Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation

Where an individual has paid, in any year, any of the following contributions or premiums pertaining to a fund that is used or managed over a long period of time, the amount paid is included in necessary expenses in calculating the amount of business income for the year that includes the day of the payment:

contributions to be appropriated to a fund pertaining to the business of guaranteeing credit, paid to a corporation specified by Cabinet Order whose main purpose is to conduct, based on the provisions of laws and regulations, the business of guaranteeing credit for small and medium-sized enterprises or persons engaged in agriculture, forestry or fisheries (including organizations formed by persons engaged in agriculture, forestry or fisheries);

premiums under a mutual aid contract prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of the Act on Mutual Relief System for the Prevention of Bankruptcies of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Act No. 84 of 1977), to be appropriated to a fund pertaining to the mutual aid business for the prevention of bankruptcies of small and medium-sized enterprises under the provisions of that Act conducted by the Organization for Small and Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, JAPAN;

contributions to be appropriated to the mining pollution control project fund under the provisions of Article 12 of the Act on Special Measures for Pollution Caused by the Metal Mining Industry, etc (Act No. 26 of 1973) established in the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security;

contributions to be appropriated to a fund pertaining to a specified business, paid to a public interest corporation, etc. prescribed in Article 2, item (vi) of the Corporation Tax Act, or a general incorporated association or general incorporated foundation, whose main purpose is to conduct the business of compensating for losses caused by the occurrence of pollution, the business of contributing to the stabilization of commodity prices, or any other specified business specified by Cabinet Order, and that meets the requirements specified by Cabinet Order regarding that specified business significantly contributing to the implementation of measures of the State or a local government and being publicly operated, or to a public corporation prescribed in item (v) of that Article that conducts that specified business and is specified by Cabinet Order.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph (limited to the part pertaining to item (ii)) do not apply to the premiums listed in that item that an individual who, after the cancellation of a mutual aid contract prescribed in that item that the individual had concluded, has concluded a mutual aid contract prescribed in that item pays for that mutual aid contract during the period from the day of the cancellation until the day on which two years have elapsed from that day.

The provisions of paragraph (1) do not apply if a written statement concerning the necessary expenses of the amount prescribed in that paragraph is not attached to the tax return; provided, however, that this does not apply where, even if a tax return without that attachment has been filed, the district director finds that there was an unavoidable reason for the absence of the attachment and the written statement is submitted.

With regard to depreciable assets that a small and medium sized business operator (meaning a small and medium sized business operator prescribed in Article 10, paragraph (8), item (vi) that files blue returns, which is specified by Cabinet Order as one for which consideration needs to be given to the administrative burden; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) has acquired, manufactured, or constructed during the period from April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2029 and has used for the operations of that small and medium sized business operator that generate real estate income, business income, or timber income, and whose acquisition cost is less than 400,000 yen (excluding those whose acquisition cost is less than 100,000 yen, those that receive the application of the provisions listed in the items of Article 19, paragraph (1), and any other assets specified by Cabinet Order; referred to in this Article as "low-value depreciable assets"), notwithstanding the provisions of Article 49, paragraph (1) of the Income Tax Act, the amount equivalent to the acquisition cost of those low-value depreciable assets is included in necessary expenses in calculating the amount of real estate income, the amount of business income, or the amount of timber income of that small and medium sized business operator for the year in which they were used for those operations. In this case, where the total acquisition cost of low-value depreciable assets for the year in which that small and medium sized business operator used them for those operations exceeds 3,000,000 yen (where the year in which they were used for those operations is the year that includes the day on which the operations were commenced or the year that includes the day on which the operations were discontinued, for those years, the amount calculated by dividing 3,000,000 yen by 12 and multiplying the result by the number of months of the period during which the operations were conducted in those years; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), the amount included is limited to the total acquisition cost of the low-value depreciable assets up to 3,000,000 yen, out of that total acquisition cost.

The number of months referred to in the preceding paragraph is calculated in accordance with the calendar, and a fraction of less than one month is counted as one month.

The provisions of paragraph (1) apply only if a written statement concerning the acquisition cost of the low-value depreciable assets is attached to the tax return.

Where the provisions of laws and regulations concerning income tax are applied to low-value depreciable assets to which the provisions of paragraph (1) have been applied, the amount included in necessary expenses in calculating the amount of real estate income, the amount of business income, or the amount of timber income for that year pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph is not included in the acquisition cost of those low-value depreciable assets.

Beyond what is provided for in the preceding three paragraphs, necessary matters concerning the application of the provisions of paragraph (1) are specified by Cabinet Order.

Where an individual who files blue returns has received a release from debts owed by the individual based on a plan concerning debt workout formulated for that individual that meets the requirements specified by Cabinet Order, such as having been formulated based on generally published rules concerning procedures for debt workout (referred to in the following paragraph as a "debt workout plan") (excluding the case where the provisions of Article 44-2, paragraph (1) of the Income Tax Act are applied to the value of the economic benefit received through that release), if the value of depreciable assets used for the individual's business that generates real estate income, business income, or timber income and any other assets equivalent thereto specified by Cabinet Order (referred to in this Article as "covered assets") has been assessed by the method specified in those rules, the amount specified by Cabinet Order as the amount of loss on those covered assets is included in necessary expenses in calculating the amount of real estate income, the amount of business income, or the amount of timber income for the year that includes the day on which the release was received; provided, however, that the amount to be included in necessary expenses is limited to the amount of real estate income, the amount of business income, or the amount of timber income for that year calculated without applying the provisions of this paragraph.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply only if the tax return contains a statement to the effect that the individual seeks the application of the provisions of that paragraph, and has attached to it a written statement stating the calculation of the amount of real estate income, the amount of business income, or the amount of timber income under the provisions of that paragraph, the type of the covered assets, and any other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance, and the documents specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance as documents concerning the debt workout plan.

Even where no tax return has been filed or a tax return without the statement or attachment referred to in the preceding paragraph has been filed, the district director may, when the district director finds that there was an unavoidable reason for the failure to file it or for the absence of the statement or attachment, apply the provisions of paragraph (1), only if a document containing that statement, and the written statement and the documents specified by Order of the Ministry of Finance referred to in that paragraph, are submitted.

The calculation of the depreciation allowance prescribed in Article 49, paragraph (1) of the Income Tax Act to be made by an individual who has received the application of the provisions of paragraph (1) for the covered assets, the calculation of the amount of capital gains where that individual has transferred the covered assets, and other necessary matters concerning the application of the provisions of that Act pertaining to the covered assets are specified by Cabinet Order.