Article 159Preservative Seizure

①If a person found to have a tax liability has been subjected to seizure, seizure with a recording order, or retention under the provisions of Chapter XI (Investigation and Disposition of Criminal Tax Cases) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes, or to seizure under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Act No. 131 of 1948) (including an order to provide electronic or magnetic records under the provisions of that Act (limited to an order requiring provision by the method listed in Article 102-2, paragraph (1), item (i), (a) (Order to Provide Electronic or Magnetic Records) of that Act)), an order to provide electronic or magnetic records (limited to an order requiring provision by the method listed in (b) of that item), or arrest, on suspicion of having unlawfully evaded national tax or unlawfully received a refund of national tax, and it is found that collection of the national tax cannot be secured after the determination of the amount of the national tax to be paid in relation to the disposition (meaning determination by filing of a return, correction, or decision, and including notice of tax payment for national withholding tax as provided for in Article 2, item (ii) (Definitions) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes; the same applies hereinafter in this Article), the district director may, before the determination of the amount of that national tax to be paid, decide the amount, out of the amount of national tax expected to be determined, for which the district director finds it necessary to execute the delinquent tax collection procedure in advance in order to secure its collection (hereinafter referred to in this Article as the "amount for preservative seizure"). In this case, a collection official may immediately seize the property of that person, up to that amount.

②When the district director intends to make the decision under the preceding paragraph, the district director must obtain in advance the approval of the regional commissioner under whom the district director serves.

③When deciding the amount for preservative seizure pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), the district director must notify the person found to have the tax liability prescribed in that paragraph of that amount for preservative seizure in writing.

④If, after the notice under the preceding paragraph has been given, the person found to have the tax liability provides, as security equivalent to the amount for preservative seizure to which the notice relates, any of the things listed in the items of Article 50 (Types of Security) of the Act on General Rules for National Taxes and requests that the seizure not be made, the collection official may not make that seizure.

⑤A collection official must release the seizure under the provisions of paragraph (1) when item (i) or item (ii) applies, and must release the security prescribed in item (iii) when that item applies:

⑥A collection official may release the seizure or the security if, in relation to a person subjected to the seizure under the provisions of paragraph (1) or a person who has provided the security under paragraph (4) or item (i) of the preceding paragraph, it comes to be found, owing to a change in that person's financial resources or other circumstances, that the seizure or the taking of security is no longer necessary.

⑦If a seizure under the provisions of paragraph (1) has been made or security under paragraph (4) or paragraph (5), item (i) has been provided, and the amount of the national tax to be paid in relation to that seizure or provision of security is then determined, that seizure or provision of security is deemed to have been made for the purpose of collecting that national tax.

⑧Property seized pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) may not be realized until after the amount of the national tax to be paid in relation to the seizure has been determined.

⑨In the case referred to in paragraph (1), if it is found that the property to be seized is insufficient, the district director may make a request for share distribution in lieu of seizure. In this case, it must be made clear that the request is a request for share distribution.

⑩If there is money seized pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) (including money received from a third-party debtor, etc. through the seizure of securities, claims, or incorporeal property, etc.) and the amount of the national tax to be paid in relation to the seizure has not been determined, the district director must deposit it.

⑪If the amount determined as the amount of the national tax to be paid, as referred to in paragraph (1), is less than the amount for preservative seizure and the person subjected to the seizure has suffered damage by the seizure, the State is liable to compensate for that damage. In this case, the amount is the amount of loss that would ordinarily arise from the seizure.