Article 22-28Notification Dispositions, etc. for Criminal Tax Cases Concerning Indirect Local Taxes
第二十二条の二十八（間接地方税に関する犯則事件についての通告処分等）
Changes on (Act No. 2 of 2026)
When the head of a local government becomes convinced, through the investigation of a criminal tax case concerning an indirect local tax, that an offense has been committed, the head must, clearly indicating the reasons, notify in writing that the amount equivalent to the fine, the articles subject to confiscation, the amount equivalent to the collection of equivalent value, and the costs incurred for the service of documents and for the transportation and custody of seized articles or articles seized with a recording order are to be paid at the designated place. In this case, with regard to the articles subject to confiscation, the head may give notification that only an offer to pay them is to be made.
In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the head of a local government finds that any of the following items applies, the head must immediately file an accusation with a public prosecutor, notwithstanding the provisions of that paragraph:
when the circumstances warrant punishment by imprisonment; or
情状が拘禁刑に処すべきものであるとき。
when the offender lacks the financial means to comply with the notification.
犯則者が通告の旨を履行する資力がないとき。
When a notification under the provisions of paragraph (1) contains a miscalculation, clerical error or any other similar obvious error, the head of a local government may correct that notification ex officio until the offender complies with that notification or until an accusation is filed pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph or the following Article.
When a notification has been given pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1), the statute of limitations for prosecution stops running, and resumes running from the time when 20 days have elapsed counting from the day following the day on which the offender received that notification.
第一項の規定により通告があつたときは、公訴の時効は、その進行を停止し、犯則者が当該通告を受けた日の翌日から起算して二十日を経過した時からその進行を始める。
If the offender has complied with the notification referred to in paragraph (1) (if a correction has been made pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (3), the notification as corrected; the same applies in the following paragraph and paragraph (1) of the following Article), no prosecution is to be instituted against the offender for the same case.
In the case where the offender has complied with the notification referred to in the second sentence of paragraph (1), if the offender possesses the articles subject to confiscation, the offender has the obligation to keep them in custody until a public auction or any other necessary disposition is made; provided, however, that the offender may not claim the costs required for that custody.
犯則者は、第一項後段の通告の旨を履行した場合において、没収に該当する物件を所持するときは、公売その他の必要な処分がされるまで、これを保管する義務を負う。ただし、その保管に要する費用は、請求することができない。
Read this with the articles around it
head of a local governmentmachine translation
「地方団体の長」
The governor of a prefecture (道府県知事) or the mayor of a municipality (市町村長).
Defined inArticle 1, paragraph (1), item (ii)· applies throughout the law
indirect local taxmachine translation
「間接地方税」
In the section on the investigation and disposition of tax offence cases (犯則事件), the light oil delivery tax (軽油引取税) and the other local taxes a Cabinet Order (政令) sets.
Defined inArticle 22-7, paragraph (1)· applies only in this section
confiscation
没収
A punishment that can only be added to a principal one (付加刑) (Penal Code, Article 9): a thing connected with the crime is confiscated. What may be confiscated is the thing that makes up the crime, a thing used or meant to be used for it, a thing it produced or gained or that was received as a reward for it, and what was received in exchange for such a thing (Article 19, paragraph (1)); only a thing belonging to no one but the offender, unless someone else acquired it after the crime knowing the facts (paragraph (2)). For a crime punishable only by penal detention (拘留) or a petty fine (科料), only the thing that makes up the crime may be confiscated, unless a special provision says otherwise (Article 20). Where a thing gained by the crime cannot be confiscated, its value may be collected instead (追徴) (Article 19-2).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 19, 19-2, 20 as a reference.
fine
罰金
A criminal punishment of paying money to the state, of 10,000 yen or more, or less where it is reduced (Penal Code, Article 15). It ranks below imprisonment (拘禁刑) and above penal detention (拘留) and a petty fine (科料) (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). A person who cannot pay it in full is held in a workhouse (労役場) for one day to two years, or up to three years where fines are imposed together, a period set when the sentence is passed (Article 18, paragraphs (1), (3) and (4)); not within thirty days of the sentence becoming final without the person's consent (paragraph (5)). If it is not enforced for three years after the sentence becomes final, the person is released from it by prescription (Articles 31 and 32, item (v)); the three years do not run while its execution is suspended under law or the person is abroad, and an act of execution interrupts them (Articles 33 and 34, paragraph (2)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 15, 18, 31 to 34 as a reference.
imprisonment
拘禁刑
The punishment of being held in a penal institution (刑事施設), for life or for a fixed term of one month to twenty years (Penal Code, Article 12, paragraphs (1) and (2)); a fixed term can be raised to thirty years where the punishment is aggravated, or cut below one month where it is reduced (Article 14, paragraph (2)). To help the person reform and rehabilitate, they may be made to do work or given guidance (Article 12, paragraph (3)). It ranks below the death penalty and above a fine (罰金) among the principal punishments (Articles 9 and 10, paragraph (1)). It replaced imprisonment with work (懲役) and imprisonment without work (禁錮) when the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc. (Act No. 67 of 2022) came into force (Act No. 67 of 2022, Article 2), and a person sentenced to either is treated, for the rules on a person's qualifications, as sentenced to imprisonment for the same term (Act No. 68 of 2022, Article 443, paragraph (1)).
Written by AI using Penal Code, Arts. 9, 10, 12, 14, Act No. 67 of 2022, Art. 2 and Act No. 68 of 2022, Art. 443 as a reference.
public prosecutor
検察官
The official who brings a prosecution (公訴) for a crime before a court (Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 247), and who may decide not to prosecute where, in view of the offender's character, age and circumstances, the gravity and circumstances of the offence and what happened after it, prosecution is not needed (Article 248). In criminal cases a public prosecutor asks the court to apply the law correctly and oversees the carrying out of its judgments; and, as the representative of the public interest, a public prosecutor also does the work other laws and regulations assign to a public prosecutor, which is not limited to criminal cases (Public Prosecutors Office Act, Article 4). A public prosecutor may investigate any crime (Article 6, paragraph (1)). Public prosecutors work through the public prosecutors offices (検察庁): the Supreme, High, District and Local Public Prosecutors Offices (Article 1).
Written by AI using Code of Criminal Procedure, Arts. 247, 248 and Public Prosecutors Office Act, Arts. 1, 4, 6 as a reference.
service
送達
The delivery of a document in a court proceeding, such as a lawsuit, to the person it is for, by a procedure the law lays down: unless a provision says otherwise, the court carries it out of its own motion, the court clerk handles the work (Code of Civil Procedure, Article 98), and the person who effects it reports on it to the court in writing (Article 100, paragraph (1)); the complaint must be served on the defendant (Article 138, paragraph (1)), and the judgment on the parties (Article 255, paragraph (1)). A document is served by post or by a court enforcement officer (執行官) (Article 101, paragraph (1)), as a rule by handing it to the person (Article 102-2), at their address, residence, place of business or office, or at their workplace where those are unknown or service there meets an obstacle (Article 103); each party, legal representative and litigation representative (訴訟代理人) must tell the court a place in Japan where they are to be served (Article 104, paragraph (1)), and service abroad is made at the presiding judge's request to that country's authorities or to a Japanese ambassador, minister or consul there (Article 108). If the person is not found at a place other than their workplace, the document may be handed to an employee or a person living with them who can be trusted to receive it, and if it is refused without a legitimate reason it may be left there (Article 106, paragraphs (1) and (3)); where it cannot be served in those ways, the court clerk may send it by registered mail, and it counts as served when it is sent (Article 107, paragraphs (1) and (3)). An electronic record can also be served through the courts' electronic system on a person who has registered for it, by making it available to them and sending them a notice, and that service takes effect when they view it or save it to their computer, or one week after the notice was sent, whichever comes first (Articles 109-2, paragraph (1), and 109-3, paragraph (1)); a person who must make filings online, such as a litigation representative (訴訟代理人) entrusted with the case, can be served this way even without registering, and without a notice, the week then running from when the record was made available (Articles 109-4 and 132-11, paragraph (1)). Where a party's address or other place for service is unknown, among other cases, the court clerk may serve by publication (公示送達), on petition or where the court orders it, and serves the same party by publication again of the clerk's own motion, as a rule (Article 110, paragraphs (1) to (3)): that the clerk holds the document and will hand it over at any time is made available for anyone to view, by a method the Supreme Court's rules (最高裁判所規則) set, and posted on the court's notice board or shown on a screen at the court (Article 111), and service takes effect two weeks after that begins, or six weeks for service to be made abroad, though one made again of the clerk's own motion takes effect the day after it begins (Article 112, paragraphs (1) and (2)). Some time limits run from service: an appeal to the court of second instance (控訴), for one, must be filed within two weeks of the day the judgment is served (Article 285).
Written by AI using Code of Civil Procedure, Arts. 98, 100 to 104, 106 to 112, 132-11, 138, 255, 285 as a reference.