OSAKA -- Two affiliates of Hanshin Expressway Public Corp. spent more than 2 million yen for entertainment, accounting for it as conference expenses, and 1.5 million yen in private taxi fares for business purposes, Osaka Regional Tax Bureau sources said Tuesday.
As a result of bureau tax probes of all public corporation affiliates, Hanshin Highway Corp. and Hanshin Road Service Corp. have been ordered to report about 20 million yen in income unreported over three years, the sources said. The two companies are entrusted by the public corporation with work such as collecting expressway tolls, and all of their board members are from the public corporation.
According to the sources, after its shareholders' meetings, Hanshin Highway used to have parties in Kobe restaurants for its directors and the directors of four affiliated corporations that hold shares in Hanshin Expressway. The corporation reported the cost of the parties -- between 100,000 yen and 300,000 yen -- as expenses, but the tax authorities accounted them as entertainment, the sources said.
Hanshin Expressway also decided to give every worker about 30,000 yen in taxi coupons and appropriated about 9 million yen as welfare spending, but since the coupons had not been distributed, the appropriation was determined an asset, they said.