①Where an individual who files a blue return and who engages in mining, in each year that includes a day within the period from April 1, 1965 to March 31, 2028 (referred to in item (i) as the "designated period") (excluding the year that includes the day on which the business was discontinued), in preparation for the expenditure of new mineral deposit exploration expenses pertaining to minerals specified by Cabinet Order as those for which it is particularly necessary to secure a stable supply, sets aside as a reserve for exploration an amount not exceeding the lower of the amounts listed in item (i) and item (ii) (where the individual did not make any expenditure of new mineral deposit exploration expenses pertaining to minerals in any of the years within the five years preceding the relevant year, the amount obtained by deducting the amount listed in item (iii) from that lower amount), the amount so set aside is included in necessary expenses in calculating the amount of business income for the year in which it was set aside.

②The new mineral deposit exploration expenses prescribed in the preceding paragraph means the expenses required for geological surveys, boring or the excavation of tunnels for exploration, and other expenses required for exploration, which are specified by Cabinet Order.

③Where, as of December 31 of the relevant year, the amount of the reserve for exploration of the individual prescribed in paragraph (1) carried over from the preceding year (where there are amounts that have been included, or are to be included, in gross revenue by that day pursuant to the provisions of the following paragraph, or amounts that were included in gross revenue by December 31 of the year preceding the relevant year pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph, the amount obtained by deducting those amounts; hereinafter the same applies in this Article) includes an amount for which five years have elapsed from January 1 of the year following the year in which it was set aside, the amount of the reserve for exploration for which those five years have elapsed is included in gross revenue in calculating the amount of business income for the year that includes the day on which those five years elapsed.

④Where an individual who has set aside the reserve for exploration referred to in paragraph (1) comes to fall under any of the cases listed in the following items, the amount equivalent to the amount specified in that item is included in gross revenue in calculating the amount of business income for the year that includes the day on which the individual came to fall under that case. In this case, where the individual falls under the case listed in item (ii), the amounts into which the amount of the reserve for exploration prescribed in that item is divided by the year in which they were set aside are to be included in gross revenue in order beginning with the amount with the earliest year of setting aside.

⑤Where an individual who has set aside the reserve for exploration referred to in paragraph (1) has had the approval for filing blue returns revoked, or has submitted a written notification to the effect that the individual will discontinue filing returns by blue return, the amount of the reserve for exploration as of the day on which the fact that gave rise to the revocation of the approval occurred or the day on which the written notification was submitted (where the day on which the written notification was submitted falls in the year following the year in which the individual discontinued filing returns by blue return, December 31 of the year of that discontinuation) is included in gross revenue in calculating the amount of business income for the year that includes that day. In this case, the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs and paragraph (7) do not apply.

⑥The provisions of paragraph (7) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to the application of the provisions of paragraph (1).

⑦The provisions of paragraphs (8) through (10) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis where, upon the death of an individual who has set aside the reserve for exploration referred to in paragraph (1), the individual's heir has succeeded to the mining referred to in that paragraph.