The purpose of this Act is to establish basic and common matters concerning national taxes, to put in order the systematic structure of the tax laws, and to clarify the legal relationships concerning national taxes, as well as to ensure the fair operation of tax administration, and thereby to contribute to the proper and smooth performance of the people's tax liability.

In this Act, the meanings of the terms set forth in the following items are as prescribed respectively in those items:

An association or foundation that is not a corporation and for which a representative or administrator has been designated (hereinafter referred to as an "association or foundation without legal personality") is deemed to be a corporation, and the provisions of this Act apply to it.

Where other national tax laws contain special provisions on a matter prescribed in this Act, those provisions govern.

If an inheritance (including a testamentary gift by universal title; the same applies hereinafter) occurs, the heir (including a universal legatee; the same applies hereinafter) or the corporation referred to in Article 951 (Formation of a Corporation of Inherited Property) of the Civil Code (Act No. 89 of 1896) succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax (including the expenses for the delinquent tax collection procedure therefor; the same applies hereinafter, except in the following Chapter, Chapter III, Section 1 (Payment of National Tax), Chapter VI (Accessory Tax), Chapter VII, Section 1 (Period Limitations on Reassessment, Determination, and Related Actions for National Tax), Chapter VII-2 (Examination of National Tax), and Chapter XI (Investigation and Disposition of Criminal Tax Cases)) that should be imposed on the decedent (including a person who made a testamentary gift by universal title; the same applies hereinafter), or that the decedent should pay or that should be collected from the decedent. In this case, if the heir has made a qualified acceptance, that heir is liable to pay the national tax only to the extent of the property acquired through the inheritance.

In the case referred to in the first sentence of the preceding paragraph, if there are two or more heirs, the amount of national tax to which each heir succeeds pursuant to the provisions of the first sentence of that paragraph is the amount calculated by apportioning the amount of national tax referred to in that paragraph according to that heir's share in inheritance under the provisions of Articles 900 through 902 (Statutory Shares in Inheritance; Shares in Inheritance of Heirs by Representation; Designation of Shares in Inheritance by Will) of the Civil Code.

In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if any of the heirs has acquired through the inheritance property whose value exceeds the amount of national tax calculated pursuant to the provisions of that paragraph, that heir is liable to pay the national tax to which the other heirs succeed pursuant to the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs, up to the amount of that excess value.

If corporations merge, the corporation surviving the merger or the corporation incorporated through the merger succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on the corporation that ceased to exist due to the merger (hereinafter referred to as the "merged corporation"), or that the merged corporation should pay or that should be collected from the merged corporation.

If a corporation comprehensively succeeds to the rights and obligations belonging to the property of an association or foundation without legal personality, that corporation succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on the association or foundation without legal personality, or that the association or foundation without legal personality should pay or that should be collected from it (if the succession covers only part of those rights and obligations, national tax in the amount calculated by multiplying the amount of that national tax by the proportion of the property of the association or foundation without legal personality at the time of the succession that the property succeeded to by the corporation represents).

If the duties of a trustee have ended due to any of the grounds set forth in the items of Article 56, paragraph (1) (Grounds for Termination of the Trustee's Duties) of the Trust Act (Act No. 108 of 2006) and a new trustee (hereinafter referred to as the "new trustee" in this paragraph and paragraph (6)) has assumed office, the new trustee succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on that trustee, or that the trustee should pay or that should be collected from the trustee (limited to national tax for which the obligation to pay constitutes an obligation covered by the trust property (meaning an obligation covered by the trust property as prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (9) (Definitions) of that Act; the same applies in Article 38, paragraph (1) (Advance Demand) and Article 57, paragraph (1) (Appropriation)); hereinafter the same applies in this Article).

In a trust with two or more trustees, if the duties of one of them have ended due to any of the grounds set forth in the items of Article 56, paragraph (1) of the Trust Act, then, notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the trustee among the other trustees who has taken over the administration of trust affairs from the trustee whose duties have ended (hereinafter referred to as the "trustee whose duties have ended" in this paragraph and paragraph (5)) succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on the trustee whose duties have ended, or that the trustee whose duties have ended should pay or that should be collected from that trustee.

If the duties of a trustee have ended due to the ground set forth in Article 56, paragraph (1), item (i) of the Trust Act, the corporation prescribed in Article 74, paragraph (1) (Vesting of Trust Property Where the Trustee's Duties Have Ended Due to the Trustee's Death) of that Act succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on that trustee, or that the trustee should pay or that should be collected from the trustee.

If a corporation that is a trustee has effected a company split, the corporation that has succeeded to the rights and obligations as trustee through the split succeeds to the obligation to pay the national tax that should be imposed on the corporation that is the trustee that effected the split, or that that corporation should pay or that should be collected from it.

Even if the obligation to pay national tax has been succeeded to pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1) or (2), the trustee referred to in paragraph (1) or the trustee whose duties have ended is liable to perform the obligation to pay the national tax so succeeded to with its own property; provided, however, that this does not apply if, pursuant to Article 21, paragraph (2) (Scope of Obligations Covered by the Trust Property) of the Trust Act, it is liable to perform the obligation to pay that national tax only with property that belongs to the trust property.

If the new trustee has succeeded to the obligation to pay national tax pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), it is liable to perform the obligation to pay the national tax so succeeded to only with property that belongs to the trust property.

The provisions of Articles 436, 437 and 441 through 445 (Effect of Joint and Several Obligations, etc.) of the Civil Code apply mutatis mutandis to the obligation to jointly and severally pay national tax under the provisions of national tax laws.

The taxpayers are jointly and severally obligated to pay national tax on jointly owned property, a joint business, or property belonging to that business.

If a judgment invalidating a merger or a company split (hereinafter referred to as a "merger, etc." in this Article) has become final and binding, the corporation that effected the merger, etc. is jointly and severally obligated to pay the national tax (including its accessory tax) of the corporation surviving the merger, the corporation incorporated through the merger, or the corporation that succeeded to a business through the split, for which the tax liability (meaning the tax liability prescribed in Article 15, paragraph (1) (Establishment of Tax Liability and Determination of the Payable Tax Amount); the same applies in the following Article) was established on or after the date of the merger, etc.

If a corporation has effected a company split (excluding a split-off type company split as prescribed in Article 2, item (xii)-10 (Definitions) of the Corporation Tax Act; hereinafter the same applies in this Article), the corporation that succeeded to a business through the split is jointly and severally liable for payment of the following national taxes of the corporation that effected the split (including their accessory tax, and excluding those for which the obligation to pay has been succeeded to by a corporation that succeeded to the rights and obligations as trustee pursuant to Article 7-2, paragraph (4) (Succession to the Obligation to Pay National Tax Pertaining to a Trust) and those for which the obligation to pay constitutes an obligation covered only by the trust property (meaning an obligation covered only by the trust property as prescribed in Article 154 (Scope of Obligations Covered by the Trust Property of a Trust after a Consolidation of Trusts) of the Trust Act; the same applies in Article 57, paragraph (1) (Appropriation))); provided, however, that this liability is limited to the value of the property succeeded to from the corporation that effected the split (excluding property belonging to the trust property succeeded to from the corporation that effected the split):

Periods prescribed in days, months or years in national tax laws are computed as follows:

If a time limit prescribed in national tax laws for filing a return, application, request or notification or submitting any other document, giving notice, making payment or collecting (excluding a time limit prescribed by the hour and any other time limit specified by Cabinet Order) falls on a Sunday, a holiday prescribed in the Act on National Holidays (Act No. 178 of 1948) or any other general holiday, or a day specified by Cabinet Order, the day following that day is deemed to be the time limit.

If the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency, the President of the National Tax Tribunal, a regional commissioner, a district director or the director-general of a customs house finds that an act cannot be performed by the time limit for filing a return, application, request or notification or submitting any other document, making payment or collecting under national tax laws due to a disaster or any other unavoidable reason, they may, pursuant to Cabinet Order, extend that time limit by no more than two months from the day on which that reason ceased to exist.

Documents issued by a district director or the head of any other administrative organ, or by its officials, under the provisions of national tax laws are served at the domicile or residence (including an office or place of business; the same applies hereinafter) of the person to be served, by service by mail or by correspondence delivery as prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of the Act on Correspondence Delivery by Private Business Operators (Act No. 99 of 2002) provided by a general correspondence delivery business operator as prescribed in paragraph (6) (Definitions) of that Article or a specified correspondence delivery business operator as prescribed in paragraph (9) of that Article (hereinafter referred to as "correspondence delivery"), or by service by delivery; provided, however, that if the person to be served has a tax agent, they are served at the domicile or residence of the tax agent.

If a document prescribed in the preceding paragraph has been sent by mail or correspondence delivery handled in the ordinary manner, the mail or the item of correspondence delivery as prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (3) (Definitions) of the Act on Correspondence Delivery by Private Business Operators (hereinafter referred to as an "item of correspondence delivery") is presumed to have been served at the time at which it would ordinarily have arrived.

In the case prescribed in the preceding paragraph, the district director or the head of any other administrative organ must prepare and keep a record sufficient to confirm the title of the document, the name of the person to be served (or, in the case referred to in the proviso to paragraph (1), the tax agent; the same applies hereinafter in this Section) (or, for a corporation, its name; the same applies in Article 14, paragraph (2) (Service by Public Notice)), the address, and the date of dispatch.

Service by delivery is effected by an official of the relevant administrative organ delivering the document to the person to be served at the place where it is to be served pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1); provided, however, that if the person has no objection, the document may be delivered at another place.

In a case set forth in one of the following items, service by delivery may be effected by the act set forth in that item in lieu of delivery under the provisions of the preceding paragraph:

If an inheritance has occurred and there are two or more heirs, those heirs may designate from among themselves a representative to receive documents concerning the national tax of the decedent that are issued by a district director or the head of any other administrative organ (including a National Tax Tribunal judge) under the provisions of national tax laws (excluding documents concerning a delinquent tax collection procedure (including a disposition conducted in accordance with the rules for that procedure)). In this case, the heir so designated must notify that district director or head of any other administrative organ (or, for documents issued by a National Tax Tribunal judge, the President of the National Tax Tribunal) to that effect.

In the case referred to in the first sentence of the preceding paragraph, if the name of any of the heirs is unknown and the notification referred to in the second sentence of that paragraph is not made within a reasonable period, the district director or the head of any other administrative organ referred to in the second sentence of that paragraph may designate one of the heirs and make that heir the representative prescribed in that paragraph. In this case, the district director or the head of any other administrative organ that made the designation must notify the heir so designated to that effect.

Beyond what is provided for in the preceding two paragraphs, necessary matters concerning the designation of the representative prescribed in paragraph (1) are specified by Cabinet Order.

A disposition under national tax laws requiring the service of a document that was made, with regard to the national tax of a decedent, in the name of the decedent after the decedent's death without knowledge of that death is deemed to have been made against all heirs with regard to that national tax if the document has been served on one of the heirs.

With regard to a document to be served pursuant to the provisions of Article 12 (Service of Documents), if the domicile and residence of the person to be served are unknown, or if it is found that there are difficulties in effecting service in a foreign country, the district director or the head of any other administrative organ may effect service by public notice in lieu of that service.

Service by public notice is effected by taking measures to make the information necessary to identify the document to be served, the name of the person to be served and a statement to the effect that the district director or the head of any other administrative organ will deliver the document to the person to be served at any time (hereinafter referred to as the "particulars of the public notice" in this paragraph) available for inspection by an unspecified large number of persons by a method specified by Ministry of Finance Order, and by either posting a document stating the particulars of the public notice on the bulletin board of the relevant administrative organ or taking measures to make the particulars of the public notice, as displayed on the screen of a computer installed at the relevant administrative organ, available for inspection.

In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, the document is deemed to have been served when seven days have elapsed counting from the day on which the measures under that paragraph were commenced.