Consumption Tax Act

A business operator that makes or intends to make a transfer of specified low-value assets (excluding those on which consumption tax is not imposed pursuant to the provisions of Article 6, paragraph (1); the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), and that intends, with respect to the taxable goods pertaining to that transfer of specified low-value assets, to have another person take those taxable goods out of a bonded area under Article 8-2, paragraph (1) (excluding a business operator exempted from the obligation to pay consumption tax pursuant to the main clause of Article 9, paragraph (1)), may obtain registration from the district director.

A business operator that intends to obtain the registration under the preceding paragraph must submit a written application stating the matters specified by Ministry of Finance Order to the district director with jurisdiction over its place for tax payment.

Upon receiving the submission of the written application under the preceding paragraph, the district director must examine it without delay and, except where registration is refused pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (5), make the registration under paragraph (1).

The registration under paragraph (1) is to be made by entering the name, the registration number, and other matters specified by Cabinet Order in the Register of Sellers of Specified Low-Value Assets. In this case, the district director must, as specified by Cabinet Order, promptly publish the matters entered in that Register of Sellers of Specified Low-Value Assets.

The district director may refuse the registration under paragraph (1) if the director finds that a business operator that intends to obtain that registration falls under the facts prescribed in the following items for the categories of cases set forth in those items.

In the case where the business operator is a business operator other than a specified foreign business operator: any of the following facts:

That business operator (limited to a person to whom Article 117, paragraph (1) (Tax Agent) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes applies) has not submitted a notification of a tax agent under paragraph (2) of that Article;

That business operator is a person for whom one year has not elapsed from the day on which the registration under paragraph (1) was cancelled (limited to cancellation pertaining to item (i), (f) of the following paragraph) pursuant to the provisions of the following paragraph;

That business operator is a person for whom two years have not elapsed from the day on which that business operator, having been sentenced to a fine or a heavier punishment for violating the provisions of this Act, finished serving the sentence or ceased to be subject to its execution.

In the case where the business operator is a specified foreign business operator: any of the following facts:

There is no tax representative prescribed in Article 74-9, paragraph (3), item (ii) (Advance Notice of Examination to Persons Liable for Tax, etc.) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes who has the authority for tax agency with respect to consumption tax;

That business operator has not submitted a notification of a tax agent under Article 117, paragraph (2) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes;

There are currently arrears of national taxes, and the collection of the amount of taxes in arrears is extremely difficult;

That business operator is a person for whom one year has not elapsed from the day on which the registration under paragraph (1) was cancelled (limited to cancellation pertaining to any of item (ii), (f) through (h) of the following paragraph) pursuant to the provisions of the following paragraph;

That business operator is a person for whom two years have not elapsed from the day on which that business operator, having been sentenced to a fine or a heavier punishment for violating the provisions of this Act, finished serving the sentence or ceased to be subject to its execution.

The district director may cancel the registration under paragraph (1) pertaining to a seller of specified low-value assets set forth in the following items if the director finds that the seller falls under the facts prescribed in those items.

A seller of specified low-value assets that is a business operator other than a specified foreign business operator: any of the following facts:

The whereabouts of that seller of specified low-value assets have been unknown for one year or more;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets has discontinued its business;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets (limited to an individual business operator) has died;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets (limited to a corporation) has ceased to exist by merger;

That seller of specified low-value assets (limited to a person to whom Article 117, paragraph (1) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes applies) has not submitted a notification of a tax agent under paragraph (2) of that Article;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets has, with respect to assets other than the assets pertaining to the transfer of specified low-value assets, delivered or provided the purchase invoice, etc. prescribed in Article 57-9 to an importer, etc. prescribed in that Article, or notified an importer, etc. prescribed in that Article of the registration number under paragraph (4) and the matters prescribed in that Article;

That seller of specified low-value assets has been sentenced to a fine or a heavier punishment for violating the provisions of this Act;

That seller of specified low-value assets is a person that, having submitted the written application under paragraph (2) with false statements as to matters concerning the facts set forth in item (i) of the preceding paragraph, has obtained the registration under paragraph (1) on the basis of that application.

A seller of specified low-value assets that is a specified foreign business operator: any of the following facts:

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets has discontinued its business;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets (limited to an individual business operator) has died;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets (limited to a corporation) has ceased to exist by merger;

A document certifying that a person has authority for tax agency with respect to the consumption tax pertaining to the return of that seller of specified low-value assets under Article 45, paragraph (1) has not been submitted by the deadline for filing of that return;

That seller of specified low-value assets (limited to a person to whom Article 117, paragraph (1) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes applies) has not submitted a notification of a tax agent under paragraph (2) of that Article;

It is found that that seller of specified low-value assets has, with respect to assets other than the assets pertaining to the transfer of specified low-value assets, delivered or provided the purchase invoice, etc. prescribed in Article 57-9 to an importer, etc. prescribed in that Article, or notified an importer, etc. prescribed in that Article of the registration number under paragraph (4) and the matters prescribed in that Article;

In the case where no return filed by the due date prescribed in Article 17, paragraph (2) (Filing of a Return by the Due Date) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes has been submitted with respect to consumption tax, it is found that there is no justifiable reason for the non-submission;

There are currently arrears of national taxes, and the collection of the amount of taxes in arrears is extremely difficult;

That seller of specified low-value assets has been sentenced to a fine or a heavier punishment for violating the provisions of this Act;

That seller of specified low-value assets is a person that, having submitted the written application under paragraph (2) with false statements as to matters concerning the facts set forth in item (ii) of the preceding paragraph, has obtained the registration under paragraph (1) on the basis of that application.

When the district director makes the registration under paragraph (1) or the dispositions under the preceding two paragraphs, the district director is to notify the business operator pertaining to the registration or disposition to that effect in writing.

A seller of specified low-value assets must, when there has been a change in the matters entered in the Register of Sellers of Specified Low-Value Assets prescribed in paragraph (4), promptly submit a written notification to that effect to the district director having jurisdiction over its place for tax payment.

Upon receiving the submission of the written notification under the preceding paragraph, the district director is to, without delay, enter the matters pertaining to that notification in the Register of Sellers of Specified Low-Value Assets and register the change. In this case, the district director must, as specified by Cabinet Order, promptly publish the matters entered in the Register of Sellers of Specified Low-Value Assets after the change.

Where a seller of specified low-value assets has come to fall under any of the cases set forth in the following items, the registration under paragraph (1) ceases to be effective on the day prescribed in the relevant item:

In the case where that seller of specified low-value assets has submitted to the district director having jurisdiction over its place for tax payment a written notification to the effect that it seeks the cancellation of the registration under paragraph (1): the day following the last day of the taxable period that includes the day on which the notification was submitted (or, where the notification was submitted during the period from the day following the day specified by Cabinet Order to the last day of that taxable period, the day following the last day of the taxable period following that taxable period);

In the case where that seller of specified low-value assets has discontinued its business (limited to the case where, pursuant to the provisions of Article 57, paragraph (1), it has submitted a written notification stating that it has come to fall under the case set forth in item (iii) of that paragraph): the day following the day on which it discontinued its business;

In the case where an individual business operator that is that seller of specified low-value assets has died (limited to the case where, pursuant to the provisions of Article 57, paragraph (1), a written notification has been submitted stating that the seller has come to fall under the case set forth in item (iv) of that paragraph): the day following the day on which that individual business operator died;

In the case where a corporation that is that seller of specified low-value assets has ceased to exist by merger (limited to the case where, pursuant to the provisions of Article 57, paragraph (1), a written notification has been submitted stating that the seller has come to fall under the case set forth in item (v) of that paragraph): the day on which that corporation ceased to exist by merger.

When the district director has cancelled a registration pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (6), or when a registration under paragraph (1) has ceased to be effective pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the district director must delete that registration. In this case, the district director must, as specified by Cabinet Order, promptly publish the fact that the registration has been cancelled or has ceased to be effective, and the date thereof.

In addition to what is provided for in the preceding paragraphs, matters necessary for the application of the provisions of this Article are specified by Cabinet Order.