Article 470Authority of Tax Collection Officials to Question and Inspect in Examinations Concerning Tobacco Tax

①If necessary for an investigation concerning the assessment and collection of tobacco tax, a municipal tax collection official may question the persons listed below, or inspect the books and documents relating to the business of such persons (including, where electronic or magnetic records (meaning records made in electronic form, magnetic form or any other form that cannot be perceived by human senses, which are used for information processing by computers) have been made or kept in lieu of making or keeping them, those electronic or magnetic records; the same applies in paragraph (1), items (ii) and (iii) of the following Article) and other articles, or request the presentation or submission of those articles (including copies thereof):

②In a company split in which a person listed in item (i) of the preceding paragraph is the splitting corporation (meaning a corporation that has transferred its assets and liabilities through a company split; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph), the successor corporation in a company split (meaning a corporation that has had assets and liabilities transferred to it by a splitting corporation in a company split; the same applies hereinafter in this paragraph) is included in the persons found to have the right to receive goods prescribed in item (iii) of that paragraph, and a splitting corporation in a company split in which a person listed in item (i) of that paragraph is the successor corporation in a company split is included in the persons found to have the obligation to deliver goods prescribed in item (iii) of that paragraph.

③In the case referred to in paragraph (1), the tax collection official in question may take the minimum necessary quantity of manufactured tobacco as samples.

④The provisions of Article 465, Article 466 and Article 473 do not apply to the samples taken pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

⑤In the case referred to in paragraph (1) or (3), the tax collection official in question must carry an identification card certifying the official's status and present it when requested by a person concerned.

⑥A municipal tax collection official may, as provided by Cabinet Order, retain the articles submitted pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (1).

⑦Investigations concerning delinquent tax collection procedures for tobacco tax are governed by the provisions of Article 485-3, paragraph (6), notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1).

⑧The authority of a municipal tax collection official under paragraph (1), (3) or (6) must not be construed as having been granted for the purpose of a criminal investigation.