Act on General Rules for National Taxes

When it is necessary for an examination concerning aviation fuel tax or tax for promotion of power-resources development, the relevant official of the National Tax Agency, etc. may, according to the category of examination listed in each of the following items, ask questions of the persons specified in that item, inspect their books and documents or other articles (in the case of an examination of a person listed in item (i), (b) or item (ii), (b), limited to books and documents or other articles relating to that person's business), or request the presentation or submission of those articles:

examination concerning aviation fuel tax: the following persons:

an aircraft owner, etc. (meaning an aircraft owner, etc. as prescribed in Article 14, paragraph (1) (Return of Tax Basis and Tax Amount) of the Aviation Fuel Tax Act (Act No. 7 of 1972); the same applies in the following paragraph);

a person found to be obliged to transfer aviation fuel (meaning aviation fuel as prescribed in Article 2, item (ii) (Definitions) of the Aviation Fuel Tax Act; the same applies in (b) and the following paragraph) to a person listed in (a) (including a person who stores, transports or loads aviation fuel on consignment from that person) or any other person found to have transactions with a person listed in (a) in connection with that person's own business;

examination concerning tax for promotion of power-resources development: the following persons:

a general electricity transmission and distribution business operator, etc. (meaning a general electricity transmission and distribution business operator, etc. as prescribed in Article 2, item (ii) (Definitions) of the Act on Tax for Promotion of Power-Resources Development (Act No. 79 of 1974); the same applies in the following paragraph);

a person found to have supplied electricity to a person listed in (a) or any other person found to have transactions with a person listed in (a) in connection with that person's own business.

Of the relevant officials of the National Tax Agency, etc. prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the relevant officials of a Regional Taxation Bureau or a tax office are to be limited, in an examination concerning aviation fuel tax, to the relevant officials of the Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office having jurisdiction over the place for tax payment of the aircraft owner, etc. (including, in an examination concerning aviation fuel tax of an aircraft owner, etc. that has a domicile, a residence, an office, a place of business, a storage site for aviation fuel or any other equivalent establishment within the jurisdictional district of a Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office other than the Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office having jurisdiction over the place for tax payment, the relevant officials of that Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office), and, in an examination concerning tax for promotion of power-resources development, to the relevant officials of the Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office having jurisdiction over the place for tax payment of the general electricity transmission and distribution business operator, etc. (including, in an examination concerning tax for promotion of power-resources development of a general electricity transmission and distribution business operator, etc. that has a business office, an office or any other place of business, or electric facilities prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (1), item (xviii) (Definitions) of the Electricity Business Act (Act No. 170 of 1964), within the jurisdictional district of a Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office other than the Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office having jurisdiction over the place for tax payment, the relevant officials of that Regional Taxation Bureau or tax office), respectively.

When it is necessary for an examination of national tax, the relevant official of the National Tax Agency, etc. or of customs may retain articles submitted in that examination.

The competent regional commissioner may request a business operator (including a corporation established under a special Act) or a public agency that becomes a counterparty to specified transactions or that provides a venue for specified transactions (hereinafter referred to as a "specified business operator, etc." in this Article) to report specified matters concerning specified transaction parties, with the scope of the specified transaction parties set, by a day determined within a period not exceeding 60 days by taking into consideration the number of days normally required for the preparation thereof.

The disposition under the provisions of the preceding paragraph may be made only when it is necessary for an examination concerning national tax and any of the following items applies:

where, in past examinations concerning national tax of persons who conduct transactions of the same type as the specified transactions conducted by the specified transaction parties, it has been found, with regard to more than half of the persons whose tax basis for a specified tax item, such as the amount of income pertaining to those transactions, exceeds 10 million yen, that a reassessment or determination, etc. (including a notice of tax payment under the provisions of Article 36, paragraph (1) (limited to the part pertaining to item (ii)) (Notice of Tax Payment)) should be made with regard to the tax basis, etc. or tax amount, etc. of that tax item pertaining to those transactions;

where it is presumed that the specified transaction parties will, by using the goods or services pertaining to the specified transactions they conduct, cause facts that violate the provisions of the national tax laws with regard to the tax basis, etc. or tax amount, etc. of a specified tax item; or

where, because the form of the specified transactions conducted by the specified transaction parties is an unreasonable one that would not normally be adopted from the viewpoint of economic necessity, it is presumed that the specified transaction parties will cause facts that violate the provisions of the national tax laws with regard to the tax basis, etc. or tax amount, etc. of a specified tax item pertaining to those specified transactions.

In this Article, the meanings of the terms listed in the following items are as prescribed respectively in those items:

competent regional commissioner: the regional commissioner having jurisdiction over the location of the domicile or residence of the specified business operator, etc.;

specified transaction: of transactions with a business operator, etc. (meaning a business operator (including a corporation established under a special Act) or a public agency; the same applies hereinafter in this item) conducted by using an electronic data processing system, transactions conducted by using a venue that a business operator, etc. provides by using an electronic data processing system, and other transactions, a transaction for which it is difficult to identify the persons conducting it without a disposition under the provisions of paragraph (1);

specified transaction party: a person who conducts specified transactions (excluding a specified business operator, etc., and, where the case listed in item (i) of the preceding paragraph applies, limited to a person who conducts the specified transactions referred to in that item exceeding the transaction amount that could give rise to a tax basis of 10 million yen for a specified tax item);

specified matters: the following matters:

name (or, for a corporation, its name);

domicile or residence;

identification number (meaning an individual number prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (5) (Definitions) of the Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures (Act No. 27 of 2013) (referred to as an "individual number" in Article 124 (Statement of Name, Address and Identification Number of Persons Submitting Documents)) or a corporate number prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (16) of that Act; the same applies hereinafter).

When the competent regional commissioner intends to make a disposition under the provisions of paragraph (1), the competent regional commissioner must obtain the approval of the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency in advance.

A disposition under the provisions of paragraph (1) is made by the competent regional commissioner notifying the specified business operator, etc. in writing of the scope of the specified transaction parties prescribed in that paragraph and the other matters for which a report is requested under the provisions of that paragraph, and of the day prescribed in that paragraph.

In making a disposition under the provisions of paragraph (1), the competent regional commissioner must give consideration to the administrative burden on the specified business operator, etc.

The authority of the relevant official or the regional commissioner under the provisions of Articles 74-2 through 74-7 (Right of Officials to Ask Questions and Conduct Inspections, etc.) or the preceding Article must not be construed as having been granted for the purpose of criminal investigation.

When a district director, etc. (meaning the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency, a regional commissioner or a district director, or the director-general of a customs house; the same applies hereinafter up to Article 74-11 (Procedures upon Completion of Examination)) has the relevant official of the National Tax Agency, etc. or of customs (hereinafter referred to as the "relevant official" up to that Article) conduct questioning, inspection or a request for presentation or submission under the provisions of Articles 74-2 through 74-6 (Right of Officials to Ask Questions and Conduct Inspections) (hereinafter referred to as "questioning, inspection, etc.") in an on-site examination of a person liable for tax (in the case of an examination conducted by the relevant official of customs, limited to one conducted after the receipt of the taxable items of consumption tax, etc. from a bonded area or one conducted with regard to international tourist tax; the same applies hereinafter up to that Article), the district director, etc. is to notify the person liable for tax (including, where the person liable for tax has a tax representative, that tax representative) in advance to that effect and of the following matters:

the date and time of commencement of the on-site examination involving questioning, inspection, etc. (hereinafter simply referred to as the "examination" in this Article);

the place where the examination is to be conducted;

the purpose of the examination;

the tax items subject to the examination;

the period subject to the examination;

the books and documents or other articles subject to the examination;

other matters specified by Cabinet Order as necessary for the proper and smooth conduct of the examination.

When the district director, etc. has been requested by a person liable for tax who has received a notice under the provisions of the preceding paragraph, with reasonable grounds given, to change the matters listed in item (i) or (ii) of that paragraph, the district director, etc. is to endeavor to consult on those matters.

In this Article, the meanings of the terms listed in the following items are as prescribed respectively in those items:

person liable for tax: a person listed in Article 74-2, paragraph (1), item (i), (a), item (ii), (a), item (iii), (a) and item (iv), (a), and Article 74-3, paragraph (1), item (i), (a) and item (ii), (a); a person who is to be subject to questioning, inspection, etc. by the relevant official pursuant to the provisions of Article 74-4, paragraph (1) and Article 74-5, item (i), (a) and (b), item (ii), (a) and (b), item (iii), (a) and (b), item (iv), (a) and (b), item (v), (a) and item (vi), (a); and a person listed in Article 74-6, paragraph (1), item (i), (a) and item (ii), (a);

tax representative: a certified public tax accountant or certified public tax accountant corporation that has submitted the document referred to in Article 30 (Clarification of Authority for Tax Representation) of the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act (including as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 48-16 (Application Mutatis Mutandis of Provisions on the Rights, Obligations, etc. of Certified Public Tax Accountants) of that Act), an attorney who has given notice under the provisions of Article 51, paragraph (1) (Attorneys, etc. Performing Certified Public Tax Accountant Services) of that Act, or a legal professional corporation or joint corporation of attorneys and registered foreign lawyers that has given notice under the provisions of paragraph (3) of that Article.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not preclude the relevant official from conducting questioning, inspection, etc. with regard to matters other than the matters listed in items (iii) through (vi) of that paragraph pertaining to the examination, in the case where, as a result of the examination, an error has come to be suspected with regard to those other matters. In this case, the provisions of that paragraph do not apply to questioning, inspection, etc. concerning those matters.

In the case where a person liable for tax has a tax representative, if the case falls under a case specified by Ministry of Finance Order as a case where the person liable for tax has given consent, it is sufficient for the notice under the provisions of paragraph (1) to the person liable for tax to be given to the tax representative.

In the case where a person liable for tax has two or more tax representatives, if the case falls under a case specified by Ministry of Finance Order as a case where the person liable for tax has designated a representative tax representative from among those tax representatives, it is sufficient for the notice under the provisions of paragraph (1) to those tax representatives to be given to the representative tax representative.