Act on General Rules for National Taxes

If an appellant dies, the heir (or, where the provisions of Article 951 (Formation of a Corporation of Inherited Property) of the Civil Code apply, the corporation referred to in that Article) succeeds to the status of the appellant.

If an appellant has undergone a merger or a split (limited to a split that causes the rights connected with the disposition that is the subject of the appeal to be succeeded to), the corporation surviving the merger or the corporation incorporated through the merger, or the corporation that has succeeded to those rights through the split, succeeds to the status of the appellant. The same applies to a corporation that has comprehensively succeeded to the rights and obligations belonging to the property of an association or foundation without legal personality that is an appellant.

In the cases referred to in the preceding two paragraphs, the person who has succeeded to the status of the appellant must notify the President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc. of that fact in writing. In this case, a document proving the fact of the succession to rights due to death or a split, or of the merger, must be attached to the written notification.

A person who has acquired by assignment the rights connected with the disposition that is the subject of an appeal may succeed to the status of the appellant with the permission of the President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc.

An appellant may appoint an attorney, a certified public tax accountant, or any other person the appellant finds appropriate as an agent.

Each agent referred to in the preceding paragraph may perform any and all acts concerning the appeal on behalf of the appellant; provided, however, that the withdrawal of the appeal and the appointment of an agent may be made only if the agent has been given a special mandate.

Necessary matters concerning the exercise of an agent's authority are specified by Cabinet Order.

If multiple persons jointly file an appeal, they may mutually elect not more than three representatives from among themselves.

If joint appellants do not mutually elect representatives, the President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc. may, if they find it necessary, order the mutual election of representatives.

Each representative may perform any and all acts concerning the appeal on behalf of the other joint appellants, excluding the withdrawal of the appeal.

When representatives have been appointed, the joint appellants may perform the acts referred to in the preceding paragraph only through the representatives.

A notice or other act of the President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc. (including the presiding tribunal judge and the review officer for a request for review under the provisions of Article 75, paragraph (1), item (ii) or paragraph (2) (limited to the part pertaining to item (ii)) (Appeals against Dispositions concerning National Taxes)) directed to joint appellants suffices if made to one representative, even where two or more representatives have been appointed.

Joint appellants may dismiss representatives if they find it necessary.

Necessary matters concerning the exercise of a representative's authority are specified by Cabinet Order.

An interested person (meaning a person other than the appellant who is found to have an interest in the disposition to which the appeal pertains in light of the laws and regulations on which that disposition is based; the same applies in the following paragraph) may participate in the appeal with the permission of the President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc.

The President of the National Tax Tribunal, etc. may, if they find it necessary, request an interested person to participate in the appeal.

The provisions of Article 107 (Agents) apply mutatis mutandis to participation in an appeal by an intervenor (meaning a person who participates in the appeal pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs).

An appellant may withdraw the appeal in writing at any time until a determination or decision on the appeal is made.

When a request for review has been made under the provisions of Article 75, paragraph (4) (Request for Review without a Determination on a Request for Reinvestigation), in the cases listed in the following items, the appeal specified in the respective item is deemed to have been withdrawn:

if, on or before the day on which the request for review was made, the reinvestigation authority has sent a certified copy of the written determination on reinvestigation revoking the whole of the disposition to which the request for reinvestigation pertains: that request for review;

if, on or before the day on which the request for review was made, the reinvestigation authority has sent a certified copy of the written determination on reinvestigation revoking part of the disposition to which the request for reinvestigation pertains: the request for review with regard to that part;

in other cases: the request for reinvestigation in respect of which that request for review was made without awaiting the determination on it.

If a request for reinvestigation remains pending even after three months have elapsed from the day following the day on which it was made (or, if the requester was requested to correct a deficiency pursuant to the provisions of Article 81, paragraph (3) (Particulars to Be Stated in a Written Request for Reinvestigation, etc.), the day on which that deficiency was corrected), the reinvestigation authority must, without delay, instruct the requester for reinvestigation in writing that the requester may immediately make a request for review of the disposition to the President of the National Tax Tribunal.

The provisions of Article 89, paragraph (2) (Appending of Reasons for Dispositions) apply mutatis mutandis to the document for the instruction referred to in the preceding paragraph.