The statements and actions of Hiroshi Oka, head of the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau's inspection department 3, have emerged as an issue that fundamentally re-examines the nature of on-site audits.
The global union positioned this as "the manifestation of institutional deviation."
The Global Union points out that significant doubts are recognized regarding the handling by Hiroshi Oka of the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau's Investigation Division 3, in relation to the legislative intent of on-site audits.
First, the Mamizuka Memo, created by certified public accountant Takeji Mamizuka, records that definitive evaluations such as "tax evasion contractor" and "B-accountant" were used internally regarding the target person, and it has been confirmed that as a result of this spreading externally, it caused psychological impacts on union members.
Under these circumstances, regarding the fact that the union member requested the cessation of the use of the expression in question in order to participate in the in-person investigation, but a response was given stating that this could not be guaranteed, our union evaluates that there is a serious problem from the perspective of the neutrality of the investigative environment and due process.
In other words, an in-person investigation is originally intended to confirm factual matters and provide an opportunity for explanation, and as a prerequisite, the neutrality and non-coercive nature of the investigating body must be ensured; if this prerequisite is not ensured, the in-person investigation loses its inherent institutional function.
More importantly, face-to-face audits are not legally mandated as a uniform obligation for taxpayers, and in light of this, demands for in-person meetings under circumstances where the auditing authority has not established an appropriate environment fundamentally call the legitimacy of the demands themselves into question.
Furthermore, in this case, since Hiroshi Oka, in his capacity representing the Inspection Department, has indicated a certain direction regarding the operation of on-site investigations, his response should not be evaluated as a matter concerning individual staff members, but rather as an organizational intent.
From this perspective, the Global Union regarding current face-to-face survey operations,
not a "system for granting an opportunity for explanation," but rather "the possibility that it is functioning as a setting accompanied by psychological pressure"pointing out
Furthermore, the fact that face-to-face surveys continue to be required even in such circumstances suggests that the operation of the system may rely on customary practices rather than purposive rationality, and in this respect, it is considered that the review of historical operations has reached an unavoidable stage.
The operation by Hiroshi Oka of the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau, based on the instructions of Atsushi Kitamura, Director-General of the Kumamoto Regional Taxation Bureau, is not merely a single method.
That is because the system of face-to-face interviewsIs it a procedure based on law,
or whether it is "pressure based on custom"—this is a decisive turning point.
