Tag - taxes

 
Menu
Search
 
February 22, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

TAXES

The city government of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, used corporate donations to create a volunteer tour, during which participants help farmers harvest apples and enjoy sightseeing in the city.
JAPAN / FOCUS
Feb 20, 2025
Corporate hometown donations gain traction in Japan
Some local governments have been found to provide de facto rewards to donor companies, violating the system's rules and raising concerns about improper practices.
DPP tax chair Motohisa Furukawa speaks during a meeting of the party's tax committee in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 19, 2025
Debate over income tax threshold reform hits roadblock with new LDP proposal
Neither Komeito, the ruling coalition's junior partner, nor the opposition Democratic Party for the People supported the LDP's new income tax plan.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau found the tax nonpayment after asking information, such as a list of companies, from the tax authorities of Singapore based on the Japan-Singapore tax treaty and analyzing the collected data.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2025
Tokyo tax bureau seizes ¥1.8 billion from Hong Kong game firm over unpaid tax
The company, which operated its Mafia City online game via a platform based in Singapore, failed to pay consumption tax associated with revenue from in-game spending.
Elon Musk speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11.
WORLD
Feb 17, 2025
Musk’s DOGE team seeks access to taxpayer information
The U.S. has strict laws that prohibit the disclosure of taxpayer data, though there are exceptions for law enforcement.
Scott Bessent, then nominee for U.S. treasury secretary, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 16.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 28, 2025
Billionaire financier Bessent confirmed as Trump's treasury chief
The new treasury secretary will be the chief economic spokesman for President Donald Trump and his sweeping agenda of tax cuts, deregulation and trade rebalancing.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 21, 2025
Trump declares U.S. exempt from previously agreed global corporate tax pact
The landmark 2021 agreement with nearly 140 countries set a global corporate minimum tax rate of 15%.
Tourists visit Fushimi Inari Shrine in the city of Kyoto on Monday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 15, 2025
Kyoto to raise accommodation tax to a maximum ¥10,000 per night
The collected money under the new plan would be used to improve infrastructure in the city, such as increasing public transportation.
People pray on the first day of the new year at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Japan’s economy is set for modest growth in 2025 supported by wage increases and stimulus, but faces risks from political instability and global challenges.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2025
Hope for the economy in 2025, but dangers loom
Political uncertainty at home and a tumultuous international environment pose real risks for the nation’s economy.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba must get cooperation from at least one opposition party to ensure passage of the 2025 fiscal year budget. He must also show he is capable of a smooth working relationship with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 1, 2025
Three tests Ishiba must pass to survive in 2025
Overcoming the challenges that lay ahead will require the prime minister to make the best use of his political and diplomatic negotiating skills.
Cabinet ministers at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 27, 2024
Japan's Cabinet approves ¥115.5 trillion budget
The proposal exceeded ¥110 trillion for the third consecutive year in order to increase spending on defense and social welfare costs.
A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) Type 10 main battle tank fires ammunition during a live fire exercise at the JGSDF's training grounds in the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in May.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 26, 2024
Japan set to approve record budget, spending more on defense and regions
While the government will have to lean heavily on debt issuance, record tax receipts will enable the cutting back of fresh bond issuance by almost a fifth.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries' Tokyo head office
JAPAN
Dec 23, 2024
Kawasaki Heavy's spending on SDF personnel found taxable
SDF submarine crew members have been wined, dined and given gift certificates by Kawasaki Heavy's Kobe Works, with the expenses reported as tax-deductible.
Three political parties' secretaries-general sign a confirmation letter in Tokyo on Friday regarding the tax-free income threshold.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 20, 2024
Ruling camp approves tax reform proposal
The ruling bloc agreed to “continue talks in good faith” with the DPP, which wants to further raise the tax-free income threshold.
Jasper Cheung, head of Amazon Japan (second from the left), which will enter the "furusato nozei" hometown donation intermediary business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 19, 2024
Amazon Japan to enter 'furusato nōzei' business
Amazon aims to differentiate its service from other sites by delivering gifts as quickly as one day after donations are made.
The secretaries-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito and the Democratic Party for the People have agreed to start raising the minimum taxable income level next year.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 16, 2024
DPP tax chief hints at termination of talks with Japan's ruling bloc
The DPP would have to consider axing the talks if the ruling coalition sticks to its proposal of raising the threshold to ¥1.23 million, Motohisa Furukawa said.
Commuters in Tokyo in March 2023.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
Ruling bloc proposes ¥1.23 million minimum threshold for taxable income
Tax chiefs from the LDP, Komeito and DPP plan to meet again as early as Tuesday after the DPP, which seeks to raise the threshold to ¥1.78 million, opposed the proposal.
Yoichi Miyazawa (right), chair of the Liberal Democratic Party's tax panel, said Friday that both the LDP and Komeito have agreed to decide on the start date for higher income taxes at a later date.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 13, 2024
LDP-Komeito bloc defers decision on income tax hike to boost defense budget
The bloc originally aimed to raise income tax rates in January 2027, but reconsidered following discussions with the opposition Democratic Party for the People.
The Lower House Budget Committee clears the 2024 supplementary budget on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 12, 2024
Lower House passes ¥13.9 trillion supplementary budget
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s minority government made concessions to the opposition to secure support for the budget, which includes an economic stimulus package.
Fewer and fewer people are using the administrative consultation system, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 12, 2024
Japan aims to raise awareness of administrative consultation services
Fewer people are using the administrative consultation system, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.
Wealthy people in Japan failed to declare a total of ¥65.5 billion in taxable income in the year through June, down 33.2% from the year before, a National Tax Agency report showed Friday.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2024
Japan's wealthy fail to declare ¥65.5 billion in income
The tax agency attributed the rise partly to the full-fledged use of artificial intelligence to make investigations more efficient.
Yen advances past ¥150 per dollar as BOJ rate-hike bets ramp up
The Japanese currency climbed as much as 1% to ¥149.95 against the dollar on Thursday, a level it hasn’t touched since Dec. 9.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Record percentage of Japanese firms plan wage hikes, survey shows
Some 61.9% of over 11,000 surveyed companies intend to pledge pay increases as part of annual wage negotiations culminating in March, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank.
Japan’s inflation speeds up, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
A customer visits a store along the Togoshi Ginza shopping street in Tokyo on Jan. 23. Rising fresh food prices contributed to the acceleration in overall inflation in January, as vegetable prices, including cabbage, soared.
Victor Wembanyama expected to miss remainder of regular season with blood clot
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (right) is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season, the team announced on Thursday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’
SWCC keeps changing with keyword ‘new challenges’

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER