Tax authorities are investigating a Chiba Prefecture bar association over its alleged failure to declare around 46 million yen in taxes during a three-year period up to March, sources close to the association said Wednesday.
The Chiba Bar Association is being investigated in connection with undeclared income mainly from earnings collected for legal aid services, the sources said.
Tax authorities found the association had not declared about 20 million yen in corporate taxes, 20 million yen in withholding tax and about 6 million yen in consumption tax.
The association classified its income from legal aid services as a deposit and not as a profit, using part of it to cover such things as administrative membership fees. The remaining amount was paid to lawyers for their services, the sources said.
They said it also did not deduct taxes from income at source.
The tax examination is ongoing, meaning the final amount of undeclared tax has yet to be determined. However, the numbers may rise further as authorities are prepared to seek tax payments for the additional past two business years, they said.
The association sent an urgent notice of the investigation, dated Tuesday, to its member lawyers. Jiro Kawanobe, head of the association, has declined to comment.