National Tax Collection Act

A person who intends to make a bid, etc. for public auction property (hereinafter referred to as a "bidder, etc.") must provide a public auction deposit, in an amount determined by the district director at 10 percent or more of the estimated value of the public auction property, by any of the methods set out in the following items. However, the district director may decide that a public auction deposit is not required where the estimated value of the public auction property is the amount specified by Cabinet Order or less, or where the purchase price is to be paid on the day of the decision to sell.

A method of payment in cash (including, among checks that can be used for payment of national tax, a check drawn by a bank and a check for which payment is guaranteed; the same applies in the following item, paragraph (4) and Article 115, paragraph (3) (Payment Deadline for the Purchase Price, etc.));

A method of submitting to the district director a document certifying that a contract (limited to one that satisfies the requirements specified by Ministry of Finance Order) has been concluded between the bidder, etc. and a guaranteeing bank, etc. (meaning a bank or other person that the district director finds appropriate; the same applies hereinafter in this item and paragraph (4)) to the effect that the guaranteeing bank, etc. will, upon the demand of the district director, pay cash equivalent to the public auction deposit for the bidder, etc.

Except where the proviso to the preceding paragraph applies, a bidder, etc. may not make a bid, etc. unless the bidder, etc. has provided a public auction deposit.

If there is a public auction deposit provided by the method set out in paragraph (1), item (i), the purchaser of the public auction property may apply that public auction deposit to the purchase price. However, if the decision to sell is revoked under Article 115, paragraph (4), the district director must apply that public auction deposit to the national tax relating to the public auction and, if there is still a remainder, deliver it to the delinquent taxpayer.

Where the district director has made a disposition under Article 115, paragraph (4) against a bidder, etc. who provided a public auction deposit by the method set out in paragraph (1), item (ii), the district director is to cause the guaranteeing bank, etc. for that bidder, etc. to pay cash equivalent to that public auction deposit. In this case, the cash paid by that guaranteeing bank, etc. is deemed to be a public auction deposit provided by the person subject to that disposition by the method set out in paragraph (1), item (i), and the proviso to the preceding paragraph applies.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis to cases where the district director has made a disposition under Article 108, paragraph (2) (Measures to Ensure Proper Conduct of Public Auctions). In this case, the phrase "Article 115, paragraph (4)" in the preceding paragraph is deemed to be replaced with "Article 108, paragraph (2) (Measures to Ensure Proper Conduct of Public Auctions)", and the phrase "the proviso to the preceding paragraph" is deemed to be replaced with "paragraph (3) of that Article".

In the cases set out in the following items, the district director must, without delay, return the public auction deposit prescribed in each item to the person who provided it.

Where the highest bidder and the next highest bidder (hereinafter referred to as the "highest bidder, etc.") have been determined under Articles 104 through 105 (Determination of Highest Bidder, etc.) and there is a public auction deposit provided by another bidder, etc.;

Where the highest bidder could not be determined because none of the prices of the bids, etc. reached the estimated value or for any other reason, and there is a public auction deposit provided by a bidder, etc.;

Where the highest bidder, etc. or the purchaser has cancelled their bid, etc. or purchase under Article 114 and there is a public auction deposit provided by that person;

Where the highest bidder has paid the purchase price under Article 115, paragraph (3) and there is a public auction deposit provided by the highest bidder other than one applied to the purchase price under the main clause of paragraph (3), or a public auction deposit provided by the next highest bidder;

Where the decision to sell has been revoked under Article 117 (Revocation of Decision to Sell upon Full Payment of National Tax, etc.) and there is a public auction deposit provided by the purchaser.

A person who intends to make a bid must seal a bid document stating their address or residence, name (in the case of a corporation, its name; the same applies hereinafter), the name of the public auction property, the bid price and other necessary particulars, and submit it to a collection official. In this case, where a bid is made using the electronic data processing system prescribed in Article 6, paragraph (1) (Applications Using Electronic Data Processing Systems) of the Act on the Advancement of Government Administration Processes That Utilize Information and Communications Technology (Act No. 151 of 2002) pursuant to that paragraph, a measure specified by Ministry of Finance Order that corresponds to sealing the bid document is to be substituted for that sealing.

A bidder may not exchange, change or cancel the bid document that the bidder submitted.

When opening bids, the collection official must have the bidders attend the opening. However, if the bidders do not attend, the collection official must have another official belonging to the tax office attend the opening.

Where the district director sells seized property, etc. at public auction by the method of bidding, if there is no bidder or the bid price does not reach the estimated value, the district director may immediately hold a re-bidding. In this case, the estimated value may not be changed.

When selling seized property, etc. at public auction by the method of auction by competitive bidding, the collection official must designate the property and call for offers to purchase it.

The collection official may select an auctioneer and have the auctioneer handle the auction by competitive bidding of seized property, etc.

The provisions of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the auction by competitive bidding of seized property, etc.

The collection official must determine, from among the bidders, etc. whose bids are at the estimated value or more, the bidder, etc. whose bid is at the highest price as the highest bidder.

In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if there are two or more bidders, etc. at the highest price, the highest bidder is determined by having them make further bids, etc., and if the prices of those bids, etc. are still the same, by lot.

Where the collection official has sold at public auction by the method of bidding real property, ships, aircraft, motor vehicles, construction machinery, small vessels, claims, or incorporeal property, etc. other than telephone subscription rights (hereinafter referred to as "real property, etc."), if a bidder whose bid is at the next highest price after the bid price of the highest bidder (hereinafter in this Article referred to as the "highest bid price") (limited to a price that is the estimated value or more and is the amount obtained by deducting the amount of the public auction deposit from the highest bid price or more; the same applies in paragraph (3)) (or, where the highest bidder was determined by lot under paragraph (2) of the preceding Article, the bidder at the highest price other than that highest bidder; the same applies in paragraph (3)) offers to purchase as the next in order, the collection official must determine that person as the next highest bidder.

The offer to purchase as the next in order under the preceding paragraph must be made immediately after the determination of the highest bidder.

In the case referred to in paragraph (1), if there are two or more bidders whose bids are at the next highest price after the highest bid price, the next highest bidder is determined by lot.

When selling at public auction by the method of bidding a large quantity of property of the same type and price at one time, if the district director finds it necessary, the district director may adopt a method (hereinafter referred to as the "multiple successful bid system") of having the persons who intend to bid make bids stating the quantity and unit price they desire within the quantity of that property, and of making highest bidders of the bidders, among those whose unit price is the estimated value or more, in descending order of bid price until the quantity of that property is reached. In this case, if there are two or more bidders in the last rank who are to become highest bidders, the one with the larger bid quantity is the prior-ranked bidder, and if the bid quantities are the same, the prior-ranked bidder is determined by lot.

In the case of the multiple successful bid system, if the bid quantity of the last-ranked bidder among the highest bidders, together with the bid quantities of the other highest bidders, exceeds the quantity of the public auction property, the excess bid quantity is to be treated as not having been bid.

Where the district director has made a decision to sell to highest bidders under the multiple successful bid system, if any of the purchasers does not pay the purchase price by its payment deadline, then only where the decision to sell is made following the opening of bids and payment of the price is made immediately, the district director may, within the quantity for which the decision to sell was made to that person, first treat bids as having been made for the bid quantity treated as not bid under the preceding paragraph (excluding the bid quantity treated as not bid under that paragraph of a purchaser who did not pay the purchase price), and next determine as highest bidders those who did not become highest bidders under the second sentence of paragraph (1). In this case, the second sentence of that paragraph and the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis.

When the collection official has determined the highest bidder, etc., the collection official must immediately announce their name and price (in the case of the multiple successful bid system, quantity and unit price; the same applies in the following paragraph) and then announce the close of the bidding or the auction by competitive bidding.

In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the property sold at public auction is real property, etc., the district director must notify the name of the highest bidder, etc., their price, and the date, time and place at which the decision to sell is to be made, to the delinquent taxpayer and those, among the persons listed in the items of Article 96, paragraph (1) (Notice of Public Auction) (hereinafter referred to as "interested persons"), who are known, and also give public notice of these matters.

The provisions of Article 95, paragraph (2) (Method of Public Auction Notice) apply mutatis mutandis to the public notice under the preceding paragraph.

The district director must commission the prefectural police having jurisdiction over the location of the tax office to conduct the necessary investigation as to whether the highest bidder, etc. for the real property for public auction (if that person is a corporation, its officer; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) falls under organized crime group member, etc. However, this does not apply in cases specified by Ministry of Finance Order as those where there are circumstances in which the highest bidder, etc. for the real property for public auction should be found not to fall under organized crime group member, etc.

If the district director finds that there is a person who has had the highest bidder, etc. make a bid, etc. for the real property for public auction on that person's own account, the district director must commission the prefectural police having jurisdiction over the location of the tax office to conduct the necessary investigation as to whether the person who had the bid, etc. made for the real property for public auction (if that person is a corporation, its officer; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) falls under organized crime group member, etc. However, this does not apply in cases specified by Ministry of Finance Order as those where there are circumstances in which the person who had the bid, etc. made for the real property for public auction should be found not to fall under organized crime group member, etc.

The district director is to put property up for public auction again where, even though it was put up for public auction, there is no bidder, etc., where the price of the bids, etc. does not reach the estimated value, or where, in a case in which no next highest bidder has been determined, the decision to sell has been revoked under paragraph (2) or (5) of the following Article or Article 115, paragraph (4) (Payment Deadline for the Purchase Price, etc.).

When putting property up for public auction under the preceding paragraph, if the district director finds it necessary, the district director may change the estimated value of the public auction property, shorten the period under the main clause of Article 95, paragraph (1) (Public Auction Notice), and make other changes to the conditions of the public auction.

The provisions of Article 96 (Notice of Public Auction) do not apply where the public auction under paragraph (1) is held within 10 days from the immediately preceding public auction date.

In the application of Article 99, paragraph (1), item (i) (Public Notice of the Estimated Value, Etc.) to a case of putting property up for public auction under paragraph (1), the phrase "the day three days before the day of the public auction" in that item is deemed to be replaced with "the day before the day of the public auction".