OSAKA -- USJ Co., the operator of movie theme park Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, has paid 70 million yen to a local taxation office for having failed to withhold income taxes on its payments to foreign concerns, sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.
The payment consists of the 65 million yen it should have submitted to the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau plus the surcharges for failing to do so.
According to the sources, USJ paid about 250 million yen to Universal Studios of the United States in consultancy fees for advice on how to operate the park.
The local tax office told USJ that it should have withheld 50 million yen of that payment as income tax.
USJ also paid 150 million yen to foreign entertainers. It should have withheld 20 percent from the payments to the entertainers but withheld only 10 percent, or 15 million yen, the sources said. The tax office demanded that it pay the extra 10 percent.
A USJ spokesman denied that the firm had acted intentionally in failing to withhold the taxes. He said the firm had swiftly obeyed the tax office's order.