Local Tax Act

When a registry office has made a registration concerning the description of land or a building, it must, within 10 days, notify the mayor of the municipality in which that land or house is located of that fact and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to the following cases.

where a registration of ownership, pledge or superficies right with a specified duration of more than 100 years, or the cancellation of such a registration, a registration of change or registration of correction concerning the name or designation or address of the nominal holder of registration of those rights, or a registration of change of a superficies right changing a duration of more than 100 years to a duration of less than 100 years has been made (excluding the case where a registration of preservation of ownership has been made for the owner recorded in the title section of the register, or where that registration has been cancelled);

where an annotation has been made under Article 76-3, paragraph (3) of the Real Property Registration Act;

where a code has been indicated under Article 76-4 of the Real Property Registration Act;

where a request under Article 119, paragraph (6) of the Real Property Registration Act has been received from the owner recorded in the title section of the register, or the nominal holder of registration of ownership, pledge or superficies right with a specified duration of more than 100 years, or another person specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications;

in addition to those listed in the preceding items, cases specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

When the mayor of the municipality has received a notice from the registry office under paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis in the preceding paragraph (limited to the part pertaining to item (i))), the mayor must without delay enter changes concerning that land or house in the land tax ledger or house tax ledger (or, where the maintenance of that land tax ledger or house tax ledger is carried out by maintaining an electronic or magnetic record under Article 380, paragraph (2), record them; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), or correct the matters entered therein.

In response to a request from a person liable for tax or any other person specified by Cabinet Order, the mayor of the municipality must make available for inspection by those persons the portion of the fixed assets tax ledger in which matters concerning the fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order as relating to those persons (excluding matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications; hereinafter the same in this paragraph) are entered (where the fixed assets tax ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under Article 380, paragraph (2), recorded; hereinafter the same in this Article, the following Article and Article 394) or a copy of that portion (where the fixed assets tax ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under that paragraph, a document stating the matters recorded in the fixed assets tax ledger; the same in Article 387, paragraph (3)). However, where it is found that disclosure of the address entered in that portion could endanger a person's life or body, or where it is otherwise found inappropriate to make that portion or a copy of it available for inspection, the mayor may make available for inspection that portion with measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications applied to it, or a copy of it (where the fixed assets tax ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under Article 380, paragraph (2), a document stating the matters recorded in the portion with the measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications applied to it).

When the mayor of the municipality makes the fixed assets tax ledger (including one to which the measures under the proviso to paragraph (1) of this Article have been applied; hereinafter the same in this paragraph and Article 382-4) or a copy of it available for inspection under the preceding paragraph, the mayor may display the matters entered in the fixed assets tax ledger on a screen for inspection.

In addition to what is provided for in Article 20-10, when requested by a person specified by Cabinet Order, the mayor of the municipality must issue a certificate of those matters, specified by Cabinet Order, among the matters entered in the fixed assets tax ledger concerning the fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order as relating to those persons. However, where it is found that disclosure of the address stated in the certificate could endanger a person's life or body, or where it is otherwise found inappropriate to issue the certificate, the mayor may issue the certificate with measures specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications applied to it.

When the mayor of the municipality makes the fixed assets tax ledger or a copy of it available for inspection under Article 382-2, makes an owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger, or a copy of either, available for inspection under Article 387, paragraph (3) or (4), or issues a certificate (including one to which the measures under the proviso to the preceding Article have been applied) under Article 20-10 or the preceding Article, and the address entered (where the fixed assets tax ledger, owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under Article 380, paragraph (2) or Article 387, paragraph (2), recorded; hereinafter the same in this Article) in the fixed assets tax ledger, owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger concerned in that inspection or issuance is the address (limited to one specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) of a person to whom a notice under Article 382, paragraph (1) as applied mutatis mutandis in Article 382, paragraph (2) (limited to the part relating to item (iv)) relates (limited to cases specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), the mayor must, notwithstanding Article 20-10, Article 382-2, the preceding Article and Article 387, paragraphs (3) and (4), and as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, make available for inspection the fixed assets tax ledger, owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger in which the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications have been entered in place of that address, or a copy of it (where the fixed assets tax ledger, owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under Article 380, paragraph (2) or Article 387, paragraph (2), a document stating the matters recorded in the ledger in which the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications have been recorded), or issue the certificate stating the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in place of that address.

The owner of a depreciable asset on which there is fixed assets tax liability (excluding the owner of a depreciable asset to be valued by the prefectural governor or the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications under Article 389, paragraph (1), or of a depreciable asset designated by the prefectural governor under Article 742, paragraph (1) or (3)) must, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, report to the mayor of the municipality in which the depreciable asset is located, by January 31, the location, type, quantity, time of acquisition, acquisition cost, useful life, estimated price and other matters necessary for registration in the depreciable assets tax ledger and for determining the price of the depreciable asset, with respect to the depreciable asset as of January 1 of each year.

The mayor of the municipality may, as provided by Municipal Ordinance of the municipality, have the owner of residential land report, with respect to the residential land as of the assessment date for the relevant fiscal year, its location and area, the floor area and use of the houses on it, the number of dwellings on it and other matters necessary for the assessment and collection of fixed assets tax. However, this does not apply if the owner of the residential land on the assessment date for the previous fiscal year of the relevant fiscal year continues to own the residential land and there is no change in the matters to be reported.

If there has been a change from residential land to land other than residential land on the assessment date for the relevant fiscal year, and the owner of the land has continued to own the land since the assessment date for the previous fiscal year of the relevant fiscal year, the mayor of the municipality may, as provided by Municipal Ordinance of the municipality, have the owner of the land report to that effect.

The mayor of the municipality may, as provided by Municipal Ordinance of the municipality, have the following persons report to that effect: an owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land who intends to receive the application of Article 349-3-3, paragraph (1); a co-owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land who intends to receive the application of Article 349-3-3, paragraph (1) as applied mutatis mutandis in Article 349-3-3, paragraph (2); an owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land who is the owner of the former land corresponding to specified provisional replotting land, etc. and who intends to receive the application of Article 349-3-3, paragraph (1) as applied with replacement of terms under Article 349-3-3, paragraph (3); or a co-owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land who is the owner or co-owner of the former land corresponding to specified provisional replotting land, etc. and who intends to receive the application of Article 349-3-3, paragraph (1) as applied with replacement of terms under Article 349-3-3, paragraph (3) as applied mutatis mutandis in Article 349-3-3, paragraph (4).

The mayor of the municipality may, as provided by Municipal Ordinance of the municipality, have a person who owns land or a house in the municipality where an individual registered or recorded as the owner in the register or the supplementary land tax ledger or supplementary house tax ledger is deceased (hereinafter in this Article and Article 386 referred to as "current owner") report, by a date on or after the day on which three months have elapsed from the day following the day on which the person learned that the person is the current owner, the current owner's address and name or title and other matters necessary for the assessment and collection of fixed assets tax.

If a person makes a false report on matters that must be reported under the provisions of Article 383 through the preceding Article, 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.

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.

A municipality may establish a provision in a Municipal Ordinance of the municipality to impose a non-penal fine of not more than 100,000 yen on the owner of fixed assets (in the cases of Article 343, paragraphs (9) and (10), a person deemed to be the owner under those provisions; the same applies in Article 393 and Article 394) who, without justifiable grounds, has failed to report matters that must be reported under the provisions of Article 383 or Article 384, or on a current owner who, without justifiable grounds, has failed to report matters that must be reported under the provisions of Article 384-3.

A municipality must keep, for the land and houses in the municipality, an owner-indexed land ledger and an owner-indexed house ledger, based on the fixed assets tax ledger and as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

A municipality may, as provided by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, keep the owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger referred to in the preceding paragraph by keeping electronic or magnetic records.

When a person liable for tax makes a request under Article 382-2, paragraph (1), the mayor of the municipality may, only where the same matters as those registered in the fixed assets tax ledger are entered in the owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger (where the owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under the preceding paragraph, recorded; the same in the following paragraph), make available for inspection by the person liable for tax, in place of the fixed assets tax ledger or a copy of it that is to be made available for inspection by the person liable for tax under paragraph (1) of that Article, the owner-indexed land ledger or a copy of it (where the owner-indexed land ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under the preceding paragraph, a document stating the matters recorded in the owner-indexed land ledger; the same in the following paragraph) or the owner-indexed house ledger or a copy of it (where the owner-indexed house ledger is kept by keeping electronic or magnetic records under the preceding paragraph, a document stating the matters recorded in the owner-indexed house ledger; the same in the following paragraph).

When the mayor of the municipality makes the owner-indexed land ledger or a copy of it, or the owner-indexed house ledger or a copy of it, available for inspection under the preceding paragraph, the mayor may display the matters entered in the owner-indexed land ledger or owner-indexed house ledger on a screen for inspection.