Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation

Where an approved liquor manufacturer whose volume of liquor (excluding liquor to which the provisions of Article 28, paragraph (1) or Article 29, paragraph (1) of the Liquor Tax Act or the provisions of Article 87-6, paragraph (1) apply) shipped from its liquor manufacturing sites (simply referred to as "manufacturing sites" in this Article) during the one year before the beginning of the fiscal year (meaning the period from April 1 of the year to March 31 of the following year; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) (including that volume of a person that has a full controlling interest with that approved liquor manufacturer as of the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year; referred to as the "taxable shipment volume of the previous fiscal year" in the following paragraph and paragraph (9)) is 3,000 kiloliters or less ships that liquor from a manufacturing site during the period from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2029, the amount of liquor tax on the liquor that the approved liquor manufacturer ships from its manufacturing sites in that fiscal year (excluding liquor to which the provisions of Article 30, paragraph (3) of that Act (limited to the part concerning the case where the liquor prescribed in that paragraph is further shipped from the manufacturing site into which it was brought) apply with regard to that shipment, and limited to liquor of the same item (meaning an item prescribed in Article 7, paragraph (1) of that Act; the same applies in the following paragraph) as the liquor for which the approved liquor manufacturer has obtained a manufacturing license (meaning a manufacturing license prescribed in that paragraph; the same applies hereinafter in this Article, Article 87-6, and Article 87-8) pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) of that Act; the same applies in the following paragraph) is to be, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 23 of that Act and the following Article, the amount calculated by multiplying the amount calculated pursuant to the provisions of Article 23 of that Act or the following Article by the ratio specified in each of the following items in accordance with the category of the cumulative amount of liquor tax for the current fiscal year listed in those items (meaning the cumulative amount of the amounts calculated at the tax rates prescribed in Article 23 of that Act or the following Article for that liquor that the approved liquor manufacturer ships from its manufacturing sites during the period from the first day of that fiscal year until the time of that shipment):

an amount of 50,000,000 yen or less: 80 percent;

an amount exceeding 50,000,000 yen and of 80,000,000 yen or less: 90 percent;

an amount exceeding 80,000,000 yen and of 100,000,000 yen or less: 95 percent.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply to the following persons:

an individual whose number of employees regularly employed exceeds 300 as of the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year;

a corporation whose amount of stated capital or amount of capital contributions exceeds 300,000,000 yen and whose number of employees regularly employed exceeds 300 as of the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year (referred to as a "specified large corporation" in the following item and item (iv));

a corporation over which a specified large corporation has a full controlling interest, as between that corporation and that specified large corporation, as of the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year;

a corporation (excluding a corporation listed in the preceding item) over which, as of the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year, any one of the specified large corporations would have a full controlling interest, as between that one specified large corporation and that corporation, if all of the shares and capital contributions held by all of the specified large corporations that have a full controlling interest with that corporation were deemed to be held by that one specified large corporation;

a person other than a person that has obtained a manufacturing license pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Liquor Tax Act;

a person that has obtained a manufacturing license pursuant to the provisions of Article 7, paragraph (1) of the Liquor Tax Act by application of the provisions of paragraph (3) of that Article (limited to the part pertaining to item (iv)), and has not obtained any liquor manufacturing license other than that manufacturing license;

a person that has been subject to a delinquency disposition for liquor tax within two years before the last day of the fiscal year preceding that fiscal year;

a person prescribed in Article 10, items (iii) through (v) or items (vii) through (viii) of the Liquor Tax Act;

a person that has violated an order under the provisions of Article 84, paragraph (2) or Article 86-4 of the Act on Securing of Liquor Tax and on Liquor Business Associations (Act No. 7 of 1953).

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

approved liquor manufacturer: These mean a liquor manufacturer that has obtained the approval of the district director having jurisdiction over the location of its manufacturing site (where it has two or more manufacturing sites, any one of them; the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (7)) as one found to be capable of properly and reliably carrying out efforts that contribute to the sound development of the liquor business for the purpose of securing liquor tax;

full controlling interest: These mean a relationship specified by Cabinet Order as a relationship in which one person holds, directly or indirectly, all of the issued shares of or capital contributions to a corporation (excluding the shares or capital contributions held by that corporation) (referred to as "full controlling interest between the parties" in this item), or a relationship between corporations each of which has full controlling interest between the parties with one person.

A person that seeks to obtain the approval referred to in item (i) of the preceding paragraph must apply to the district director having jurisdiction over the location of the manufacturing site by submitting a written application stating the person's domicile and name, and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance, attaching thereto a document stating the plan period, the targets, the measures for achieving those targets, and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance with regard to the improvement of technology for strengthening the management foundation of the person's liquor manufacturing business and other efforts specified by Cabinet Order as efforts necessary for contributing to the sound development of the liquor business (referred to as a "business plan document" in the following paragraph through paragraph (8)).

Where an application referred to in the preceding paragraph has been filed, the district director is to approve the application, or, if the person that filed the application falls under any of the following items, dismiss the application, within three months from the day following the day on which the application was filed:

where the written application referred to in the preceding paragraph or the business plan document is found to contain a defective or false entry, or any other similar case;

where the person is a person for whom one year has not elapsed from the day on which the approval was rescinded pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (8);

where the person is a person that has been subject to a delinquency disposition for liquor tax within two years before that application;

where the person is a person listed in paragraph (3), item (viii) or item (ix).

Where an approved liquor manufacturer does not submit a document stating the status of achievement of the targets stated in the business plan document and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance to the district director having jurisdiction over the location of the manufacturing site by May 31 of the fiscal year following that fiscal year (referred to as the "covered fiscal year" in this paragraph and the following paragraph), the provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply for that covered fiscal year; provided, however, that this does not apply where that district director finds that there were unavoidable circumstances for the failure to submit the document by that day and the document is submitted after that day.

Where an approved liquor manufacturer falls under any of the following items, the district director that gave the approval referred to in paragraph (6) may rescind that approval retroactively to the day specified in each of those items:

where the approved liquor manufacturer has submitted the document prescribed in the preceding paragraph containing a false statement: the first day of the covered fiscal year pertaining to that document;

where it is found that efforts are not being carried out in accordance with the statements in the business plan document: the first day of the period during which efforts are found not to have been carried out in accordance with the statements in the business plan document;

where the approved liquor manufacturer has been subject to a delinquency disposition for liquor tax: the day on which it was subject to that delinquency disposition;

where the approved liquor manufacturer has come to fall under a person listed in paragraph (3), item (viii) or item (ix), or in the case prescribed in paragraph (6), item (i): the day on which it came to fall under that case.

Beyond what is prescribed in the preceding paragraphs, the calculation of the taxable shipment volume of the previous fiscal year of a person that has succeeded to all or part of the manufacturing business pertaining to a liquor manufacturing license by inheritance or for any other reason, the procedures concerning the approval referred to in paragraph (4), item (i), and other necessary matters concerning the application of the provisions of the preceding paragraphs are specified by Cabinet Order.

The liquor tax rate for distilled liquor prescribed in Article 3, item (v) of the Liquor Tax Act (excluding the liquor listed in (e) of that item and liquor that is effervescent) and liqueurs prescribed in item (xxi) of that Article (excluding those that are effervescent) that are shipped from a liquor manufacturing site or taken out of a bonded area and whose alcohol content (meaning the alcohol content prescribed in item (i) of that Article; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) is less than 13 degrees (for liqueurs, limited to those whose alcohol content is less than 12 degrees) is to be, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 23 of that Act, the amount per kiloliter specified in each of the following items in accordance with the categories listed in those items:

liquor whose alcohol content is less than 11 degrees: 100,000 yen;

liquor whose alcohol content is 11 degrees or more and less than 13 degrees: the amount obtained by adding to 100,000 yen 10,000 yen for each degree by which the alcohol content exceeds 10 degrees.