Local Tax Act

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on the State, or on a prefecture, municipality, special ward, union of these, property ward or special merger district.

Fixed assets tax cannot be imposed on the following fixed assets; provided, however, that where a person who has borrowed fixed assets for consideration uses them as fixed assets listed below, it may be imposed on the owner of those fixed assets.

fixed assets that the State, a prefecture, municipality, special ward, union of these, or property ward provides for official use or public use;

fixed assets that are articles of historical significance to be passed down with the Imperial Throne as prescribed in Article 7 of the Imperial Household Finance Act;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the Japan Water Agency, a land improvement district, a federation of land improvement districts or a public land development corporation directly provides for its primary business;

tunnels specified by Cabinet Order that a railway operator prescribed in Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Railway Business Act or a rail track operator prescribed in Article 4 of the Act on Rail Tracks (Act No. 76 of 1921) directly provides for railway business or rail track operation in the urban area specified by Cabinet Order, or in the area specified by Cabinet Order among the area of an airport provided for public use specified by Cabinet Order and its surrounding area, within a city planning area designated pursuant to Article 5 of the City Planning Act (Act No. 100 of 1968);

level crossings and level crossing safety devices provided for railway business or rail track operation that are installed to prevent public danger;

among grade-separation facilities specified by Cabinet Order that were newly constructed to provide grade separation between an existing railway (excluding a dedicated railway prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (6) of the Railway Business Act) or an existing rail track and a road, grade-separation facilities newly constructed in connection with the extension of the runway of an airport provided for public use, or existing grade-separation facilities improved in connection with the reconstruction of a road and specified by Cabinet Order, track facilities, electric circuit facilities and other structures specified by Cabinet Order;

underpasses or road overpasses crossing railway tracks, specified by Cabinet Order, that a railway operator prescribed in Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Railway Business Act or a rail track operator prescribed in Article 4 of the Act on Rail Tracks provides for railway business or rail track operation within an urbanization promotion area designated pursuant to Article 7, paragraph (1) of the City Planning Act;

buildings within the precincts and land within the precincts prescribed in Article 3 of the Religious Corporations Act that a religious corporation uses exclusively for its principal purpose (including the corresponding buildings, structures and land of a religious corporation under the provisions of the former Religious Corporations Ordinance);

cemeteries;

roads, canal land and waterworks land provided for public use;

irrigation and drainage channels, irrigation ponds, embankments and ditches provided for public use;

land pertaining to protection forests (excluding land specified by Cabinet Order that is provided for use as a facility prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2), item (ii) of the Act on Special Measures concerning Improvement of Public Health Function of Forests);

among the special zones of a national park or quasi-national park prescribed in Article 20, paragraph (1) of the Natural Parks Act (Act No. 161 of 1957), land specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications within a special protection zone prescribed in Article 21, paragraph (1) of that Act or other area specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications;

houses, or the sites thereof, that have been designated as national treasures, important cultural properties, important tangible folk cultural properties, special historic sites, historic sites, special places of scenic beauty, places of scenic beauty, special natural monuments or natural monuments pursuant to the provisions of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties (Act No. 214 of 1950), or that have been certified pursuant to Article 2, paragraph (1) of the former Act on the Preservation of Important Works of Art, etc. (Act No. 43 of 1933);

houses specified by Cabinet Order within an important preservation district for groups of traditional buildings prescribed in Article 144, paragraph (1) of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties;

fixed assets that an incorporated educational institution or a corporation under Article 152, paragraph (5) of the Private Schools Act (hereinafter in this item referred to as an "incorporated educational institution, etc.") uses directly for child care or education at a school it establishes (excluding that falling under item (x)-4); fixed assets that an incorporated educational institution, etc. uses directly for that use at a dormitory it establishes that relates to a school under Article 1 of the School Education Act or a specialized training college under Article 124 of that Act; and fixed assets that an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation, a religious corporation, or a social welfare corporation uses directly for child care at a kindergarten it establishes (excluding that falling under item (x)-4), as well as fixed assets that an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation uses directly for a library it establishes and fixed assets that an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation, or a religious corporation, uses directly for a museum under Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Museum Act it establishes;

fixed assets that the establisher of a public medical institution under Article 31 of the Medical Care Act, a medical care corporation (limited to one specified by Cabinet Order), an incorporated public interest association and an incorporated public interest foundation, a general incorporated association (limited to one falling under non-profit corporation (meaning a non-profit corporation prescribed in Article 2, item (ix)-2 of the Corporation Tax Act; the same applies hereinafter in this item)) and a general incorporated foundation (limited to one falling under non-profit corporation), a social welfare corporation, a health insurance society and the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, and a National Public Servants Mutual Aid Association and the Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations use directly for education at a training school for nurses, assistant nurses, dental hygienists, or other medical personnel specified by Cabinet Order that it establishes;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that a social welfare corporation (including the Japanese Red Cross Society; the same applies from the following item through item (x)-7) uses as a protective facility prescribed in Article 38, paragraph (1) of the Public Assistance Act;

fixed assets that a social welfare corporation or another person specified by Cabinet Order uses for a small-scale childcare business prescribed in Article 6-3, paragraph (10) of the Child Welfare Act;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that a social welfare corporation or another person specified by Cabinet Order uses for a child welfare facility prescribed in Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Child Welfare Act (excluding that falling under the following item);

fixed assets that an incorporated educational institution, a social welfare corporation, or another person specified by Cabinet Order uses for a certified center for early childhood education and care prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (6) of the Act on Advancement of Comprehensive Service Related to Education, Child Care, etc. of Preschool Children;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that a social welfare corporation or another person specified by Cabinet Order uses for a welfare facility for the elderly prescribed in Article 5-3 of the Act on Social Welfare for the Elderly;

fixed assets that a social welfare corporation uses for a facility designed to support persons with disabilities prescribed in Article 5, paragraph (11) of the Act on Providing Comprehensive Support for the Daily Life and Life in Society of Persons with Disabilities;

in addition to the fixed assets listed in items (x) through the preceding item, fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that a social welfare corporation or another person specified by Cabinet Order uses for a social welfare service prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Social Welfare Act (excluding the business listed in paragraph (3), item (i)-2 of that Article);

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that an offenders rehabilitation corporation uses for the offender rehabilitation services prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Offender Rehabilitation Services Act;

fixed assets that a person who has been entrusted by a municipality, pursuant to Article 115-47, paragraph (1) of the Long-Term Care Insurance Act, with the comprehensive support business prescribed in Article 115-46, paragraph (1) of that Act uses for that business;

fixed assets that a person who has obtained approval, pursuant to Article 34-15, paragraph (2) of the Child Welfare Act, for the workplace-based childcare business prescribed in Article 6-3, paragraph (12) of that Act uses for that business (limited to one with a user capacity of six or more);

in addition to the fixed assets listed in items (ix)-2 through (x)-7, fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the Japanese Red Cross Society uses directly for its principal business;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency National Center for Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities, "Nozominosono" uses for the services prescribed in Article 11, item (i) or (ii) of the Act on the National Center for Persons with Severe Intellectual Disabilities, "Nozominosono," Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that associations and federations under the Agricultural Co-operatives Act, the Consumer Cooperatives Act and the Fishery Industry Cooperative Act use directly at hospitals and clinics that they own and operate, and fixed assets that agricultural mutual relief associations and federations of agricultural mutual relief associations use directly at livestock clinics that they own and operate;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that health insurance societies and the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, National Health Insurance Societies and the Federation of National Health Insurance Associations, National Public Servants Mutual Aid Associations and the Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations, and Local Public Servants Mutual Aid Associations (hereinafter in this item referred to as "health insurance societies, etc.") use directly at hospitals and clinics that they own and operate, and fixed assets that health insurance societies, etc. use directly at health facilities specified by Cabinet Order that they own and operate;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that a social medical care corporation prescribed in Article 42-2, paragraph (1) of the Medical Care Act uses directly for services relating to the emergency medical care, etc. securing business prescribed in item (iv) of that paragraph (limited to those conforming to the standards prescribed in item (v) of that paragraph);

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency National Agency for Automotive Safety & Victims' Aid uses for the services prescribed in Article 13, item (iii) of the Act on the National Agency for Automotive Safety & Victims' Aid, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation whose purpose is academic research uses directly for that research for that purpose;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan uses for the services prescribed in Article 23, paragraphs (1) through (4) of the Act on the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan (Act No. 48 of 1997);

fixed assets that a chamber of commerce and industry or the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry uses for the business prescribed in Article 9 or Article 65 of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry Act, and fixed assets that a commerce and industry association, a prefectural federation of commerce and industry associations or the National Federation of Commerce and Industry Associations uses for the business prescribed in Article 11 or Article 55-8, paragraph (1) or (2) of the Commerce and Industry Association Act, in either case as specified by Cabinet Order;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Japan Organization of Occupational Health and Safety uses for the services prescribed in Article 12, paragraph (1), item (i), (iii), (iv) or (vii) of the Act on the Japan Organization of Occupational Health and Safety, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Japan Arts Council uses for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), items (i) through (v) of the Act on the Japan Arts Council, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health uses for the services prescribed in Article 15, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Act on the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers uses for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), item (iv) or (vii) of the Act on the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers, Incorporated Administrative Agency, or Article 5, paragraph (3), item (iii) of the Supplementary Provisions of that Act;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN uses for the services prescribed in Article 15, paragraph (1), item (ii) of the Act on the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, Japan, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that fishery cooperative associations, fishery production associations and federations of fishery cooperative associations own and that are provided for use as storage facilities for fishing vessel fuel specified by Cabinet Order;

houses used directly for that purpose at a dormitory specified by Cabinet Order that an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation whose purpose is to assist students or pupils in their studies establishes for that purpose;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Japan International Cooperation Agency uses for the services prescribed in Article 13, paragraph (1), item (i), (a) or (b), item (iv), (a), (b) or (d), or item (v), (a) of the Act on the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan uses for the services prescribed in Article 10, items (i) through (viii) of the Act on National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the Japan Sewerage Works Agency uses for the services prescribed in Article 26, paragraph (1), item (vii) or (viii) of the Act on the Japan Sewerage Works Agency;

land that the Urban Renaissance Agency has acquired as land to be provided for use as facilities relating to works prescribed in the items of Article 18, paragraph (1) of the Act on the Urban Renaissance Agency, Independent Administrative Agency (limited to those relating to the public notice under paragraph (4) of that Article (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 22, paragraph (2) of the Act on Special Measures concerning Reconstruction of Urban Districts Damaged by Disaster and Article 101-15, paragraph (1) of the Act on Special Measures concerning Promotion of Supply of Houses and Housing Lands in Urban Districts));

fixed assets that the incorporated administrative agency Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency owns for use in the services under Article 13, paragraph (1), items (ii) and (iii) of the Act on Treatment of Debt, etc. of JNR Settlement Corporation (Act No. 136 of 1998), and fixed assets that it is leasing pursuant to Article 25 of that Act, in either case as specified by Cabinet Order;

vehicles specified by Cabinet Order that are used exclusively for the Imperial Household and owned by a passenger railway company prescribed in Article 1, paragraph (1) of the Act on Passenger Railway Companies and Japan Freight Railway Company (Act No. 88 of 1986), a new company prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Act on Passenger Railway Companies and Japan Freight Railway Company (Act No. 61 of 2001; referred to as the "2001 Passenger Railway Companies Act Amendment Act" in Article 349-3, paragraph (18)), or a new company prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Act on Passenger Railway Companies and Japan Freight Railway Company (Act No. 36 of 2015) (referred to as "passenger railway company, etc." in paragraph (5));

fixed assets that the National Research and Development Agency National Agriculture and Food Research Organization uses for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Act on the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, National Research and Development Agency (hereinafter in this item and Article 349-3, paragraph (21) referred to as the "Act on the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, National Research and Development Agency") (excluding those falling under the services prescribed in Article 16, paragraph (1), items (i) and (iii) through (v) of the Act on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization prior to its repeal under the provisions of Article 1 of the Act on the Abolition, etc. of the Act on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization (hereinafter in this item and Article 349-3, paragraph (21) referred to as the "former Act on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization")) or for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), items (ii) through (iv) or paragraphs (2) through (4) of the Act on the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, National Research and Development Agency, and fixed assets that it uses directly for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Act on the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, National Research and Development Agency (limited to those falling under the services prescribed in Article 16, paragraph (1), item (i) of the former Act on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization) (limited to those succeeded to pursuant to Article 4, paragraph (1) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Act Partially Amending the Act on the National Agricultural Research Organization, Independent Administrative Agency (Act No. 129 of 2002) and directly used for the services prescribed in Article 16, paragraph (1), item (i) of the former Act on Promotion of Agricultural Mechanization), in either case as specified by Cabinet Order;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency uses for the services prescribed in Article 12, paragraph (1), items (i) through (v) of the Act on the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, National Research and Development Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency uses for the services prescribed in Article 18, item (i) or (ii) of the Act on the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, National Research and Development Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency National Institute of Information and Communications Technology uses for the services prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1), items (i) through (viii) of the Act on the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, National Research and Development Agency;

houses specified by Cabinet Order that the incorporated administrative agency Japan Student Services Organization uses for the services prescribed in Article 13, paragraph (1), item (iii) of the Act on the Japan Student Services Organization, Independent Administrative Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the Japan Legal Support Center uses for the services prescribed in Article 30, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Comprehensive Legal Support Act;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition uses for the services prescribed in Article 15, paragraph (1), item (i), (a) or items (iv) through (vi), or paragraph (2) of the Act on the National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, National Research and Development Agency;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency Forest Research and Management Organization uses for the services prescribed in Article 13, paragraph (1), items (i) through (iii) or paragraph (2), item (i) of the Act on the National Research and Development Agency, Forest Research and Management Organization;

fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order that the National Research and Development Agency National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology uses for the services prescribed in Article 16, paragraph (1), items (ii) through (vii) of the Act on the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, National Research and Development Agency (Act No. 176 of 1999);

spillway gates for dams and pipes for water release (including facilities and structures that, integrally with these installations, fulfill their function) that are specified by Cabinet Order as contributing to flood control (limited to the portions specified by Cabinet Order).

In the case where fixed assets listed in the items of the preceding paragraph are used for a purpose other than the purpose listed in the relevant item, a municipality is to impose fixed assets tax on those fixed assets, notwithstanding the preceding paragraph.

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on offices and warehouses that are owned and used by associations under the Forestry Cooperative Act, the Agricultural Insurance Act, the Consumer Cooperatives Act, the Fishery Industry Cooperative Act, the Act on Compensation of Fishery Disaster (Act No. 158 of 1964), the Export and Import Transaction Act (Act No. 299 of 1952), the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Cooperatives Act (Act No. 181 of 1949), the Act on the Organization of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Association (Act No. 185 of 1957), the Act on Securing of Liquor Tax and on Liquor Business Associations (Act No. 7 of 1953), the Shopping District Promotion Association Act (Act No. 141 of 1962) and the Act on Coordination and Improvement of Environmental Health Industry (Act No. 164 of 1957) (excluding credit cooperatives and enterprise associations, and including small-scale environmental health industry associations), federations under those Acts (excluding federations of credit cooperatives (meaning federations of cooperatives that conduct the business prescribed in Article 9-9, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Cooperatives Act; the same applies in Article 349-3, paragraph (23))) and central associations, by the Japan Health Insurance Association, health insurance societies and the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, National Health Insurance Societies and the Federation of National Health Insurance Associations, National Public Servants Mutual Aid Associations and the Federation of National Public Service Personnel Mutual Aid Associations, Local Public Servants Mutual Aid Associations, the National Federation of Mutual Aid Associations for Municipal Personnel and the Pension Fund Association for Local Government Officials, corporate pension funds and the Pension Fund Association prescribed in the Defined-Benefit Corporate Pension Act, national pension funds and the National Pension Fund Association, labor unions that are corporations, officials organizations, etc. that are corporations under the Act on Granting of Juridical Personality to Officials Organizations, etc., fishing vessel insurance associations, tobacco cultivation associations, export fishery industry associations, federations of land improvement project organizations, agricultural cooperatives and federations of agricultural cooperatives, and federations of workers' cooperatives.

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on those specified by Cabinet Order, among the fixed assets listed in paragraph (2), item (ii)-5, among the fixed assets that a passenger railway company, etc. borrows pursuant to Article 13, paragraph (1), item (iii) or (vi) of the Act on the Japan Railway Construction, Transport and Technology Agency, Independent Administrative Agency (Act No. 180 of 2002).

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on fixed assets owned by a tax-exempt incorporated administrative agency (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the tax-exempt incorporated administrative agency that owns them and other fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order), fixed assets owned by a national university corporation, etc. (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the national university corporation, etc. that owns them), fixed assets owned by the Japan Pension Service (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the Japan Pension Service), fixed assets owned by the Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the Fukushima Institute for Research, Education and Innovation), and fixed assets owned by the Japan Institute for Health Security (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the Japan Institute for Health Security).

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on land specified by Cabinet Order that a tax-exempt incorporated administrative agency specified by Cabinet Order has borrowed free of charge from an incorporated public interest association or incorporated public interest foundation and uses directly for its primary business.

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on fixed assets owned by a local incorporated administrative agency (excluding a public university corporation; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the local incorporated administrative agency that owns them and other fixed assets specified by Cabinet Order) and fixed assets owned by a public university corporation (excluding fixed assets used by a person other than the public university corporation that owns them).

A municipality may not impose fixed assets tax on fixed assets provided for use as the following facilities owned by the government of a foreign state; provided, however, that this does not apply to fixed assets provided for use as the facilities listed in item (iii) where the foreign state imposes, in that foreign state, a tax equivalent to fixed assets tax on fixed assets of Japan provided for use as the facilities listed in that item.

embassies, legations or consulates;

Facilities used exclusively for the residence of the head of an embassy, legation or consulate, or of staff of an embassy or legation

Facilities used exclusively for the residence of staff of a consulate

If there are any fixed assets that received the application of the main clause of paragraph (2) or paragraph (4) through the preceding paragraph with respect to fixed assets tax for the previous fiscal year of the relevant fiscal year and on which fixed assets tax is to be newly imposed in the relevant fiscal year, the mayor of the municipality must endeavor to notify the person liable for tax of the fixed assets tax imposed on those fixed assets to that effect without delay after the registration of the prices, etc. of fixed assets under Article 411, paragraph (1).