Local Tax Act

In addition to what is provided for in the preceding four Articles, special provisions on the threshold area under Article 595 in the case where there has been an abolition, establishment, division or merger of municipalities, or a boundary change, or a designation or change of a city planning area under Article 5 of the City Planning Act, particulars of the calculation of the amount of the special land holding tax under the preceding Article, and other matters necessary for the application of the provisions of the preceding four Articles are specified by Cabinet Order.

The special land holding tax must be collected by the method of filing and payment.

A person liable for the special land holding tax must, by the date specified in each of the following items according to the classification of the special land holding tax listed in that item, submit to the mayor of the municipality a return stating the tax base amount and tax amount of that special land holding tax and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and pay the tax amount so reported to that municipality.

The special land holding tax imposed on land with respect to a person who owns land of the threshold area or more on January 1: May 31 of that year

The special land holding tax imposed on the acquisition of land with respect to a person who acquired land of the threshold area or more within one year before January 1: the last day of February of that year

The special land holding tax imposed on the acquisition of land with respect to a person who acquired land of the threshold area or more within one year before July 1: August 31 of that year

The tax base amount under the preceding paragraph is as provided in each of the following items:

for the special land holding tax under item (i) of the preceding paragraph, the total acquisition cost of the land owned on January 1 by the person prescribed in that item (excluding land to which Article 586, paragraph (1) or (2), Article 587, paragraph (1), or the main clause of Article 587-2, paragraph (1) applies);

for the special land holding tax under item (ii) of the preceding paragraph, the total acquisition cost of the land acquired by the person prescribed in that item within the period prescribed in that item (excluding land for whose acquisition Article 586, paragraph (1) or (2) or Article 587, paragraph (2) applies, and land for which the special land holding tax imposed on the acquisition of land has already been filed and paid or should have been filed and paid; the same applies in the following item);

for the special land holding tax under item (iii) of the preceding paragraph, the total acquisition cost of the land acquired by the person prescribed in that item within the period prescribed in that item.

A person who is to submit a return under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article may, even after the deadline for filing that return, file and pay under that paragraph until notice of a determination under Article 606, paragraph (4) is given.

A person who has submitted a return or an amended return under paragraph (1) of the preceding Article, the preceding paragraph or this paragraph, or a person who has been subject to a reassessment or determination under Article 606, must, if there is a shortfall in the tax base amount or tax amount relating to that return or amended return or that reassessment or determination, without delay submit to the mayor of the municipality an amended return stating the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and pay to that municipality the tax amount increased by the amendment.

A municipality may establish a provision by Municipal Ordinance imposing a non-penal fine of not more than 100,000 yen on a person liable for the special land holding tax who, without justifiable grounds, fails to submit the return under Article 599, paragraph (1) by the deadline for filing the return prescribed in the items of that paragraph.

If a landowner, etc. intends to use, or to have another person use, land that the landowner, etc. owns as land to which Article 586, paragraph (2) applies (excluding land listed in items (xxiii), (xxv) and (xxv)-2 of that paragraph, land listed in item (xxviii) of that paragraph that falls under land listed in Article 348, paragraph (2), item (i) or items (vii) to (viii), and land listed in Article 586, paragraph (2), item (xxx) that is specified by the Municipal Ordinance of that municipality; hereinafter in this Article referred to as "tax-exempt land"), and within the period ending on the day on which two years elapse from a date determined by the mayor of the municipality on the basis of that mayor's finding of that fact (or, where the mayor of the municipality finds that the period required for constructing a factory, office or other building or structure, or for developing agricultural land or other land, ordinarily exceeds two years, or that there is some other unavoidable reason for extending that period, a reasonable period determined by the mayor on the application of the landowner, etc.; hereinafter in this Article referred to as the "period for exemption from tax liability") the land is used, or made available for use, as tax-exempt land and the mayor of the municipality confirms that those uses have begun, the municipality is to exempt the person from the tax liability relating to the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax on that land (limited to those relating to the period for exemption from tax liability; the same applies in paragraphs (3) and (7)).

If the mayor of the municipality finds that, due to a disaster or other unavoidable reason, the land cannot be used or made available for use as tax-exempt land within the period for exemption from tax liability (including, where the period for exemption from tax liability has been extended under this paragraph, that extended period; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), the mayor may extend the period for exemption from tax liability, for a reasonable period determined by the mayor on the application of the landowner, etc.

If the mayor of the municipality has made the finding under paragraph (1), the mayor is to defer the collection of the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax on that land for the period for exemption from tax liability. In this case, the mayor must, as provided by Cabinet Order, take security listed in the items of Article 16, paragraph (1) in an amount equivalent to the amount deferred, except where the mayor finds that the requirements specified by Cabinet Order are met and no security needs to be taken.

If the mayor of the municipality has extended under paragraph (2) the period for exemption from tax liability (including that extended period where the period for exemption from tax liability has been extended under that paragraph), the mayor is to extend the period of deferral of collection of the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax on that land for that extended period. In this case, the second sentence of the preceding paragraph applies mutatis mutandis.

If, in a case where collection has been deferred under the preceding two paragraphs, it becomes clear that paragraph (1) does not apply to the special land holding tax for which collection was deferred, or that there has been a change in part of the grounds for the deferral, the mayor of the municipality must cancel the deferral of collection for all or part of the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax for which collection was deferred. In this case, the person whose deferral of collection has been cancelled must immediately pay the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax concerned in the cancellation of the deferral of collection.

The provisions of Article 15-2-2, Article 15-2-3, paragraph (1) and Article 15-3, paragraph (3), and Article 16-2, paragraphs (1) to (3) apply mutatis mutandis to the deferral of collection under paragraphs (3) and (4), and the provisions of Article 11, Article 16, paragraph (3), Article 16-2, paragraph (4), and Article 16-5, paragraphs (1) and (2) apply mutatis mutandis to the security under the second sentence of paragraph (3) (including as applied mutatis mutandis under the second sentence of paragraph (4)).

If a municipality has collected the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax and paragraph (1) comes to apply to that special land holding tax, the municipality is to refund the local government levies relating to the special land holding tax on that land, on the application of the person liable for that special land holding tax.

When the mayor of the municipality refunds local government levies relating to the special land holding tax under the preceding paragraph, if there are unpaid local government levies of the person to receive the refund, the mayor must appropriate the amount to be refunded to those levies.

Where local government levies relating to the special land holding tax are refunded or appropriated under the preceding two paragraphs, the provisions of Article 17-4, paragraph (1) apply by deeming the day on which 10 days have elapsed, counting from the day on which the application for a refund under paragraph (7) was made, to be the day listed in the items of Article 17-4, paragraph (1).

Procedures for the finding and confirmation under paragraph (1) and other matters necessary for the application of the provisions of paragraphs (1) to (4) are specified by Cabinet Order.