is also
actively involved in the preparation of such recommendations, etc.

〜 Exchange of information under tax treaty and tax information exchange agreement 〜
There are cases in which the NTA cannot sufﬁciently clarify international transactions by individuals andcorporations only with the information obtained in Japan. In such a case, the exchange of information undera bilateral tax treaty and tax information exchange agreement makes it possible to acquire the necessary
information.
The NTA actively involves itself in exchange of information with foreign tax authorities in the context ofrecent expansion and strengthening of the
tax treaty network. Japan now has 60 tax
treaties in force, which cover 80 countries
or regions and the number of informationexchange amounts to some hundred
thousand cases per year.
In addition, the NTA is making every● Trend in number of information exchange(thousands)

Fiscal year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Number of informationexchange

260

500

291

556

231

* Number of information exchange is the total number of cases in which
information was received plus cases sent each ﬁscal year.

effort to implement exchange of informationin an effective and efﬁcient manner by holding face to face meetings, when necessary, with tax ofﬁcials of
foreign tax authorities, which would enable us to explain and talk the examination cases in detail and thepoints to be clariﬁed.

〜 Establishment of foreign assets statement system 〜
Since the assets held overseas by taxpayers tend to increase, the foreign assets statement system
has been enforced from January 1, 2014 as a mechanism to require taxpayers themselves to declare theirassets held overseas in order to secure proper taxation of income tax and inheritance tax on them.
With the establishment of this system, those who have assets in foreign countries equivalent to a totalof over ¥50 million as of December 31 of the year are to be required to submit a statement describing thetype, quantity, price, etc. of the foreign assets by March 15 of the following year.

39

Ⅰ
About the NTA(3) Examination of international taxation cases〜 Examination focusing on those who conduct cross-border transactions or those who
hold assets in foreign countries 〜

Ⅱ● Actual examinations related to international taxation (Corporation tax)
Undeclared cases related to overseas transactions, etc.
Amount of undeclared income related to overseas transactions, etc.
Amount of fraudulently omitted income related to overseas transactions, etc.

（¥billion）

3,578
800

3,309
3,256

600
400

0

3,500
3,000
2,500

801.4
218.7

Ⅲ

242.3

287.8

245.2

23.8

27.0

28.6

18.8

16.9

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Ⅳ

（operation year）〜 Addressing international tax avoidance, one of the most problematic issues ininternational taxation 〜ⅥⅦ
Evaluation of
Policies〜 Enhancing predictability for taxpayers corresponding to the change in the environment
surrounding transfer pricing 〜

1

If a Japanese company does a transaction with a foreign afﬁliated company, and that transaction price differs from the transaction price between third
parties (this price is called an arm's length price ), resulting in lower taxable income for the Japanese company, then that transaction is deemed tohave been done at an arm's length price, and income is recalculated under this system.

Ⅷ
Statistics

Transfer pricing taxation1 was introduced in the FY1986 tax reform. From the perspective of working toachieve proper international taxation, this prevents transferring income overseas through transactions withforeign afﬁliated companies.
As company activities become increasingly global, more transactions are becoming subject tothe transfer pricing system, and transactions are becoming more complex, with growing importance oftransactions involving intangible assets. It is necessary to appropriately handle such changes, increase
predictability for taxpayers, and achieve proper and fair taxation.

Revision of Operations
and Systems(4) Transfer pricing issues

Ⅴ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

International tax avoidance problems are arising, as revenues gained overseas are hidden, and as
people cleverly use differences between each country's tax system and tax treaties to avoid paying taxes toany country, despite gaining earnings. International tax avoidance, often involved by ﬁnancial, legal and tax
specialists, often uses complex transactions which combine shell companies or cooperatives, derivatives(derivative ﬁnancial instruments), etc., and makes it difﬁcult to clarify the whole picture of the transactions.
Recently, such problems are not only found among large companies, as it has also spread to small- andmedium-sized companies and wealthy individuals.
Chief Examiners established in the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Taxation
Bureaus and the International Examination of Large Enterprise Division, etc. play central roles in collecting
and analyzing information, planning examinations and clarifying facts on international tax avoidance
conduct.
Furthermore, nine countries of Japan, the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Canada, Australia, China
and South Korea participate in the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Centre (JITSIC). JITSIC works
to exchange information relating to international tax avoidance conduct and wealthy individuals, and to shareknowledge on examination methodologies, etc. through tax ofﬁcials dispatched from member countries.

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

200

4,000

3,666

3,297

（cases）

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

1,000

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

As cross-border business and investment activities have been expanded, the NTA has focused on
examining taxpayers who conduct transactions with foreign companies or hold assets in foreign countries.
The NTA is performing deep examinations which effectively use the records of remittances and receipts
related to foreign countries, and information exchange systems based on tax treaties and tax informationexchange agreements.

40

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection〜 Initiatives to clarify the administration of transfer pricing taxation 〜

In order to increase predictability for taxpayers, it is important that the NTA publishes and works toclarify its administration policy for the system's operation, and its application criteria. In 2012, with theaddition of provisions on proﬁt level indicators used to calculate an arm's length price to laws, the NTA added
examples of its application to the reference case studies, which was a supplement of the administrative
guidelines to further clarify the administration of the rules.

〜 Development of an environment in which taxpayers can use the Advance Pricing
Agreement(APA) system smoothly 〜

In an APA on transfer pricing taxation, based on the Japanese taxpayer's request, the tax authorities
give advance conﬁrmation of the method for calculating the arm's length price in transactions with a foreign
afﬁliated company. The number of requests for APA was showing a slight decrease since the peak of the2009 operation year, but it has increased for the ﬁrst time in three years, achieving a number comparable tothe largest number in the past. In order to respond to these many requests, the NTA is working to improve
its administration system and quickly process APAs by, for example, establishing a division dedicated to
the review of APA requests in the Tokyo● Trend in the number of cases requesting an APA,
Regional Taxation Bureau and theand number of cases closed
Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau, where
there are many companies which do■ Requested cases ■ Closed cases（cases）
international transactions.
150
Also, a contact point is set up ineach Regional Taxation Bureau, which120
handles advance consultations withnational tax authorities before requesting90
a n A PA . T h i s c o n t r i b u t e s t o o u r
127113
127 138
111 11560
development of an environment enabling
103 101
taxpayers to smoothly use APAs.
75
72
30
APAs ensure predictability andlegal stability for taxpayers. They0
also contribute to proper and smooth
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
（operation year）
operation of the transfer pricing taxation.
* The number of requests for APA includes both those accompanied by andThis is why the NTA will continue tothose not accompanied by the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP).
provide them appropriately.

(5) International cooperation in tax collection〜 Mutual assistance in tax collection under tax treaties 〜
The avoidance of tax collection by means of transfer of assets to overseas can be coped with mutual
assistance in tax collection, which enables each country's tax authorities to mutually enforce tax claims ofeach other in cooperation under tax treaties, while the collection of tax claims is subject to the restrictions ofexecutive jurisdiction1.
In Japan, international tax collection is promoted by mutual assistance for tax collection under theMultilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters2, which became effective in
October 2013.
● Framework of assistance in tax collection
Country A
Tax authorities
of Country A① Taxation

Taxpayers

1
2

41④ Request for assistancein tax collection⑥ Remittance

③

Tax

col

lec

×

tion

Country B
Tax authorities
of Country B⑤ Tax collection② Transfer of assets

It means that a country's tax authorities cannot exercise its public authorities outside the country's territory unless the other country approves it.
It is a multilateral convention on mutual assistance for the exchange of tax-related information, tax collection and service of documents and has beensigned by 37 countries including Japan (as of May 5, 2014).

Ⅰ
About the NTA

4

Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP)〜 MAP cases processed properly and promptly in order to resolve international double taxation issues 〜
Ⅱ● The number of MAP cases requested and closed（cases）

Number of people in charge of MAPs
■ Number of MAP cases closed■ Number of MAP requests received■ Number of BAPA cases among that of MAP requests received ■ Number of BAPA cases among that of MAP cases closed（persons）

154
150

153

129

2005

*

2006

2007

40

30

149
91

82

84

65

167 41 170

31

130

113

105

92

0

24

Ⅳ

2008

135
105

2009

128

135

112

2010

131

Ⅴ

129
20

2011

2012

（operation year）

Ⅵ● Treaty partners with which the NTA has MAP inventory (as of June 30, 2013)

*
*
*
*
*

Italy
*
Luxemburg*
The Netherlands *Sweden*Switzerland*
United Kingdom *Non-OECD
economies

Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
FranceGermany
Ireland

1

North America

Australia
South Korea

*
*

China
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand****CanadaUnited States**(Note)
As of June 30, 2013,
the number of treaty
partners with which the
NTA had MAP inventory
was 23. The symbols *indicate a treaty partnerwith which the NTA had
B A PA i n v e n t o r y ( 2 1
countries/economies).

Ⅷ**

9 countries/economies

Ⅶ

Statistics

12 countries

Asia / Paciﬁc

Evaluation of
Policies

OECD countries

EuropeRevision of Operations
and Systems

The number of MAP requests consists of both cases where the NTA received such requests from taxpayers and cases where the
NTA received such requests from foreign tax authorities.
MAP cases related to compensating adjustments and amendments to previously agreed APAs are included in the years when MAP
requests on those issues were made.

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration24

41 157

143

35

29

29

164

157

127

125

93

50

154

115

100

50

183

174

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

200

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

With the globalization of the Japanese economy, where the Japanese taxpayers move in on foreign
markets or foreign taxpayers do the same on the Japanese market, they may encounter the international
double tax situation, in which both Japan and the foreign country impose tax on the same income. The
aforementioned transfer pricing taxation is one of the major areas of the international double taxation. We
exert ourselves to resolve such double taxation problems, including transfer pricing, by negotiating with foreign
tax authorities through the Mutual Agreement Procedures1 prescribed in tax treaties.
The number of MAP requests that the NTA has received and closed remains at a high level, and morethan 90% are related to transfer pricing. Among such MAP requests, almost 80% are of Bilateral Advance
Pricing Arrangements ( BAPA : APAs accompanied by MAP) to ensure predictability of transfer price issues.
The number of MAP cases closed in 2012 operation year was 170, hitting a record high.
In recent years, MAP is becoming more difﬁcult as the number of MAP cases with emerging countries
having less experience in MAP is on the increase. The NTA has been making every effort to resolve MAP
cases appropriately and promptly by ensuring stafﬁng and conducting more swift and smooth negotiations
through promoting cooperative relationship with relevant foreign tax authorities.

2 countries

Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAP) are a formalized set of procedures between tax authorities of treaty partners which are provided in tax treaties
to resolve international tax disputes such as those represented by double taxation cases arising as a result of taxation not in accordance with theapplicable tax treaties imposed or to be imposed on the taxpayers.

42

Ⅲ Proper Tax Examination and Collection

5 Cooperation and coordination with foreign tax authorities(1) Technical cooperation for developing countries〜 Technical cooperation for developing countries mainly in Asia 〜
Under the framework of technicalcooperation by the Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) etc., the NTA
is actively providing technical cooperation
to developing countries, focused on Asian
countries. The aims are to improve tax
administration of developing countries, andto foster people who understand Japan's tax
administration.
International Seminar on Taxation

Overview of technical cooperation
1 Dispatch of tax ofﬁcials to developing countries

Based on the requests of the foreign tax authorities, the NTA has dispatched its officials as
lecturers in fields such as taxpayer services, international taxation and staff training. In fiscal 2013,
ofﬁcials were dispatched to give lectures, etc. to China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Viet Nam, etc.
With a view to giving continuous advice on tax administration to developing countries, the NTA
has dispatched tax ofﬁcials in the capacity of long-term experts from JICA. In FY2013, our tax ofﬁcials
remain in Indonesia and Viet Nam.

2 Lectures and other training in Japan（1）International Seminar on Taxation (ISTAX)ISTAX is a seminar for tax ofﬁcials in developing countries on the tax system and tax administrationof Japan, providing lectures, etc. It has 2 courses: the general course for mid-career officials, andthe senior course for upper management-level ofﬁcials. Adding up the number of participants in bothcourses, 29 tax ofﬁcials participated in FY2013.
（2）Country-Focused Training Courses in Tax Administration
The courses are provided to tax ofﬁcials from speciﬁed developing countries at their request. 116 tax
ofﬁcials from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Tanzania and Viet Nam participated in the courses
in ﬁscal 2013.
（3）Training Course of International Taxation for Asian Countries
This course is targeted at tax ofﬁcials in Asian countries on the subject of international taxation .
16 persons from 5 countries (China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam) participated in ﬁscal
2013.
（4）Practicum at the NTA
This course is targeted at tax officials from developing countries who are studying at Japanese
graduate schools (master's courses) on a scholarship from the World Bank, etc., and provides lectures
on Japan's tax system and tax administration. A total of 20 students studying at graduate schoolsof Keio University, Yokohama National University and National Graduate Institute of Policy Studies
participated in FY2013.

43

Ⅰ(number of countries, people)
FY2010FY2011FY2012FY2013

19

18

20

15

16

(ISTAX) general course

People

20

18

20

15

16

International Seminar on Taxation

Countries

11

14

12

11

13

(ISTAX) senior course

People

11

14

12

11

13

Country-Focused Training Courses inCountries

8

4

6

7

6

Tax Administration

People

100

54

51

95

116

Training Course of International Taxation

Countries

6

4

3

5

5

for Asian Countries

People

11

9

7

11

16

Countries

9

12

12

12

11

People

21

20

19

19

20

Practicum at the NTA

Ⅱ(2) Participation by tax authorities in international conferences〜 Cooperation in countries for resolution of problems on double taxation and tax avoidance 〜Ⅴ

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Ⅵ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Ⅷ
Statistics① OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA)The OECD Forum on Tax Administration is a forum for sharing each country's knowledge andexperience on a wide range of ﬁelds in tax administrations. In May 2013, the 8th Forum was held in
Moscow, Russia with discussions about countermeasures against international tax avoidance utilizing
cross-border transactions (offshore non-compliance), action plan on the issues of Base Erosion andProﬁt Shifting (BEPS) and improvement of tax compliance of businesses, etc.
② Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR)The Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR) is comprised of tax
authorities of 16 countries and regions in Asia. This is a forum for discussions on cooperation andsharing of knowledge in the region. In October 2013, the 43rd meeting was held in South Korea, withdiscussions about promotion of international cooperation in the area of tax administration and common
problems the countries are facing.
③ OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA)The OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs is a forum where the Model Tax Convention and Transfer
Pricing Guidelines are reviewed, and the tax authorities share their knowledge and experience.
Currently CFA is working particularly for the preparation of rules for automatic exchange between
countries of information such as the balance of bank accounts of non-residents as well as preparationof measures against BEPS, which is a problem that multinational companies try to reduce their tax
liabilities globally by using complex transactions that combine each country's tax break system and tax
treaties, etc. and transferring their income to a country that imposes smaller or no tax liability. The NTA
has been actively participating in such activities of CFA. For further details, please refer to the NTA
website OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) . www.nta.go.jp/sonota/kokusai/oecd/oecd.htm

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

As globalization and advanced technology of the economy brings an increase in new forms oftransactions, there is the double taxation problem of more than one country imposing taxes on one
income, and the taxation loophole problem of tax avoidance in which tax is not imposed in any country.
These issues should be addressed by each country's tax authorities. In order to solve such problems andto cooperate and share experience among each country's tax authorities, the NTA actively participates invarious international conferences. The main conferences are described below: ① OECD Forum on Tax
Administration (FTA), ② Study Group on Asian Tax Administration and Research (SGATAR), and ③ OECD
Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA).

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

FY2009Countries

International Seminar on Taxation

About the NTA● Status of training conducted in Japan

44

Ⅳ

Remedy for Taxpayer Rights

When the District Director of Tax Ofﬁce etc. does a disposition for taxation or disposition for delinquent tax,
if the taxpayer objects to that disposition, the taxpayer can ﬁle a request for review, for example to cancel that
disposition. This system of request for review is a procedure to simply and quickly protect taxpayer rights andinterests. In principle, a taxpayer who objects to a disposition shall ﬁrst ﬁle a request for review before bringing alawsuit in court.
A request for review can be a request for reinvestigation to the District Director of the Tax Ofﬁce, etc., or arequest for reconsideration to the Director-General of the National Tax Tribunal, and in principle, a request forreconsideration can be done after a request for reinvestigation was done.
Laws related to this request for review system were revised in June 2014. (See page 48 for the outline ofrevision and the date of commencement of application.)

Overview of the request for review system for national tax

Within2 months

Request for reinvestigation
to District Director ofTax Office (to Regional
Commissioner if basedon tax examination by
officials of the Regional
Taxation Bureau)

Within 2 months

Request forreinvestigation to
Regional
Commissioner

If no decision on arequest forreinvestigation ismade within 3 months

Decision on request
for reinvestigation
Within 1 month

Decision on request
for reinvestigation
Within 1 month

If dissatisfied withdecision made by theRegistrar or Ministerof Land, Infrastructure
and Transport andTourism, etc. regarding
registration and license
tax and/or motor
vehicle tonnage tax

Direct request for reconsideration

Within 2 months

If dissatisfied with thedecision by Regional
Commissioner

Direct request for reconsideration by choiceDirect request for reconsideration by choice(correction to blue returns, etc.)

If dissatisfied with thedecision by the District
Director of the Tax Office

WithinWithin2 months

2 months

Request for Reconsideration to the Director General of National Tax Tribunal
If no decision on arequest for reconsideration
is made within 3 months

Decision on request
for reconsideration
Within 6 months

Litigation for invalidating the original decision (district court), etc.
45

Ⅰ
About the NTA(1) Request for reinvestigation〜 Simpliﬁed, prompt and appropriate remedies for taxpayer rights 〜Ⅱ(2) Request for reconsideration〜 Remedy for taxpayer rights by a fair third-party institution 〜Ⅳ(3) Litigation〜 Remedy by law 〜
Even after the decision by the Director-General of the National Tax Tribunal, taxpayers who remain
dissatisﬁed are entitled to ﬁle litigation with the judiciary seeking a legal remedy.

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies(4) Trend in remedies for taxpayer rights〜 The NTA is working to ﬁnish processing requests for reinvestigation within 3 months
and requests for reconsideration within one year in principle 〜
Ⅷ

Statistics

a. Request for reinvestigation① Target
The NTA is striving to ﬁnish processing requests for reinvestigations within 3 months in principle.
② Result
In FY2013, 97.0% of requests for reinvestigation were closed within 3 months.
2,534 reinvestigations were requested in the ﬁscal year (2,183 in taxation and 351 in tax collection).
Of these, 10.0% of taxpayer claims were approved in whole or in part due to new facts, etc.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Ⅵ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅴ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Taxpayers who are dissatisfied with the determination made in relation to the above request forreinvestigation are entitled to file a request for reconsideration with the Director-General of the National
Tax Tribunal. The National Tax Tribunal, of which missions are to remedy the legitimate rights and interestsof taxpayers, and to contribute to ensure proper operation of tax administration, makes its decisions onrequests for reconsideration as a fair third party between the claimant and the District Director of theTax Ofﬁce etc. Important posts such as the Director-General for the National Tax Tribunal, as well as the
Directors of the Tokyo and Osaka Regional Tax Tribunals, are appointed from among those who have been
justices or public prosecutors.
Appeals judges for the National Tax Tribunal are also appointed as ofﬁcials with ﬁxed terms of ofﬁce
from among those who have been specialists such as CPTAs and lawyers in the private sector.
In handling a request for reconsideration, the National Tax Tribunal contacts the claimant and the District
Director of the Tax Office etc. early on to have a good grasp of claims made. It clarifies their arguments
early on, for example by drafting a conﬁrmation chart outlining the points of the dispute. The Tribunal fully
investigates the content of documentary evidence etc. presented by both parties, conducts its own tax
examinations, and strives to properly and quickly handle the request for reconsideration from the taxpayer.
Decisions by the Director-General of the National Tax Tribunal will not be more disadvantageous totaxpayers than those made by the District Director of the Tax Ofﬁce. The decision is a ﬁnal ruling given
within the NTA, against which the District Director of the Tax Ofﬁce etc. are not entitled to ﬁle litigation,even if dissatisﬁed.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Ⅲ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

A request for reinvestigation is the ﬁrst stage in the administrative appeal ﬁled with regard to national
taxes. In case the District Director of the Tax Office etc. took action for a correction, determination, or
seizure with which a taxpayer is dissatisﬁed, this is a procedure to request to the District Director of the Tax
Ofﬁce (a government agency) etc., that the ruling be revoked or changed.
As cases requesting reinvestigation are becoming increasingly complicated due to greater geographic
scope and globalization of economic transactions, and an increasing number of cases involve difﬁculties
in grasping the facts and in the interpretation and application of law. Under these circumstances, the NTA
addresses the uniform enforcement of tax laws across the country based on correct interpretations mainly
through the Rulings and Legal Affairs Divisions and the Special Ofﬁcers (Legal Affairs) established in each
Regional Taxation Bureau. In addition, the NTA provides various training to develop tax ofﬁcials who areskilled in reviewing and endeavors to properly and promptly handle taxpayer requests for reinvestigations.

46

Ⅳ Remedy for Taxpayer Rights

b. Request for reconsideration① TargetWith respect to requests for reconsideration, the NTA is working to ﬁnish processing within one year
in principle.
② Result
In FY2013, 96.2% of requests for reconsideration were closed within one year.
There were 3,073 requests for reconsideration in the ﬁscal year (2,907 in taxation and 166 in tax
collection). Of these, 7.7% of taxpayer claims were approved in whole or in part.
c. Litigation
For litigation, 328 cases were closed in FY2013 (267 in taxation, 57 in tax collection and 4 in the
National Tax Tribunal). Of these, about 7.3% of taxpayer claims were approved in whole or in part.
*

The NTA and the National Tax Tribunal provide information such as overviews of the requests forreinvestigation, the requests for reconsideration and litigation, and cases of decisions on requests forreconsideration, to deepen understanding about remedy for taxpayer rights. These are on the NTA website
and on the National Tax Tribunal website www.kfs.go.jp● Percentage of processed requests forreinvestigation within 3 months, and numberof processed requests for reinvestigation
Percentage of processed cases

Percentage of processed cases■ Number of cases (tax collection-related)■ Number of cases (tax collection-related)■ Number of cases (taxation-related)（cases）

10,00096.9● Percentage of processed requests forreconsideration within one year, and numberof processed requests for reconsideration

97.7

99.0
92.6

95.4

（%）

（cases）

100

5,000

■ Number of cases (taxation-related)

92.6

92.2

8,000

80

60
700

4,997
916

4,000

4,746
822

40
3,286
423

4,613
2,000

4,081

3,924

4,118
2,863

0

2008
*

2009

2010

2011

3,618
230

3,000

2,814
297

3,073
166

2,967

2012

【P】

40

2,000
3,388

3,255
2,534
351

2,517
20

1,000

0

0

60

421

2,593
282

4,511
393

96.2

80

3,717
462

6,000

96.2

Shifting Over 90%

4,000

Shifting Over 90%
5,313

96.9

97.0

（%）

100

93.2

2,546

2,311

2,907
20

2,183

2013

2008

（fiscal year）

These figures are provisional numbers as of the end of April 2014.
Percentage of processed cases is calculated excluding MAP cases,
public prosecution-related cases and international taxation cases.

*

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

0

（fiscal year）

These figures are provisional numbers as of the end of April 2014.

Response to complaints from taxpayers
The NTA receives from taxpayers such reactions as complaints, requests, criticism, or consultation
on problems they have, not only with regard to requests for review of decisions by the NTA, but also about
tax administration in general including the attitude of ofﬁcials or the methods of tax examinations, etc. The
NTA believes it essential to sincerely respond to a variety of opinions from taxpayers in order to obtain theirunderstanding and conﬁdence and endeavors to give a prompt, accurate response from the perspectiveof taxpayers. In July 2001, the NTA appointed Taxpayer Support Ofﬁcers to properly respond to taxpayer
complaints on decisions made in relation to taxpayers' rights and interests, for example by explaining theprocedures to remedy taxpayer rights.

47

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Column Outline of revision of the request for review system for national tax

Ⅲ

3 Measures taken for the enforcement of law
The NTA and the National Tax Tribunal will prepare for the inspection and copying of evidence
and the deliberate performance of review procedures in order to achieve the proper and smooth
implementation of the request for review system for national tax.

【After revision】
If dissatisfied with the decision by
the District Director of the Tax OfficeDirect request forreconsideration bychoice (If correction toblue returns, etc.)

Within 3
monthsRequest for reinvestigation toDistrict Director of Tax Office,etc.

Decision on request
for reinvestigation(※)

Within 3
months

OptionRequest for reinvestigation toDistrict Director of Tax Office,etc.

Decision on request
for reinvestigation(※)

Within 1
monthWithin 1
month

Request for Reconsideration to theRequest for Reconsideration to the

Director General of National Tax Tribunal

Director General of National Tax Tribunal

Within 6
months

Litigation○Inspection and copying of evidence by
the persons concerned with review
Decision on request(the person requesting reconsideration, for reconsideration(※)
District Director of Tax Office, etc.)
Within 6○Deliberate performance of review
monthsprocedures

Ⅷ
Statistics

Decision on request
for reconsideration(※)Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Within 2
monthsDirect request forreconsideration【Before revision】
If dissatisfied with the decision by
the District Director of the Tax Office
Within 2
months

Inspection ofevidence by the
person requesting
reconsideration

Ⅵ

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Outline of revision of the request for review system for national tax

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅴ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Ⅳ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

These revisions will become applicable on the date of enforcement of the Administrative Appeal Act(a date designated by Cabinet Order within two years after the date of promulgation [June 13, 2014]).

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

1 Purpose of revision
In June 2014, the Administrative Appeal Act was comprehensively revised from the viewpoint of
improving fairness and usability, and the request for review system for national tax was also revised by
the Act on Arrangement of Relevant Acts Incidental to Enforcement of the Administrative Appeal Act.
2 Outline of revision(1) Revision of the principle of a request for reconsideration after a request for reinvestigation
If a taxpayer is discontent with any disposition made by a District Director of Tax Office, suchtaxpayer can, at his or her option, make a request for reconsideration directly to the Director-Generalof the National Tax Tribunal without making a request for reinvestigation to a District Director of Tax
Ofﬁce, etc.
The Japanese name of a request for reinvestigation is changed from Igi Moshitate to Saichosano Seikyu.
(2) Extension of the request for review period
The period in which a taxpayer can make a request for review has been extended to within threemonths from the day following the date on which such taxpayer learns that a disposition was made.
(3) Inspection and copy of evidence in connection with a request for reconsideration
The persons concerned with review (the person requesting reconsideration, participants, District
Director of Tax Ofﬁce, etc.) can inspect or request a copy of the item collected under the authorities of
the reviewer in charge in addition to the items voluntarily submitted by a District Director of Tax Ofﬁce,
etc.
(4) Determination of standard review period and deliberate performance of review procedures
for a request for reconsideration
The revision has developed rules for efforts made to determine the standard review period andthe deliberate performance of oral opinion statement and other review procedures.

Litigation(※) If no decision or determination is given by a District Director of Tax Office, etc. or the Director-General of the National Tax Tribunal within
three months, a request for reconsideration or litigation can be filed without the decision or determination.

48

Ⅴ

Proper Management of Liquor Administration〜 Conducted various initiatives in order to secure liquor tax revenues and achieve sounddevelopment of the liquor industry 〜

Both land tax and liquor tax were large revenue sources after the Meiji era. Liquor tax revenues even exceeded
land tax revenues at one time, becoming the largest revenue source. Thereafter, there was an increase in therelative weight of direct taxes such as income tax and corporation tax, and in FY2012, liquor tax comprised only 2.9%(¥1,349.6 billion) of all tax revenues. However, liquor tax is not affected much by the economy, and is expected toprovide stable tax revenues. Therefore, the liquor tax fulﬁlls an important role for national ﬁnance even today.
In contrast to general food items, a high rate of liquor tax is imposed on liquor. From the viewpoint of securingliquor tax revenues, there is a system of licensing for manufacture and sale of liquor in order to secure stablecollection of liquor tax and smoothly shift the tax burden onto consumers. The NTA properly operates this system.
In addition, the NTA, as the government agency with jurisdiction over the liquor industry, takes various actions
in order to secure liquor tax revenues and work for sound development of liquor industry, based on comprehensive
perspective of both consumers and the industry, while considering changes in the environment faced by the liquor
industry, such as the arrival of decreasing population, the people's increasing awareness of health and safety, anddiversifying lifestyles.
In recent years, the entire government has been developing environment for exporting liquors produced inJapan.

(1) Initiatives to ensure safety of liquor and enhance quality levels〜 For the purpose of providing consumers with safe and good quality liquors 〜
The NTA works to ensure safety and enhance quality levels in all stages, from production throughconsumption of liquors.
Specifically, the NTA provides the liquor manufacturers and distributors with technical guidance andconsultation concerning the safety of liquors, examines safety, quality and labeling of commercially soldliquor. The results of examination are published for consumers on the NTA website.
Responding to the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant accident, the NTA is also conducting
measures to ensure the safety of liquors with regard to radiation in alliance with the National ResearchInstitute of Brewing, in such ways as radioactive examination on liquors.

National Research Institute of Brewing (NRIB)
National Research Institute of Brewing(NRIB) performs advanced analyses andappraisals of liquors required for proper and fairtaxation of liquor tax, and conducts researches
and studies to theoretically support its analyses
and appraisals, such as researches and studies
concerning the judgment of liquor items. It also
conducts researches, studies, and information
services contributing to the sound development of
the liquor industry, such as development of ways
to reduce harmful substances in liquors.
For further details, please visit the NRIB
Analysis being conductedwebsite: www.nrib.go.jp/English/index.htm
The NRIB distributes the latest information concerning liquor information
magazines and event information through its e-mail magazine. To register, please senda blank e-mail to ssn@m.nrib.go.jp (Registration is also available with the QR code on
the right).

49

Ⅰ
About the NTA(2) Measures for appropriate labeling of liquors〜 For providing consumers with reliableness on purchasing liquors 〜(3) Response to social demands

Ⅲ

To prevent of inducement to improperly drink liquors such as underage drinking, the NTA provides
guidance to ensure labeling on liquor containers, obligatory indication where liquor is exhibited, andappointment of liquor sales managers where liquor is sold.

〜 For effective use of resources such as liquor containers 〜Ⅳ

Poster for the promotion of
3R for liquor containers

Ⅵ(4) Initiatives to develop a fair trading environment in liquor〜 For more fair liquor trade 〜(5) Providing information to liquor business operators

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

For the promotion of voluntary initiatives of liquor business operators to secure fair liquor trade,
the NTA has established the Guidelines on Fair Liquor Trade and is working to build the awareness andunderstanding of such guidelines.
The NTA also surveys actual trade practices according to the guidelines, and if it ﬁnds cases in which
trading does not comply with the provided rules, it provides guidance for improvements, etc. As a result of
examination, if there is suspicion of violating the Anti-Monopoly Act, it takes actions such as reporting thecases to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) and cooperates with the FTC to take appropriate action.

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Poster for the prevention of underage drinking(For public facilities, liquor shops etc.)

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Ⅴ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

In order to ensure effective use of resources, the NTA also works to build awareness of systems,
to support liquor business operators' initiatives for liquor container recycling and reducing food waste
generated in liquor manufacturing processes, etc.

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection〜 For the prevention of inducement to improperly drink liquors 〜ⅡEnhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

In recent years, there were some inappropriate cases that affected consumer trust, for example, a sakecontaining distilled alcohol has been labeled as Junmai-shu .
The NTA endeavors to work for appropriate labeling of liquors so that consumers can purchase liquors
with reliableness.
Specifically, the NTA provides liquor business operators with information and guidance on proper
indication based on laws and conducts inspection and examination on the labeling of liquors that arepurchased from the market by using the analysis method of the National Research Institute of Brewing.

Ⅷ
Statistics〜 To stimulate the liquor industry 〜
The NTA organizes seminars by experts on management to introduce cases of management
innovation, provides information on measures for small- and medium-sized companies, and supports theestablishment of local brands. It also examines and analyzes the industry trends based on various surveys
conducted on manufacturers and distributors, and provides these results on the NTA website.

50

Ⅴ Proper Management of Liquor Administration

Column Approaches to develop the environment for export of Japanese liquors〜 Communicate Japanese attractiveness to the world through Japaneseliquors 〜
1 Status of export of liquors
In 2013, Tokyo was chosen to host the 2020
Olympic Games and Japanese cuisine was registeredas a world's intangible cultural heritage. There was anencouraging trend to introduce and develop Japaneseculture to overseas.
While domestic consumption of liquors tends toreduce due to the decrease of drinking populationand the aging society, the export amount of Japaneseliquors tends to increase these years, thanks to theJapanese food boom overseas, resulting in the recordhigh export amount (approximately ¥25.1 billion) in
2013. Sake accounted for almost 40% of the export
amount (approximately ¥10.5 billion). Not only major
sake manufacturers, but also small- and medium-sized
manufactures in various regions of Japan export sake.

● Trend in the export amount of sake（¥million）

12,00010,52410,000
8,500

8,776

8,946

7,676

8,000

7,048

7,184

6,105

6,000

5,339
4,534

4,000

3,922

2,000
0

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

* Data are based on the Foreign Trade Statistics
by the Ministry of Finance.

（year）

2 Approaches to development of export environment
As well as developing the liquor industry, the expansion of export of Japanese liquors is expected
to bring spillover effects to related industries such as agriculture, food and liquor vessels, introduce thetraditional Japanese culture to the world and stimulate the regional economies through the promotion ofsightseeing tour centering on visiting sake breweries, which may lead to the development of Japanese
economy. From these viewpoints, development of export environment of Japanese liquors is positioned
as a part of Cool Japan Strategy which means to elevate the brand value of Japan by introducing theattractiveness of Japan to the world. Relevant ministries are working for it in cooperation with each other.
The NTA is taking the following initiatives:(1) Support for liquor industry
The NTA regularly exchanges opinions with liquor industry organizations and organizes seminars
for individual liquor business operators to provide knowledge on international trade and other generalexport transactions with the support of regional offices of the Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO) and local branch ofﬁces of relevant ministries, etc. The NTA has also prepared jointly with
JETRO the Japanese Sake Export Handbook for liquor manufacturers.
(2) Efforts for abolishment and mitigation of trade barriers
Where the regulations or systems of the export destinations are the barriers, the NTA is making
efforts to remove such trade barriers by utilizing the government-level talks for the Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) or the framework of World Trade Organization (WTO).
Also, with the accident of Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant by the Great East Japan
Earthquake, some export destinations are imposing import restrictions, such as the import ban or
obligatory attachment of certiﬁcates to liquors made in speciﬁc prefectures. The NTA is urging them tolift or mitigate the restrictions in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In such occasions, the
NTA is utilizing the results of radioactive examination and studies conducted in cooperation with the
National Research Institute of Brewing as scientiﬁc data. As the result, restrictions on Japanese liquors
have been lifted or mitigated in the EU, Brazil, Malaysia and Russia.
(3) Responses to international events, etc.
In order to effectively present the attractiveness of
Scene of theJapanese liquors to the world, the NTA is taking various
Japan Lunchat the Davos
occasions to make the following approaches:
Forum
In order to enhance the recognition of Japanese liquors
overseas, the NTA supports to serve Japanese liquors withcooperation of related industry organizations at various
events, including international conferences held overseas(for example, Japan Lunch held at the Davos Forum in
January 2014).
In addition, as an overseas liquor education institution
Scene of thefor wine experts decided to organize a Japanese sake education ofcourse, the NTA supports an education of sake teachers in sake teachersorder to develop foreign promoter for sake.

51

Ⅵ

Revision of Operations and Systems
Ⅰ
About the NTA〜 Promotion of administrative work efﬁciencies using ICT 〜
In order to improve convenience for people and achieve more simple, efﬁcient, reliable and transparent
administrative operations by utilizing ICT in administrative areas and reviewing operations and systems, theⅡ

For implementing various measures, ministries and agencies created a medium term plan to optimize
operations and ICT systems aiming at overall optimization, and are working according to that plan.

〜 Promotion for optimization of operations and systems 〜

Phone Consultation
CenterTaxpayers

2 Use of ICT to improve taxpayer convenienceCentralization oftax consultation

Centralization of operations
Promotion of outsourcing

Ⅵ

NTA website

Processing of customer
contact related tax returns,
etc.

Reduce operations
processing time

Unification of in-office work
Simplification of operations

Examinations and collectionsof tax delinquency

Ⅶ

KSK system, etc.

Evaluation of
Policies

Tax Officee-Tax (online tax return
filing,etc.)

Promotion of
one-stop
service

1 Simplification and improvementin operational efficiency for
appropriate performance

Enhancement
4 Ensuring stability andreliability of ICT system andinformation security

Ⅷ

5 Reduction of expenses
related to the ICT system, andensuring transparency of
procurement

Statistics

3 Use of ICT for a moreadvanced system related
to examinations andcollections of tax
delinquency

1

ICT related to National Tax
Administration

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Improvement of functions
and operation of e-Tax
Functional improvement of the
NTA website

Ⅴ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration● Implementation of Optimization Plan of Operations and Systems
related to National Tax Administration (diagram)

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

of ICT, ④ Ensuring stability and reliability of ICT system and information security, and ⑤ Reduction of ICT
system related expenses and ensuring transparency of procurement. The NTA used these principles to form
the Optimization Plan of Operations and Systems related to National Tax Administration, which was decidedin March 2006 (revised in February 2012) and has worked on optimization of operations and systems inaccordance with this plan.
The NTA has moved towards unifying internal operations, turning the KSK System into open systems1 andintegrating the equipment so far. In ﬁscal 2012, the NTA expanded the scope of tax information data linkage
with local public authorities and promoted more efﬁcient processing of operations utilizing electronic data.
By completing all the measures mentioned in the optimization plan, we estimate annual reduction of
approximately ¥17.3 billion in costs, and approximately 137,000 man-days in total operation processing time.

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

The NTA adopted the basic principles of ① Simpliﬁcation and improvement in operational efﬁciency
for appropriate performance, ② Improvement in the convenience of taxpayers by utilization of ICT, ③
Sophistication of the system related to examinations and collections of tax delinquency through the utilization

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

e-Government Establishment Plan was decided in July 2003. In addition, the Declaration to be the World's
Most Advanced IT Nation was decided in June 2013 to realize the society that utilizes IT at the best level inthe world, and the entire government is promoting various measures.

Turning into open systems means to shift to the use of systems with a high degree of interchangeability that can accept multiple widely available
products rather than relying on speciﬁc manufacturer.

52

Ⅵ Revision of Operations and Systems

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 related to national
taxes by regularly updating ICT equipment.
Since ICT systems related to national taxes holds and accumulates a large amount of taxpayer
information, the NTA takes great care for prevention of their improper use and leakage. Therefore, the NTA
has allowed the ofﬁcials to use only necessary information for work, has decided instructions on information
security and has made efforts to keep everyone informed about the instructions. The NTA further conducts
security audit regularly and takes necessary measures to ensure the 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
and JISQ27001:2006)2. Obtaining certification led to development and strengthening of the information
security management system for the entire national tax system. This also enhanced staff awareness of
information security, as they work to operate the system with awareness and sense of mission.

Kokuzei Sogo Kanri (KSK) System
The KSK System, which links all Regional Taxation Bureaus and Tax Ofﬁces, is a computer system
introduced to handle a variety of different administrative tasks. The entry of tax returns, tax payment records,
and a variety of information enables the centralized administration of national taxes receivable. Analyzed
data are used in tax examination and collection of delinquent tax. The computer system centralizes
information management across geographical regions and items of taxes, to achieve sophisticated, efﬁcientadministration constituting the basis of tax administration.
The full-fledged development of the KSK System was started in 1990. The NTA phased in the
introduction of the KSK System starting in 1995, and nationally in 2001.
● KSK System
Nationwide Online Processing
sing
T ax O f f ic es
OCR entry of tax return【OCR Equipment】

Tax
returns● Sapporo

Taxpayers/CPTAs

【PC】

On

line

●

Sendaie -Tax

Kanazawa ●Hiroshima ●Fukuoka ● Takamatsu ●

On

line

Kanto-Shinetsu ●Tokyo
Nagoya●●●Osaka

Computercenters

Internet● Kumamoto● Okinawa Office1

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 conﬁdentiality 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.

53

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Column Introduction of the Social Security and Tax Number System

The date of enforcement of the Number Act is specified in the supplementary provision of the Act
enforced as from the date speciﬁed by Cabinet Order.

to be

Ⅶ
Evaluation of
Policies

Ⅷ
Statistics(3) Improvement of convenience of taxpayers, etc.
With the introduction of the numbers, convenience of taxpayers can be expected, for example,① attachment of certificates of residence can be omitted in final tax return procedures by utilizing
the Basic Resident Registration network system, and ② electric ﬁlings can be submitted to only one
address for the payment records and withholding records of salary/pension which the taxpayers are
required to submit with the same entries to both the national and the local governments.
The supplementary provision of the Number Act provides for establishment of the Disclosure ofInformation System (so-called My Portal ). To improve of people's convenience, the NTA considers
using this system to post some reference information in ﬁling returns, for example, information related
to one's past tax returns and payments.

Ⅵ

Revision of Operations
and Systems(2) Utilization in the national tax ﬁeld
In the tax ﬁeld, the NTA considers that entry of the numbers on tax-related documents (such as
final tax returns and statutory statements, etc.) will facilitate name-based aggregation of statutory
statements and matching with tax returns. This is considered to improve the accurate grasp of income
and thus, contribute to proper and fair taxation.
On the other hand, even with the use of the numbers, there are limits to how much information on
business income and foreign assets and transactions can be obtained. Some transactions are difﬁcult
to recognize and verify only with statutory statements bearing the numbers, so we have to note thatrecognition of all incomes is difﬁcult.

Ⅴ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

3 Outline of the number system(1) Notiﬁcation of numbers
Personal numbers are designated by converting Resident Register codes and notiﬁed by mayors
using notiﬁcation cards. Demanding that others provide the personal number is prohibited, except forcases provided for in the Number Act.
Corporate numbers are designated by the Commissioner of the NTA based on the corporate
registration numbers held by the Ministry of Justice and are notiﬁed in writing. Three types of basic
information items ((1) trade name or name, (2) location of headquarters or main office, and (3)corporate number) can be searched and viewed on the Internet, in principle.

Ⅳ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights(Note)

Ⅲ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

2 Introduction schedule
At present, introduction of the number system is scheduled as follows: Personal numbers andCorporate numbers will be notiﬁed around the autumn of 2015. The numbers will start to be used fromJanuary 2016 in the ﬁelds of social security, taxes and disaster measures, one after another（note）.
Based on the above, in accordance with the Act for Introduction of the Number Act, the numbers in
the tax area will start to be used from the tax returns of the year 2016 for income tax, from the tax returnsof the business year starting in or after January 2016 for corporate tax, from statutory statements for thepayment of money, etc. made in or after January 2016, from applications, etc. that should be submitted inor after January 2016.

Ⅱ

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

1 Purposes of the number system
In May 2013, the Act on Use of Numbers to Identify Particular Individuals in Administrative
Procedures (so-called The Number Act ) and other bills related to The Number Act were promulgated.
Thus the social security and tax number system is introduced.
The social security and tax number system is the base of a more fair social security and tax system,
and contributes to the people's convenience and a higher efﬁciency of administration as infrastructure of
information society.
Personal numbers are ﬁrst introduced in limited areas such as the social security and tax ﬁelds.
On the other hand, corporate numbers shall be widely and generally disclosed. Both the public andprivate sectors shall be able to make various uses of them.

4 Approaches by the NTA
For the introduction of the number system, the NTA is preparing for smooth utilization of the numbersin the national tax ﬁeld. This is, for example, ① to establish The Corporate Number System , for which
the NTA assigns Corporation numbers, and ② to remodel the existing systems such as Kokuzei Sogo
Kanri (KSK) System, and e-Tax.

54

Evaluation of Policies

Ⅶ〜 The purpose of policy evaluation is to fulfill accountability, realize results-based
administration and revitalize the organization 〜
The purpose of the Results Evaluation for the Targets to Be Achieved by the NTA (policy evaluation)is to ① clarify the NTA's missions and objectives to be achieved and fulﬁll accountability to citizens andtaxpayers, ② continue promoting more efﬁcient, high-quality and results-based administration that meets theneeds of the times and ③ improve operations, enhance the motivation of staff, and revitalize the organization.
The Minister of Finance provides and releases the Results Evaluation Implementation Plan and the Results
Evaluation Report every year.

〜 The NTA's missions and assignment and the structure of results evaluation targets 〜

In operation year 2012, the NTA's three duties provided in Article 19 of the Act for Establishment of the
Ministry of Finance were set as the targets to be achieved (Results Target 1 through 3). The Results Target 1
has four sub-results targets and six performance targets.
● Concept of the NTA s missions and results evaluation targets (for operation year 2012)
The NTA’s missions
Help taxpayers properly and smoothly fulfill their tax duties

Performancetargets

Results targets

Results evaluation targets(Results Target 1)
Proper and fair assessment andcollection of internal taxes【B】(Results Target 1-1)
Proper tax
administration【B】
Actions taken inaccordance withthe revision of the
Act on General Rules
for National Taxes,
etc.
［Focused］(Results Target 1-2)

(Results Target 1-3)
Proper examination
Enhancement ofand collection andtaxpayer services【B】 remedy for taxpayer
rights【B】【Performance Target 1-2-1】Enhancement of public hearing and public relations
activities, etc.
【B】
【Performance Target 1-2-2】Appropriate response to consultations, etc.【B】【Performance Target 1-2-3】Promotion of filings and payments utilizing ICT suchas online tax filing［Focused］【A】(Results Target 1-4)
Measures forinternationalization[Focused]【A】(Results Target 2)(Results Target 3)

Promotion ofsounddevelopment ofliquor industry【A】

Ensuring proper
administration ofservices by
CPTAs【B】【Performance Target 1-3-1】Achieving of proper tax filing and conducting
examinations and guidance【B】【Performance Target 1-3-2】Tax collection by the due date and strict and appropriate
implementation of disposition for delinquent tax【B】【Performance Target 1-3-3】Measures for the request for review【A】(Note) 1 The targets, etc. marked with [Focused] are those to be promoted more actively.
2 The achievement level of each target is evaluated with the following five grades.
【S】: Achieved. 【A】: Considerably progressed for achievement. 【B】: Progressed for achievement.
【C】: Only partially progressed for achievement. 【D】: Not progressed for achievement.

〜 Results of evaluation and improvement of operations 〜
The following shows the major results of evaluation of each target for operations year 2012. The NTA is
working to improve tax administration in consideration of these results of evaluation and veriﬁcation.
① Regarding the Results Target 1, considerable progress has been made for the promotion of e-Tax, etc.
and measures for internationalization; however, we need to continue reviewing the implementation of
examination and collection for more effective and efﬁcient management. In consideration of such matter, it
has been evaluated as B: Progressed for achievement.
② Regarding the Results Target 2, appropriate measures have been taken to meet social needs suchas the prevention of underage drinking, and efforts have been made to develop export environment forJapanese liquors. In consideration of such matter, it has been evaluated as A: Considerably progressed
for achievement.
③ Regarding the Results Target 3, appropriate guidance and supervision are provided to CPTAs, etc.,
but we still need to promote and establish the system of document attached by CPTAs, and conduct
appropriate examinations of CPTAs, etc. In consideration of such matter, it has been evaluated as B:
Progressed for achievement.

Ministry of Finance Round-table Conference for Policy Evaluation
In order to secure objectivity for the evaluation of results and improve the quality of evaluation, the Ministryof Finance Round-table Conference for Policy Evaluation, which consists of experts, is held to obtain expert
opinions at the phase of implementation planning and evaluation.
Opinions on the evaluation of results for operation year 2012 include the following: We need to discuss
the use of tablet terminals and other devices for examination, etc. in order to prevent a loss of documents.
As national tax administration handles a large number of documents, e-Tax should be promoted from theviewpoint of document management.
The NTA adopts the method that sets specific target values andobjectively conﬁrms the level of achievement. This is easy to understand.
*55

For details, please visit the NTA's Results Evaluation on the NTA website. (http://www.nta.go.jp/kohyo/katsudou/jissekihyoka/01.htm)

Ⅷ

StatisticsⅠ

Tax returns and taxation …… 57

Budget and final accounts of taxes and stamp
revenues for ﬁscal year 2012

The time period of ﬁgures is indicated in
its title or at the top right of individual tables.
The fiscal year is from April 1 throughMarch 31 of the following year (i.e. fiscal
year 2013: April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014),
while the operation year is from July 1
through June 30 of the following year (i.e.
30, 2013). The calendar year ranges fromJanuary 1 through December 31 of thesame year for which income tax and otherreturns are ﬁled.
The amount of sub-total in each item ofaccounts may not accord with the amountof fractional ﬁgures.

Ⅵ

General Account

NTA initial budget for ﬁscal year 2014
Item

BudgetMillion yen
ICT-related expenses
39,765
Expenses to improve convenience for taxpayers ※ 1
10,019
Expenses related to internationalization measures
940
General operating expenses, etc. ※ 2
58,655
Expenses to improve work environment and ensure safety ※ 3
9,735
Expenses related to tax reforms
10,343
Expenses for National Tax College
2,305
Expenses for National Tax Tribunal
331
Expenses for National Research Institute of Brewing
956
Common number system related costs
10,201
Subtotal
143,251
Salary costs
565,367
708,619
Total NTA budgetⅦ

Ⅷ
Statistics

indicated in the grand total, due to rounding

Other includes collection of delinquent tax, such as the commodity
tax and land value tax, etc.

Evaluation of
Policies

operation year 2012: July 1, 2012 to June※

Ⅴ

Revision of Operations
and Systems※

Local gasoline tax
279,300
280,534
Liqueﬁed petroleum gas tax
11,00010,713(transferred)
14,103Aviation fuel tax (transferred)
12,600Motor vehicle tonnage tax
286,200
272,404(transferred)
Special tonnage due
12,50012,286
Special local corporation tax
1,658,700
1,669,821
Special tobacco tax
146,200
157,462
Special income tax for reconstruction
49,50051,139Special corporate tax for
506,200
649,372
reconstruction
Total
45,569,200 47,049,242

Ⅳ

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Taxpayer satisfaction ……… 60

Ⅲ

328,049

417,000
396,894910,000
897,230
10,0009,829−
42
1,032,000
1,077,676
42,607,000 43,931,407

General Expenditures

Tax consultations …………… 60

329,000

Ⅱ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Remedy for taxpayer rights … 59

Million yen Million yen
11,204,000 11,472,513
2,397,000
2,519,974
8,992,000
9,758,311
1,504,000
1,503,946
10,316,000 10,350,429
1,339,000
1,349,638
945,000
1,017,942
2,611,000
2,621,915
11,00010,71344,00049,360546,000
566,946

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Criminal investigation ……… 59

Withholding income tax
Self-assessed income tax
Corporation tax
Inheritance tax
Consumption tax
Liquor tax
Tobacco tax
Gasoline tax
Liqueﬁed petroleum gas tax
Aviation fuel tax
Petroleum and coal tax
Power resources
development promotion tax
Motor vehicle tonnage tax
Customs duty
Tonnage due
Other ※
Stamp revenue
Subtotal

ActualEnhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Delinquency …………………… 58

Budget after
correction

Item

Tax examinations …………… 58
International taxation ………… 58

About the NTA

Tax revenues and budget

Tax revenues and budget …… 56※1
Expenses to improve convenience for taxpayers includes
expenses related to maintenance of the e-Tax and the filingassistance on the NTA website.
※2
General operating expenses, etc. includes expenses for tax
forms and correspondence, wage expenses for part-timers, travel
expenses, honoraria for hired bookkeeping instructors, and PR
expenses.
※3
Expenses to improve work environment and ensure safetyincludes expenses to improve facilities and health care.

56

Ⅷ Statistics

Tax returns and taxation
Income tax

Inheritance tax（Calendar year 2013）
Thousand people
127,520
62,700Total population
Number of persons engaged
Number of ﬁnal returns for income tax

21,43012,400

Tax payment

6,220

Breakdown by
income earners

Refund※Business income earners

1,610

Other income earners

4,610

Real estate income earners

1,070

Employment income earners

2,360

Miscellaneous income
earners

840

Other

340

Total population andas of 2012.

※(Calendar year 2012)
355,924People
1,579,800Million yen
128,800Million yen

Figures include the taxation system for settlement at the time ofinheritance.

Consumption tax
Category

Payment
Thousand cases
1,143
1,843
2,986
9,313,500
Million yen

11

44,9002,827

1,163,100

28

268,700

Type-

13,353,600

Sake
Sake compounds
Continuous distillation
Japanese spirits (Shochu）
Single system distillation
Japanese spirit (Shochu)
Mirin (rice cooking wine)
Beer
Fruit wine
Sweet fruit wine
WhiskyBrandySparkling liquor
Alcohol for material & Spirits
Liqueurs
Other brewed liquors
Powder liquor &miscellaneous liquor
Total

Million yen
9,061,300
240,000
436,700
2,138,900

Number of corporations and corporation tax
Number of corporations
Number of tax returns ﬁled
Percentage of corporations ﬁling
Percentage of returns declaring asurplus
Amount of self-assessed income
Amount of self-assessed loss
Amount of tax(Operation year 2012)
2,985Thousands
2,761Thousands
89.7%
27.4%

45,187,400Million yen
16,822,600Million yen
10,010,500Million yen

The number of corporations is the figure as of the end of June
2013.

Number oftax returns

Amount of tax

The ﬁgures of withholding agents are ﬁgures as of the end of June2013.
※ 2 The amount of tax imposed on the income obtained on and afterJanuary 1, 2013 includes special income tax for reconstruction.

57

10,771,800Million yen
1,244,600Million yen

Number of people subject to taxation
Value of properties acquired
Amount of tax

Number ofwithholding agentsThousands
3,561
41
129

※1

※

147,920People

Gift tax(Operation year 2012)

Employment income(wages and salaries)
Retirement income
Interest income, etc.
Dividend income
Capital gains on listed
shares etc. kept in
special accountIncome from
remuneration, etc.
Income paid to nonresidents and foreign
corporations, etc.
Total

52,572People

Number of persons engaged are ﬁgures

Withholding agents and withholding income tax
Income etc. category(Calendar year 2012)
1,256,359People

Number of deceased
Number of deceased subject
to taxation
Number of taxpayers(number of heirs)
Taxable amountAmount of tax

Individuals
Corporations
Total
Amount of tax(Fiscal year 2012)
RefundThousand cases
31
107
138
1,918,100
Million yen

Liquor tax and liquor production(Fiscal year 2012)
Volume ofAmount of tax
production
Thousand kl
Million yen
439
67,066
39
3,889
399

89,918498

121,041

90
2,803
87
4
84
5
626
326
1,891

2,050
607,4797,719
490
30,127
1,850
104,609
26,775
154,755

660

53,217

7,949

1,270,984

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Tax examinations
Examination of self-assessed income tax(Operation year 2012)

Number
of
cases

Field
examination Thousands
Special, ※ 1
46
General※2
24
Focusing
Brief contact ※ 3
612
Total
682

Billion Thousand Billion
yen
yen
yen

Thousand
yen

389.4

8,390

66.1

1,420

65.6
402.8
857.8

2,790
660
1,260

4.3
29.6
100.1

180
50
150

※1

Field examination of inheritance tax(Operation year 2012)
Number Number ofAmount of
Additional tax
ofundeclared unrecorded inheritance revenue collected
cases
cases
Per case
Per case

Thousands Thousands
12

Field examination of withholding income tax
Number of cases※

The amount of additional tax revenue collected in connection with
the income obtained on and after January 1, 2013 includes special
income tax for reconstruction.

Field examination of corporation tax

All corporations

3

462.9

159,090

Fraudulent income through overseas transactions(Operation year 2012)
NumberName of statutory informationcollected
Payment record of dividends, distribution of Thousands
surplus, and interest paid on guaranty capital
67,578Annual transaction report of special account50,969Withholding record of public pensions, etc.
38,939Payment record concerning transactions of
30,114futures
Payment record of remuneration, fees,
21,908contracts and prize money
Withholding record of employment income
19,429Record of remittance and receipt related to
5,636
foreign countries
Other
59,188
Total
293,761

Ⅳ

Ⅴ

Ⅵ

Tax delinquency cases of 100 million yen or more, by
industry
Industry
Manufacturing
Distribution
Real estate &construction
Food & beverage
Financial
Otherindustries ※ 1
Other ※ 2Total
※1

(As of the end of ﬁscal year 2013)
Number of persons
Amount of tax
People% Million yen
%
30
3.3
5,964
2.3
58
6.5
18,101
6.9
234

26.1

60,195

22.9

58
22

6.5
2.5

9,890
12,203

3.8
4.6

280

31.2

70,149

26.7

215
897

24.0
100.0

86,470262,972

32.9
100.0

Ⅶ

Ⅷ

Other industries refers to hospitals (doctors), service industry,leisure industry, etc.
※2 Other refers to wage earners, pensioners, etc.

Statistics(Operation year 2012)
222 Cases
97.4Billion yen

Delinquency

Evaluation of
Policies(Operation year 2012)
Number of examinations of corporations
12,506 Cases
conducting overseas transactions
Number of undeclared cases related to3,309 Cases
overseas transactions
Of which, cases of overseas
470 Cases
fraudulent calculations
Amount of undeclared income related to245.2Billion yen
overseas transactions
Of which, amount of overseas
16.9Billion yen
fraudulently omitted income

Number of taxation cases
Amount of taxable income

Collected number of statutory information

101.1

International taxation

Transfer pricing taxation

Billion Thousand
yen
yen
61.0
5,000

Cases of advance pricing arrangement related totransfer pricing
Number of cases requested
Number of cases processed

Revision of Operations
and Systems

Of which,
corporations
handled by thelarge enterpriseexamination
department

Thousandyen
27,410Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

Category(Operation year 2012)
Amount of
Additional
Number unrecorded income tax revenueof cases
Per case collectedThousandThousands Billion yen
Billion yen
yen
93
999.2
10,710209.8

10Billion
yen
334.7

Ⅲ

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

Thousands
136(Operation year 2012)
Number of illegal
Additional tax
cases
revenue collectedThousands
Billion yen
33
28.5

Ⅱ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Special, General refers to a deep examination focused on thelarge amount and serious violations.
※2 Focusing refers to a quick examination to ﬁnd unrecorded
income, etc.
※3
Brief contact means correction etc. of tax returns through written
documents, telephone call or request for coming to tax ofﬁce.

(Operation year 2012)
Additionaltax revenue
Number ofcollected
Category
undeclaredcases
Per case
BillionThousandThousands Thousands
yen
yen
84
58
21.1
250
Individuals
Corporations
88
50
47.4
540
Numberofcases

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Category

Amount of
Additional tax
unrecorded
revenue collected
incomePer case
Per case

Examination of consumption tax(Operation year 2012)
127 Cases
138 Cases

58

Ⅷ Statistics

Criminal investigation
Criminal investigations
Number of
Number Number cases withof cases of cases accusation
conducted closed ﬁled to theprosecutor
Cases

Cases

Cases

185

185

118

Filed accusations to the prosecutor, by tax item

Amount of tax
evasion(Fiscal year 2013)
Amount of tax evasion(ﬁled accusation to the prosecutor)

Per case

Per case

Billion yen Million yen Billion yen Million yen

14.5

78

11.7

99

Large-scale cases(Fiscal year 2013)
Number of cases Cases of 300 million Cases of 500 million
yen or more tax
with accusation ﬁled yen or more tax
evasionevasionto the prosecutor
Cases
Cases
Cases
118

4

Number ofcases

Tax item
Income tax
Corporation tax
Inheritance tax
Consumption tax
Withholding income
tax
Total

Cases
18
64
6
16

(Fiscal year 2013)
Tax evasion
Per case
Billion yen Million yen
2.0
113
5.4
84
1.9
321
0.9
57

14

1.5

108

118

11.7

99

2

Remedy for taxpayer rights
Request for reinvestigation(Fiscal year 2012)
Category

Cases
3,631
471
4,102

Number of new
requests forreinvestigation ①
Cases
3,033
391
3,424

Number of requests
for reconsideration

Number of new
requests forreconsideration ①

Number of cases
processed ②

Number of requests
approved ③

Percentage ③ / ②

Cases
6,076
330
6,406

Cases
3,384
214
3,598

Cases
3,388
230
3,618

Cases
443
8
451

％
13.1
3.5
12.5

Number of requests
for reinvestigation

Taxation-related
Collection-related

Total

Number of cases
processed ②

Number of requests
approved ③

Percentage ③ / ②

Cases
2,863
423
3,286

Cases
322
3
325

％
11.2
0.7
9.9

Request for reconsideration(Fiscal year 2012)
Category
Taxation-related
Collection-related

Total

Litigation(Fiscal year 2012)
Category
Taxation-related
Collection-related

National Tax
Tribunal-related
Total
※

59

Number of cases ﬁled
Number of litigations for ﬁrst instance ①

Number ofcases closed ②

Number of lost casesand partial defeats ③
Cases
Cases
300
20
76
4

Percentage ③ / ②
％
6.7
5.3

Cases
594
117

Cases
142
43

9

4

7

―

―

720

189

383

24

6.3

The ﬁgures for cases for litigation are the total numbers for each level of trial.

Ⅰ
About the NTA

Tax consultations[Phone Consultation Centers]
Tax
category

Items

2
3
4
5

[Tax Answer System]
Rank
1

3
4

234
230
155

Ⅲ

(Fiscal year 2013)
Thousand
cases

When have paid medical
Income tax expenses(medical expenses deduction)
Income tax Tax rate of income tax
Medical expenses eligible for
Income tax
medical expenses deduction
When have built a new house orpurchased a newly built house
Income tax(special credit for loans relating
to a dwelling)
Income tax Exemption for dependents

2,597

Ⅳ

1,928
1,464
1,385
1,242

Ⅴ

Taxpayer satisfaction

Items

Attitude of ofﬁcials in providing services
Satisfaction with guidance display in Tax
Ofﬁce, and use of reception & service
Satisfaction with use of facilities in Tax Ofﬁce
PR activities
Satisfaction level at Phone Consultation
Center
※

Ⅵ

77.6
67.0
75.4
94.5
Ⅶ

Evaluation of
Policies

The percentage of responses highly rated shows responses rated
as good and somewhat good on a ﬁve point scale from goodto bad in the questionnaire survey.

Revision of Operations
and Systems(Fiscal year 2012)
Percentage
of Responses
Highly Rated%
84.3

Proper Management of
Liquor Administration

5

Items

275

Remedy for
Taxpayer Rights

2

Tax
category

423

Ⅱ

Proper Tax
Examination andCollection

Income tax Obligations & procedures to ﬁletax returns, etc.
Special credit for loans relating
Income tax
to a dwelling
Income tax Medical expenses deduction
Income tax Year-end adjustment
Income tax Filing returns for refund

1

Income tax
Corporation tax
Property tax
Consumption tax
Other indirect taxes
General rules, collections
Other
Total

(Fiscal year 2013)
Thousand cases
2,564
272
951
277
187
250
688
5,190

Enhancement ofServices for Taxpayers

Rank(Fiscal year 2013)
Thousandcases

Number of consultations at Phone Consultation
Centers, by tax category
Number of consultations
at Phone Consultation
Centers, by tax category

The five tax items most frequently the subject ofconsultation

Ⅷ
Statistics

60

NATIONAL TAX AGENCY REPORT

2014

Issued in September 2014
3-1-1 Kasumigaseki,
Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo,100-8978
Japan
TEL.03-3581-4161(Representative)
NTA Website (English)
http://www.nta.go.jp/foreign_language/index.htm

イータックス

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