Regulation for Enforcement of the Consumption Tax Act

The documents specified by Ministry of Finance Order prescribed in Article 30, paragraph (11) of the Act are the documents set out in each of the following items in accordance with the categories of persons set out in those items (including copies of those documents and electronic or magnetic records relating to those documents provided by the person (meaning electronic or magnetic records prescribed in Article 2, item (iii) (Definitions) of the Act on Special Provisions concerning Preservation Methods for Books and Documents Related to National Tax Prepared by Means of Computers; the same applies hereinafter in this Chapter), and limited to those that bear or record the person's name or title and address or residence or the location of the head office or principal office):

an individual having an address in Japan: any of the following documents of that individual:

an Individual Number Card prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (7) (Definitions) of the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures that is valid on the date of the taxable purchase;

a copy of the certificate of residence or a certificate of the matters stated in the certificate of residence (meaning a document certifying the address, name, date of birth, and other matters in the Basic Resident Register of the head of a local government), prepared within one year before the date of the taxable purchase;

a copy of the supplementary record of the family register or a certificate of seal impression, prepared within one year before the date of the taxable purchase;

a qualification confirmation certificate for national health insurance, health insurance, mariners insurance, medical care for the latter-stage elderly, the National Public Servants Mutual Aid Association, a Local Public Servants Mutual Aid Association, or the Private School Personnel Mutual Aid System, a certificate of insured person for long-term care insurance, or a health insurance specially-insured day laborer certificate book;

a child rearing allowance certificate, a Maternal and Child Health Handbook, a physical disability certificate, a rehabilitation handbook (meaning a handbook, containing a description of the degree of disability and other matters of the person, issued by the prefectural governor, or by the head of a designated city under Article 252-19, paragraph (1) (Powers of Designated Cities) of the Local Autonomy Act (Act No. 67 of 1947) or of a core city under Article 252-22, paragraph (1) (Powers of Core Cities) of that Act, to a person determined to have an intellectual disability by a child guidance center or an intellectual disability rehabilitation counseling center prescribed in Article 9, paragraph (6) (Implementers of Rehabilitation Assistance) of the Act on Welfare of Mentally Retarded Persons (Act No. 37 of 1960), for the purpose of promoting the welfare of persons with intellectual disabilities), a mental disability health and welfare handbook, or a war-wounded and sick persons handbook;

a driver's license prescribed in Article 92, paragraph (1) (Issuance of Licenses) of the Road Traffic Act (Act No. 105 of 1960) (limited to one that is valid on the date of the taxable purchase), or a driving record certificate prescribed in Article 105-2, paragraph (1) (Driving Record Certificates and Recording of Driving Record Information) of that Act (limited to one in the form of Appended Form 19-3-9 of the Regulation for Enforcement of the Road Traffic Act (Order of the Prime Minister's Office No. 60 of 1960));

a passport that is valid on the date of the taxable purchase;

a special permanent resident certificate prescribed in Article 7, paragraph (1) (Issuance of the Special Permanent Resident Certificate) of the Special Act on the Immigration Control of, inter alia, those who have lost Japanese Nationality pursuant to the Treaty of Peace with Japan (Act No. 71 of 1991) that is valid on the date of the taxable purchase;

a receipt for national tax or local tax, a tax payment certificate, or a receipt for social insurance premiums (meaning social insurance premiums prescribed in Article 74, paragraph (2) (Social Insurance Premium Deduction) of the Income Tax Act) (limited to one bearing a receipt date or issue date that falls within one year before the date of the taxable purchase);

in addition to the documents set out in (a) through (i), a document issued or granted by a government agency or any other similar document, prepared within one year before the date of the taxable purchase (for one with a period of validity or an expiration date, one that is valid on that date);

an individual who does not have an address in Japan: any of the documents of that individual set out in (c) through (f), (h), or (i) of the preceding item;

a domestic corporation (meaning a corporation that has its head office or principal office in Japan, and excluding an association or foundation without legal personality and the trustee business operator (meaning a trustee business operator prescribed in Article 15, paragraph (3) of the Act; the same applies in items (v) and (vi)) of a trust subject to corporate taxation, etc. (meaning a trust subject to corporate taxation, etc. prescribed in paragraph (1) of that Article; the same applies in items (v) and (vi))): any of the following documents of that domestic corporation:

a certificate of registered matters relating to the registration of establishment of that domestic corporation (if the domestic corporation has not registered its establishment, a document of the head of the administrative organ with jurisdiction over that domestic corporation certifying its name and the location of its head office or principal office) or a certificate of seal impression, prepared within one year before the date of the taxable purchase;

the documents set out in (i) or (j) of item (i);

an association or foundation without legal personality (limited to one that has its principal office in Japan): any of the following documents of that association or foundation without legal personality:

the articles of incorporation, endowment act, rules, or bylaws of that association or foundation without legal personality (limited to those containing provisions on the name and the location of the principal office), which contain an entry certifying that its representative or administrator is that of that association or foundation without legal personality;

the documents set out in (i) or (j) of item (i);

a foreign corporation (meaning a foreign corporation prescribed in Article 2, item (iv) (Definitions) of the Corporation Tax Act, and excluding a trustee business operator of a trust subject to corporate taxation, etc.): any of the following documents of that foreign corporation:

a certificate of registered matters relating to the registration of that foreign corporation prescribed in Article 933, paragraph (1) (Registration of a Foreign Company) of the Companies Act (Act No. 86 of 2005) or Article 37, paragraph (1) (Registration of Foreign Corporations) of the Civil Code (Act No. 89 of 1896), or a certificate of seal impression, prepared within one year before the date of the taxable purchase;

the documents set out in (i) or (j) of item (i);

a trustee business operator of a trust subject to corporate taxation, etc.: the following documents:

the documents set out in the preceding items, in accordance with the categories set out in those items, of the trustee of that trust subject to corporate taxation, etc. (limited to those bearing the trustee's name or title and its address or the location of its head office or principal office);

the trust terms or other similar documents of that trust subject to corporate taxation, etc. (limited to those bearing the name of that trust subject to corporate taxation, etc. and the location of the business office, office, or similar place in which it is entrusted).

Identity documents (meaning identity verification documents prescribed in Article 30, paragraph (11) of the Act; the same applies in the following paragraph) include a qualified invoice (meaning a qualified invoice prescribed in Article 57-4, paragraph (1) of the Act; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) delivered by the counterparty to the taxable purchase prescribed in Article 30, paragraph (11) of the Act, or an electronic or magnetic record of matters to be stated in a qualified invoice provided by that counterparty.

Where a taxable purchase prescribed in Article 30, paragraph (11) of the Act is made through a person who engages in intermediation, brokerage, or agency (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "intermediation, etc."), the identity verification documents to be retained under paragraph (11) of that Article are the identity verification documents of the counterparty to the taxable purchase and of the person engaging in the intermediation, etc.; provided, however, that where a taxable purchase made through a person engaging in intermediation, etc. is made through a transaction on a commodity market prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (10) (Definitions) of the Commodity Derivatives Transaction Act (Act No. 239 of 1950), or through a transaction on a financial instruments exchange market prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (17) (Definitions) of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (limited to one on which market derivatives transactions prescribed in paragraph (21) of that Article relating to commodities prescribed in paragraph (24), item (iii)-3 of that Article are conducted), the identity verification documents to be retained under Article 30, paragraph (11) of the Act are the identity verification documents of the person engaging in the intermediation, etc. of that taxable purchase.

The case where proof has been provided as specified by Ministry of Finance Order prescribed in Article 31, paragraph (1) of the Act is the case where a business operator that has made a non-taxable transfer, etc. of assets prescribed in that paragraph that falls under an export transaction, etc. prescribed in that paragraph has provided proof, with respect to that non-taxable transfer, etc. of assets, by organizing the documents or books specified in the items of Article 5, paragraph (1) in accordance with the categories of cases set out in those items, and retaining them at the place for tax payment or the location of the office, place of business, or similar place relating to the transaction (referred to as "office or similar place" in the following paragraph) for seven years from the day on which two months (one month where the residual assets of a corporation in liquidation have been determined; the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (3)) have elapsed from the day following the last day of the taxable period that includes the day on which the non-taxable transfer, etc. of assets was made.

The case where proof has been provided as specified by Ministry of Finance Order prescribed in Article 31, paragraph (2) of the Act is the case where a business operator that has exported the assets prescribed in that paragraph has provided proof, with respect to that export of assets, by organizing the documents specified in Article 5, paragraph (1), item (i) (or, where the assets were exported as a postal item prescribed in Article 76, paragraph (1) (Simplified Procedures for Export and Import of Postal Items) of the Customs Act, the documents specified in Article 5, paragraph (1), item (ii)), and retaining them at the place for tax payment or the location of the office or similar place relating to the transaction for seven years from the day on which two months have elapsed from the day following the last day of the taxable period that includes the day on which the assets were exported.

Retention under paragraph (1) and the preceding paragraph, for the period on or after the day on which five years have elapsed from the day on which two months have elapsed from the day following the last day of the taxable period prescribed in those provisions, may be done by a method determined by the Minister of Finance.

The documents prescribed in paragraphs (1) and (2) include electronic or magnetic records relating to those documents.

A business operator that retains the electronic or magnetic records prescribed in the preceding paragraph pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) is to retain those electronic or magnetic records by taking any of the measures set out in the items of Article 4, paragraph (1) (Retention of Electronic or Magnetic Records of Transaction Information of Electronic Transactions) of the Regulation for Enforcement of the Act on Special Provisions concerning Preservation Methods for Books and Documents Related to National Tax Prepared by Means of Computers, and in accordance with requirements equivalent to the requirements prescribed in that paragraph.

Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) and the preceding paragraph, a business operator that retains the electronic or magnetic records prescribed in paragraph (4) pursuant to these provisions may do so by retaining a document prepared by outputting those electronic or magnetic records (limited to one output in an orderly format and in a clear condition). In this case, the business operator must retain the document, in an organized manner, at the place at which it is required to be retained under paragraph (1) or (2), for the period for which it is required to be retained under these provisions.