Local Tax Act

The tax base for fixed assets tax imposed on land specified by Cabinet Order that is used as the site of a house used exclusively for people to reside in or of a house specified by Cabinet Order a part of which is used for people to reside in (excluding land subject to the application of the preceding Article (excluding paragraph (11)), and land used as the site of an inadequately managed vacant house, etc. prescribed in Article 13, paragraph (1) of the Act on Special Measures for the Promotion of Measures against Vacant Houses, etc. (Act No. 127 of 2014) for which a recommendation has been given to the owner or other such person (meaning the owner or other such person prescribed in Article 5 of that Act; hereinafter the same in this paragraph) under Article 13, paragraph (2) of that Act, and of a specified vacant house, etc. prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of that Act for which a recommendation has been given to the owner or other such person under Article 22, paragraph (2) of that Act; hereinafter in this Article, paragraph (1) of the following Article, Article 352-2, paragraphs (1) and (3) and Article 384 referred to as "residential land") is, notwithstanding Article 349 and paragraph (11) of the preceding Article, one-third of the price that is to be the tax base for fixed assets tax pertaining to that residential land.

The tax base for fixed assets tax imposed on those among residential land that fall under the residential land prescribed in the relevant item, according to the categories set forth in the following items (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "small-scale residential land") is, notwithstanding Article 349, Article 349-3, paragraph (11) and the preceding paragraph, one-sixth of the price that is to be the tax base for fixed assets tax pertaining to that small-scale residential land.

residential land of which the area is 200 square meters or less: that residential land;

residential land of which the area exceeds 200 square meters: where the area obtained by dividing the area of that residential land by the number of dwellings located on that residential land that are specified by Cabinet Order (hereinafter in this Article and Article 384, paragraph (1) referred to as the "number of dwellings") is 200 square meters or less, that residential land, and where the area obtained by that division exceeds 200 square meters, the residential land equivalent to the area obtained by multiplying 200 square meters by that number of dwellings.

Matters necessary for the application of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, including the determination of the number of dwellings prescribed in that paragraph, are specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Among land that was used as the site of a house lost or damaged by an earthquake, storm, flood, fire or other disaster (hereinafter in this Subsection referred to as "earthquake or other disaster") and that was subject to the application of the preceding Article for the fixed assets tax for the fiscal year for which January 1 of the year in which the date of occurrence of that earthquake or other disaster falls (hereinafter in this Subsection referred to as the "disaster year") (or, if that date is January 1, January 1 of the year preceding the year in which that date falls) is the assessment date (hereinafter in this Article and Article 352-2 referred to as the "disaster fiscal year") (hereinafter in this Article referred to as "disaster-stricken residential land"), with respect to the fixed assets tax for the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year or the fiscal year after that (where an evacuation instruction, etc. has been given and the year in which the evacuation lifting date falls is a year on or after the year following the disaster year, the fixed assets tax for each fiscal year from the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year to the fiscal year for which the day on which three years elapse counting from January 1 of the year in which the evacuation lifting date falls is the assessment date, and where a promotion area for reconstruction of a disaster-damaged urban district has been designated, the fixed assets tax for each fiscal year from the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year to the fiscal year for which the day on which four years elapse counting from January 1 of the disaster year is the assessment date; the same applies hereinafter in this Article and Article 352-2) imposed on, among that disaster-stricken residential land and as of the assessment date for the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year or the fiscal year after that (where, in the case where an instruction to evacuate under Article 60, paragraphs (1) and (6) of the Basic Act on Disaster Management (Act No. 223 of 1961), an instruction to evacuate under Article 61, paragraph (1) of that Act, or the designation of a restricted area under Article 63, paragraph (1) (including as applied mutatis mutandis in paragraph (3) of that Article) and paragraph (2) of that Act (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "evacuation instruction, etc.") has been given, the year in which the date of public notice under paragraphs (5) (including as applied mutatis mutandis in Article 61, paragraph (4) of that Act) and (6) of Article 60 of that Act, or the date on which the restricted area ceased to be a restricted area (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "evacuation lifting date"), falls is a year on or after the year following the disaster year, each fiscal year from the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year to the fiscal year for which the day on which three years elapse counting from January 1 of the year in which the evacuation lifting date falls is the assessment date, and where a promotion area for reconstruction of a disaster-damaged urban district prescribed in Article 5, paragraph (1) of the Act on Special Measures concerning Reconstruction of Urban Districts Damaged by Disaster (hereinafter in this paragraph referred to as "promotion area for reconstruction of a disaster-damaged urban district") has been designated (excluding the case where an evacuation instruction, etc. has been given and the year in which the evacuation lifting date falls is a year on or after the year following the disaster year; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), each fiscal year from the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year to the fiscal year for which the day on which four years elapse counting from January 1 of the disaster year is the assessment date; the same applies hereinafter in this Article), all or part of the land, other than land used as the site of a house or structure, that is owned by the owner of that disaster-stricken residential land as of the assessment date for the disaster fiscal year or another person specified by Cabinet Order (referred to in paragraph (3) and Article 384-2 as "owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land"), the provisions of this Act (excluding the items of paragraph (2) of the preceding Article and Article 384) are to apply, treating that land as residential land, only if the mayor of the municipality finds that the land cannot be used as residential land as of the assessment date for the fiscal year concerned. In this case, the phrase "those among residential land that fall under the residential land prescribed in the relevant item, according to the categories set forth in the following items" in paragraph (2) of the preceding Article is deemed to be replaced with "those specified by Cabinet Order among the land deemed to be residential land under paragraph (1) of the following Article".

If a person who owned the disaster-stricken residential land, or held a share of co-ownership in it, as of the assessment date for the disaster fiscal year or another person specified by Cabinet Order (hereinafter in this paragraph and Article 384-2 referred to as "co-owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land") owns all or part of that disaster-stricken residential land, or holds a share of co-ownership in all or part of it, as of the assessment date for the fiscal year following that disaster fiscal year or the fiscal year after that (excluding the case where the preceding paragraph applies), the provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to the fixed assets tax for each of those fiscal years imposed on land, other than land used as the site of a house or structure, of the whole or part of that disaster-stricken residential land specified by Cabinet Order that the co-owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land owns or holds a share of co-ownership in as of the assessment date for each of those fiscal years (referred to in paragraph (4) as "specified disaster-stricken residential land"). In this case, the phrase "paragraph (1) of the following Article" in that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "paragraph (1) of the following Article as applied mutatis mutandis in paragraph (2) of the following Article".

If all or part of the former land corresponding to provisional replotting land, etc. that has become usable or profitable on or after January 2 of the year in which the date of occurrence of an earthquake or other disaster falls (or, if that date is January 1, January 2 of the year preceding the year in which that date falls) (hereinafter in this Article, Article 352-2 and Article 384-2 referred to as "specified provisional replotting land, etc.") is disaster-stricken residential land, and, with respect to the fixed assets tax for the fiscal year following the disaster fiscal year or the fiscal year after that, the owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land who is registered or recorded as the owner in the register or the supplementary land tax ledger with respect to that disaster-stricken residential land has been deemed, under Article 343, paragraph (7), to be the owner prescribed in paragraph (1) of that Article pertaining to that specified provisional replotting land, etc., then, with respect to the fixed assets tax for each of those fiscal years imposed on that specified provisional replotting land, etc., paragraph (1) is to apply, treating, among that specified provisional replotting land, etc., the land among the former land that corresponds to the disaster-stricken residential land as disaster-stricken residential land. In this case, the phrase "all or part of the land, other than land used as the site of a house or structure, that is owned by the owner of that disaster-stricken residential land as of the assessment date for the disaster fiscal year or another person specified by Cabinet Order (referred to in paragraph (3) and Article 384-2 as "owner, etc. of disaster-stricken residential land")" in that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "the land other than land used as the site of a house or structure", and the phrase "paragraph (1) of the following Article" is deemed to be replaced with "paragraph (1) of the following Article as applied with terms replaced pursuant to paragraph (3) of the following Article".

If all or part of the former land corresponding to specified provisional replotting land, etc. is specified disaster-stricken residential land, and, with respect to the fixed assets tax for the fiscal year following the disaster fiscal year or the fiscal year after that, the person who is registered or recorded as the owner in the register or the supplementary land tax ledger with respect to that specified disaster-stricken residential land has been deemed, under Article 343, paragraph (7), to be the owner prescribed in paragraph (1) of that Article pertaining to that specified provisional replotting land, etc., the provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to the fixed assets tax for each of those fiscal years imposed on that specified provisional replotting land, etc. In this case, the phrase "the land among the former land that corresponds to the disaster-stricken residential land" in that paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "the land among the former land that corresponds to the specified disaster-stricken residential land", and the phrase "paragraph (3) of the following Article" with "paragraph (3) of the following Article as applied mutatis mutandis in paragraph (4) of the following Article".

If the owner of a depreciable asset that was lost or damaged by an earthquake or other disaster (including, where that depreciable asset is property in co-ownership, a person holding a share therein) or another person specified by Cabinet Order, within an area specified by Cabinet Order, during the period from the date on which that earthquake or other disaster occurred until the day on which four years elapse counting from March 31 of the year following the disaster year, acquires (including the acquisition of a share of co-ownership; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) a depreciable asset that the mayor of the municipality (for a depreciable asset subject to the application of Article 389, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications or the prefectural governor who determines the price, etc. of that depreciable asset) finds to replace the depreciable asset that was lost or damaged, or makes improvements to the damaged depreciable asset, the tax base for fixed assets tax imposed on the depreciable asset so acquired or improved (for a depreciable asset that has been improved, the part of that depreciable asset that has been improved; and where the depreciable asset that was lost or damaged or the depreciable asset that has been acquired or improved is property in co-ownership, the part of that depreciable asset specified by Cabinet Order as replacing the depreciable asset that was lost or damaged) is, notwithstanding Article 349-2, as provided by Cabinet Order, one-half of the price that is to be the tax base for fixed assets tax pertaining to that depreciable asset (for a depreciable asset subject to the application of Article 349-3, one-half of the amount that is made the tax base under that Article), only for the fixed assets tax for the four fiscal years from the fiscal year in which fixed assets tax is first imposed after the day on which that depreciable asset was acquired or improved.