Overview
- Senbon Yukio set up three companies and used bank loans to buy three Tokyo apartment buildings between 2013 and 2017, then gifted the companies’ shares to his four children between 2017 and 2020.
- In 2024 the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau judged the family’s valuation method to be “significantly inappropriate,” applied an exception to standard guidance and revalued the properties at about ¥3.4 billion.
- That revaluation led tax officials to identify about ¥750 million in undeclared gift tax for the four heirs based on the higher asset values.
- The four children appealed the tax assessment to the National Tax Tribunal, which dismissed their request in April 2025, and the authorities added roughly ¥178 million including a non-declaration penalty.
- The case centers on using corporate ownership and leverage plus road-price and fixed-asset values to report low gift values, and it highlights that transfers close to the acquisition date can trigger the tax authority’s exception and tighter enforcement.