The Supreme Court on Friday invalidated a decision to impose back taxes on the former Industrial Bank of Japan for writing off nonperforming loans it made to an insolvent "jusen" mortgage lender.

The ruling by the top court's No. 2 Petty Bench reverses a March 2002 decision made by the Tokyo High Court, which said tax authorities had authority to impose some 150 billion yen in corporate taxes and penalties on the long-term credit bank.

IBJ made a provisional tax payment while filing a suit against the government.