Section 2 Financial and Economic Offenses
1 Tax related offenses
(1) Disposition in public prosecutors offices
Fig. 1-3-2-1 shows the number of persons newly received by public prosecutors for violations of the Income Tax Act (Act No. 33 of 1965), the Corporation Tax Act (Act No. 34 of 1965), the Inheritance Tax Act (Act No. 73 of 1950), the Consumption Tax Act (Act No. 108 of 1988), and the Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950) over the last 20 years. The number of persons received in 2011 was largest for Corporation Tax Act violations at 228 (up four from the previous year), followed by Local Tax Act violations at 64 (up 26 (id.)), Income Tax Act violations at 44 (down 31 (id.)), Consumption Tax Act violations at 19 (down 26 (id.)), and Inheritance Tax Act violations at 12 (down eight (id.)).
Fig. 1-3-2-1 Number of persons newly received by public prosecutors for violations of tax related acts (1992-2011)
Table 1-3-2-2 shows the number of cases for violations of tax related acts accused by the National Tax Agency and the amount of tax evasion per case over the last five years.
In FY 2011 the number of cases involving tax evasion amounts of 300 million yen or more was 10, of which three were for amounts of 500 million yen or more (Source: The National Tax Agency).
Table 1-3-2-2 Number of accused cases for violations of tax related acts and amount of tax evasion per case (FY 2007-FY 2011)
Table 1-3-2-3 shows the number of persons prosecuted or not prosecuted for violations of tax related acts over the last five years.
Examining the details of prosecutions in 2011 revealed that one person for Inheritance Tax Act violations and 29 persons for Local Tax Act violations were requested summary order while all the others were indicted (Source: Annual Report of Statistics on Prosecution).
Table 1-3-2-3 Number of persons prosecuted or not prosecuted for violations of tax related acts (2007-2011)
(2) Disposition in a court of first instance
The number of persons conclusively disposed in a court of first instance (excluding transfer, etc.) for violations of tax related acts in 2011 was 39 (30 of whom were sentenced to imprisonment with work for a definite term and nine to fine) for Income Tax Act violations, 161 (78 of whom were sentenced to imprisonment with work for a definite term and 83 to fine) for Corporation Tax Act violations, 19 (all of whom were sentenced to imprisonment with work for a definite term) for Inheritance Tax Act violations, 24 (12 of whom were sentenced to imprisonment with work for a definite term and 12 to fine) for Consumption Tax Act violations, and seven (four of whom were sentenced to imprisonment with work for a definite term and three to fine) for Local Tax Act violations (the number of those sentenced to fine excludes those imposed both fine and imprisonment with work) (Source: Annual Report of Judicial Statistics and the General Secretariat, Supreme Court).