A Tokyo funeral service is suspected of hiding 800 million yen in taxable income in the seven years to last June by falsely declaring that kickbacks from Buddhist monks were tax-free religious offerings, sources said Monday.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau has imposed about 300 million yen in back taxes on Tokyo Sosai, based in Edogawa Ward, they said.
The company arranged for monks to chant sutras at funerals, at which the monks received offerings from families who sought their service.
The monks took their cut but gave most of the remainder to one of three religious groups as money given to a higher religious body, they said.
But because the religious groups, which had been inactive, have been bought out by the funeral company, the tax bureau determined the firm was the true recipient of the money, the sources said.
Religious offerings are tax-free.
The tax bureau suspects the funeral company tried to evade income taxes by disguising the kickbacks as religious offerings, the sources said.
Tokyo Sosai operates in Tokyo and Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures, according to a private credit investigation agency. It had 4.4 billion yen in sales in the year to last June.
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