Local Tax Act

A taxpayer of automobile tax who pays the tax after the due date for payment under Article 156 (where the due date for payment has been extended, the extended due date for payment; the same applies hereinafter in this Article, paragraph (1) of the following Article and Article 168) must add to the tax amount, and pay, an amount of delinquency charge equivalent to the amount calculated by multiplying the tax amount by the rate of 14.6 percent per annum (for the period until the day on which one month elapses from the day following the due date for payment, 7.3 percent per annum) according to the number of days in the period from the day following the due date for payment to the day of payment.

Where automobile tax is collected by the method of ordinary collection under Article 158, paragraph (7), a prefectural tax collection official must, notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, add to the tax amount, and collect, an amount of delinquency charge equivalent to the amount calculated by multiplying the tax amount by the rate of 14.6 percent per annum (for the period up to the day on which payment is to be made under the tax notice for that automobile tax or the period until the day on which one month elapses from the day following that day, 7.3 percent per annum) according to the number of days in the period from the day following the day on which that tax notice was issued to the day of payment.

A prefectural governor may reduce or exempt the amount of delinquency charge under the preceding two paragraphs if the governor finds that there were unavoidable grounds for the taxpayer's failure to pay the tax by the due date for payment under Article 156 or on the day on which the tax was to be paid under Article 158, paragraph (4) or Article 159.

If a taxpayer has not paid in full the local government levies relating to automobile tax by the due date for payment, a prefectural tax collection official must issue a demand letter within 20 days after the due date for payment. However, this does not apply in the case of advance collection.

A prefecture in special circumstances may, by a Prefectural Ordinance of that prefecture, provide for a period different from the period prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

A prefectural tax collection official may, if the official has issued a demand letter, collect a fee as provided by Prefectural Ordinance of that prefecture.

When a person delinquent in payment of automobile tax falls under any of the following items, a prefectural tax collection official must seize the property of the person delinquent in payment with respect to the local government levies relating to that automobile tax:

when the person delinquent in payment has received a demand and has not paid in full, by the day on which 10 days have elapsed counting from the day on which the demand letter was issued, the local government levies relating to automobile tax that were the subject of the demand;

when the person delinquent in payment has not paid in full the local government levies relating to automobile tax by the due date for payment designated by the notice of advance collection.

When the preceding paragraph is applied to a secondary taxpayer or guarantor, the term "demand letter" in item (i) of that paragraph is to read "written reminder to pay".

If, by the day on which the 10 days prescribed in paragraph (1), item (i) have elapsed after the due date for payment of the local government levies relating to automobile tax, a fact falling under any of the items of Article 13-2, paragraph (1) has arisen with respect to a person delinquent in payment who has received a demand, a prefectural tax collection official may seize that person's property immediately.

When compulsory liquidation procedures have been carried out on the property of a person delinquent in payment, a prefectural tax collection official must make a request for share distribution, with respect to the local government levies relating to automobile tax in arrears, to the enforcement agency (or, when making a request for share distribution of local government levies relating to automobile tax that are the subject of a claim set out in Article 114, item (i) of the Bankruptcy Act, the court handling the bankruptcy case relating to that request for share distribution).

When a prefectural tax collection official is able to make a seizure under paragraphs (1) through (3), and property of a person delinquent in payment set out in the items of Article 86, paragraph (1) of the National Tax Collection Act has already been seized in a delinquent tax collection procedure for other local government levies or national taxes, or by a disposition governed by the rules of those delinquent tax collection procedures, the request for share distribution for that property may be made by participatory seizure.

Delinquent tax collection procedures for local government levies relating to automobile tax, other than those provided for in the preceding paragraphs, are carried out in accordance with the rules for the delinquent tax collection procedure prescribed in the National Tax Collection Act.

Dispositions under the preceding paragraphs may also be carried out outside the area of the prefecture concerned.

If a taxpayer of automobile tax, for the purpose of evading the execution of a delinquent tax collection procedure, conceals or damages property, disposes of it to the detriment of the prefecture, falsely increases the encumbrances on the property, or alters its current state and thereby reduces the value of the property or increases the expenses for the delinquent tax collection procedure, that person is to be punished by imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine of not more than 2,500,000 yen, or both.

The same applies where a third party in possession of the property of a taxpayer commits an act referred to in the preceding paragraph for the purpose of enabling the taxpayer to evade the execution of a delinquent tax collection procedure.

If a person, knowing the circumstances, becomes the counterparty of the taxpayer or of the third party in possession of the property in an act referred to in the preceding two paragraphs, the person who committed the violation as the counterparty is to be punished by imprisonment for not more than two years or a fine of not more than 1,500,000 yen, or both.

If a representative of a corporation, or an agent, employee or other worker of a corporation or a person, commits a violation prescribed in the preceding three paragraphs in connection with the business or property of that corporation or person, then in addition to punishing the offender, the fine prescribed in the relevant paragraphs is imposed on that corporation or person.

In a case that falls under any of the following items, the person who committed the violation is to be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen:

in the case referred to in Article 168, paragraph (6), when the person gives no answer, or makes a false statement, in response to questions by a prefectural tax collection official conducted in accordance with the rules of Article 141 of the National Tax Collection Act;

in the case referred to in Article 168, paragraph (6), when the person refuses, obstructs or evades the inspection by a prefectural tax collection official, conducted in accordance with the rules of Article 141 of the National Tax Collection Act, of books and documents (meaning the books and documents prescribed in that Article; the same applies in the following item) or other articles;

in the case referred to in Article 168, paragraph (6), when the person, without justifiable grounds, fails to comply with a request by a prefectural tax collection official, made in accordance with the rules of Article 141 of the National Tax Collection Act, for the presentation or submission of articles, or presents or submits books and documents or other articles (including copies thereof) containing false entries or records.

Where a representative of a corporation, or an agent, employee or other worker of a corporation or person, has committed a violation set forth in the preceding paragraph in connection with the business or property of that corporation or person, in addition to punishing the offender, the fine prescribed in that paragraph is to be imposed on that corporation or person.

In the case referred to in Article 168, paragraph (6), a person who makes a false statement to the prefectural governor on matters on which a statement is to be made in accordance with the rules of Article 99-2 of the National Tax Collection Act (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 109, paragraph (4) of that Act) is to be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months or a fine of not more than 500,000 yen.