Local Tax Act

• Prefectures are to levy the prefectural residents' tax, the enterprise tax, the local consumption tax, the real estate acquisition tax, the prefectural tobacco tax, the golf course use tax, the light oil delivery tax, the automobile tax and the mining area tax, and the hunting tax as an earmarked tax (目的税). Municipalities are to levy the municipal residents' tax, the fixed assets tax, the light vehicle tax, the municipal tobacco tax, the mineral product tax and the special land holding tax; those with hot-spring baths also levy the bathing tax (入湯税), and designated cities and others the business office tax (事業所税). One of these general taxes (普通税) need not be levied where collecting it would cost too much compared with what it brings in, or there are other special circumstances.(Art. 4(2), Art. 4(4), Art. 5(2), Art. 5(4), Art. 5(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Beyond the taxes the Act names, a prefecture or municipality may create a tax of its own, for general or for earmarked purposes. Before creating one, or changing one other than by lowering its rate, abolishing it or another change a Cabinet Order names, it must consult the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications (総務大臣) and obtain the Minister's consent. The Minister must consent unless the tax shares its base with a national or another local tax and weighs too heavily on residents, seriously hinders the movement of goods between local areas, or is otherwise unsuitable in light of the State's economic policy.(Art. 4(3), Art. 4(6), Art. 5(3), Art. 5(7), Art. 259(1), Art. 261(1), Art. 669(1), Art. 671(1), Art. 731(2), Art. 733(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An individual with an address (住所) in a municipality on 1 January — for anyone covered by the Basic Resident Registration Act, that means being recorded in its resident register — owes that year's municipal and prefectural residents' tax: a flat per-person amount (均等割) and an income-based amount (所得割) worked out on the previous year's income. The standard rates are 3,000 yen and 6% for the municipality and 1,000 yen and 4% for the prefecture, or 8% and 2% for someone living in a designated city (指定都市). The municipality assesses and collects the prefectural tax together with its own, and with the forest environment tax (森林環境税), which a separate Act governs.(Art. 294(1), Art. 294(2), Art. 318(1), Art. 24(1), Art. 39(1), Art. 313(1), Art. 310(1), Art. 314-3(1), Art. 38(1), Art. 35(1), Art. 319(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a taxpayer was paid a salary in the previous year and is still being paid one at the start of the fiscal year, the residents' tax on that salary is collected through the employer, unless the taxpayer is paid only at intervals longer than a month or is otherwise hard to collect from this way, or the municipality has few salaried taxpayers or other special circumstances make this unsuitable. The municipality designates by ordinance the payer who withholds income tax as special collection agent (特別徴収義務者). Notified by 31 May, the employer deducts one twelfth of the tax from the salary each month from June to the next May, and pays it to the municipality by the 10th of the following month; a later notice is spread over the months left to May. Where the tax is no more than the per-capita levy (均等割額), the whole is deducted from the first month's salary instead.(Art. 321-3(1), Art. 321-4(1), Art. 321-4(2), Art. 321-5(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The fixed assets tax (固定資産税) on land, buildings and depreciable business assets is levied by the municipality where they are, on whoever owns them on 1 January — for land and buildings, the person registered as owner in the land or building register or the tax ledgers, or, if that person died or ceased to exist before 1 January, whoever actually owns them that day; for depreciable assets, the person registered in the depreciable assets ledger. Its standard rate is 1.4%, and it is paid on a tax notice in instalments the municipality's ordinance sets in April, July, December and February, or on other dates in special circumstances.(Art. 341(1)(i), Art. 342(1), Art. 343(1), Art. 343(2), Art. 343(3), Art. 359(1), Art. 350(1), Art. 362(1), Art. 364(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 November 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act, etc.

  地方税法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 2 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 16 October 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act, etc.

  地方税法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 2 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act, etc.

  地方税法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 2 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Medical Care Act, etc.

  医療法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 87 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Science Council of Japan Act

  日本学術会議法

  Act No. 70 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act and the Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act, etc.

  地方税法及び地方税法等の一部を改正する法律の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 7 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 24 September 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Local Autonomy Act

  地方自治法の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 65 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 31 July 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Local Tax Act, etc.

  地方税法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 2 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 5 June 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Health Insurance Act, etc.

  健康保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 31 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 25 May 2026

  Act on the Promotion of Business Financing, etc.

  事業性融資の推進等に関する法律

  Act No. 52 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 205 amendments already in force

• A local government may decide not to tax, or to tax unevenly, where the public interest or another reason calls for it, and may tax unevenly or tax only part of its area for a matter that especially benefits that part.(Art. 6(1), Art. 6(2), Art. 7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Neither the municipality nor the prefecture can levy residents' tax on people receiving livelihood assistance (生活扶助) under the Public Assistance Act, or on people with disabilities, minors, widows and single parents whose total income the previous year was 1.35 million yen or less (the second group still pays the separately taxed income-based amount on retirement income); this does not protect anyone with no address in Japan. People with an address in Japan who would owe only the flat amount are also spared it, for both taxes, if their income is at or below a level the municipality's ordinance sets under a Cabinet Order's criteria.(Art. 295(1), Art. 295(3), Art. 24-5(1), Art. 24-5(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The fixed assets tax cannot be levied on the State, prefectures, municipalities, special wards, their unions and the other public bodies the Act lists. Nor can the flat amount of the municipal residents' tax be levied on the State, local governments and the other public bodies the Act lists, or on the Japanese Red Cross Society, social welfare, religious and school corporations, labour unions and the other bodies it lists, unless the latter run a profit-making business.(Art. 348(1), Art. 296(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Some property cannot be charged fixed assets tax because of its use — among others property the State or a local government puts to official or public use, a religious corporation's precincts and buildings used only for its own purposes, cemeteries, and public roads — though the owner can be taxed where someone who rents it for a fee uses it that way.(Art. 348(2), Art. 348(2)(i), Art. 348(2)(iii), Art. 348(2)(iv), Art. 348(2)(v)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The fixed assets tax cannot be levied where the taxable value of the land a person owns in the municipality is under 300,000 yen, of buildings under 200,000 yen or of depreciable assets under 1.5 million yen, unless the municipality's ordinance taxes them for financial or other special need.This is the rule until 31 March 2027.(Art. 351(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The fixed assets tax cannot be levied where the taxable value of the land or of the buildings a person owns in the municipality is under 300,000 yen, or of depreciable assets under 1.8 million yen, unless the municipality's ordinance taxes them for financial or other special need. These thresholds apply to the fixed assets tax for fiscal 2027 onward; the tax for fiscal 2026 and earlier keeps the earlier ones.This is the rule from 1 April 2027.(Art. 351(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 14(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)(iii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where disaster, theft, illness of the taxpayer or a family member, closing or suspending a business, heavy business losses or similar events leave a taxpayer unable to pay at once, the head may, on application, defer collection of the amount they cannot pay for up to one year, and may let it be paid in instalments. If there is an unavoidable reason it still cannot be paid in that time, the deferral can be extended on application, to two years at most in all. Where a disaster or other unavoidable cause prevents a return, application or payment by its deadline, the head may also extend the deadline as the local government's ordinance provides.(Art. 15(1), Art. 15(3), Art. 15(4), Art. 20-5-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For a taxpayer in arrears who means to pay, the head may put off the sale of seized property for up to a year where selling at once would make it hard to keep the business going or to live — on its own initiative (also where waiting serves collection better), or on the taxpayer's application within a period its ordinance sets. The head may stop collection measures altogether where there is no property to take, where taking it would leave the taxpayer in severe hardship, or where neither the taxpayer nor any property can be found.(Art. 15-5(1), Art. 15-6(1), Art. 15-7(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The mayor may, as the municipality's ordinance provides, reduce or waive the residents' tax for someone who needs it because of a natural disaster or other special circumstances, or who lives on public or private assistance because of poverty — but not for a special collection agent.(Art. 323(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The tax is assessed and collected by tax officials (徴税吏員): the governor or mayor and the staff they delegate. To collect, the head of the local government gives the taxpayer or collection agent a written notice of the amount, the deadline and the place of payment.(Art. 1(1)(iii), Art. 13(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where needed to investigate a tax's assessment or collection, tax officials may question taxpayers, those who owe them money or goods, employers who must file salary reports, collection agents and others directly involved, and inspect or demand the books and records of all but the last. Refusing an inspection, failing to answer or answering falsely is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen; each tax's section carries its own such article.(Art. 298(1), Art. 299(1), Art. 26(1), Art. 27(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A tax paid after its deadline carries a late-payment charge (延滞金): for the municipal residents' tax, 14.6% a year from the day after the deadline, and 7.3% for the first month. For the time being, the Act's supplementary provisions (附則) lower these rates in any year when a benchmark built on an average lending rate, which the Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation (租税特別措置法), a separate Act, defines, falls below 7.3%.(Art. 326(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• If a taxpayer or collection agent has not paid in full by the deadline, a tax official must send a reminder (督促状) within 20 days of it. A residents' taxpayer whose tax is deducted from salary gets no reminder (the employer gets one if it fails to pay over what it deducted), and none is needed where collection is brought forward (繰上徴収). Where residents' tax was postponed under Article 15-4 (徴収猶予), a reminder may be sent only if it is still unpaid when the postponement ends. A municipality with special circumstances may set a different period by ordinance, for both taxes. If the tax is still unpaid once ten days have passed from the day the reminder was sent, the official must seize the taxpayer's property, and the seizure and sale follow the rules for collecting delinquent national taxes in the National Tax Collection Act (国税徴収法), a separate Act. The Act says this for the residents' tax and the fixed assets tax, each in its own articles.(Art. 329(1), Art. 329(2), Art. 329(3), Art. 15-4(1), Art. 331(1), Art. 331(6), Art. 371(1), Art. 371(2), Art. 373(1), Art. 373(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Evading the municipal residents' tax by deception or other wrongful acts is punishable by imprisonment of up to ten years, a fine of up to 10 million yen, or both; where more than 10 million yen was evaded, the fine may, depending on the circumstances, be raised to the amount evaded. A collection agent who fails to pay in residents' tax it has collected from salaries or pensions faces up to ten years, a fine of up to 2 million yen (which may likewise be raised to the amount unpaid where that is more), or both, and a business is fined as well as the employee who acted for it.(Art. 324(1), Art. 324(2), Art. 324(3), Art. 324(4), Art. 324(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Other offences include failing to file a salary payment report, or filing a false one (up to one year or 500,000 yen), hiding or damaging property to escape seizure (up to three years, 2.5 million yen, or both), and inciting others not to file or pay (up to three years or 200,000 yen). A municipality may also, by ordinance, impose a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 100,000 yen on someone who fails without good reason to file a residents' tax return or to report a tax agent.(Art. 317-7(1), Art. 332(1), Art. 21(1), Art. 317-5(1), Art. 302(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An assessment, a correction, a reminder, a seizure and the other tax decisions it lists can be challenged by a request for review (審査請求) under the Administrative Complaint Review Act (行政不服審査法), a separate Act, except where this Act provides otherwise. The request does not stop collection, but seized property may not be sold until it is decided, unless its value would drop sharply or the requester asks; and a court case to cancel such a decision can be brought only after the request has been decided.(Art. 19(1), Art. 19-7(1), Art. 19-12(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A fixed assets tax payer who disputes the value recorded for the property in the fixed assets tax ledger may file a written request for review with the Fixed Assets Evaluation Review Board (固定資産評価審査委員会), generally within three months of receiving the tax notice. In the years when the value of land or a building is carried over from the last valuation year, the request can only claim that the property's circumstances have changed in the ways the Act names.(Art. 432(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A correction (更正) or determination (決定) of a tax cannot be made once five years have passed from the day after the statutory deadline (法定納期限). A tax the authority assesses (賦課決定) cannot be assessed after three years, or five for the real estate acquisition, fixed assets and city planning taxes; an assessment that lowers the tax can be made for five years, and any of these for seven years where tax was evaded or a refund obtained by deception. The right to collect expires if not used for five years from the day after the statutory deadline. In some cases — among them a correction made after a request filed shortly before the time limit for corrections runs out, after an appeal ruling or judgment, or after the national tax it rests on is corrected — the period starts later (Articles 17-5, 17-6 and 18). A taxpayer who filed a return in which the tax was overstated, or a loss or refund understated, through a miscalculation or a wrong reading of the law may ask the head of the local government to correct it within five years of the statutory deadline.(Art. 17-5(1), Art. 17-5(2), Art. 17-5(3), Art. 17-5(4), Art. 17-5(5), Art. 17-5(7), Art. 17-6(1), Art. 17-6(3), Art. 18(1), Art. 20-9-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• To investigate a tax offence, officials the head designates may question suspects and witnesses and, with a warrant a judge issues in advance, enter and search premises and seize evidence. For an offence on any tax other than an indirect local tax (間接地方税), officials who believe an offence was committed must report it to a public prosecutor. For an indirect local tax, once the head is convinced of the offence, the head must instead notify the offender in writing to pay an amount equal to the fine and the other sums the notice names; an offender who pays cannot be prosecuted for the same case, while one who has not paid within 20 days of the day after receiving the notice is reported to a public prosecutor, unless they pay before the report is made. But if the circumstances call for imprisonment or the offender cannot afford to comply, the head must report it to a public prosecutor at once.(Art. 22-3(1), Art. 22-4(1), Art. 22-26(1), Art. 22-28(1), Art. 22-28(2), Art. 22-28(5), Art. 22-29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)