On the 9th, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office said that it was exempt from corporate tax and consumption tax totaling about 137 million yen, and was charged with violating the Corporate Tax Law. Hikaru Kondo (51), president of Nakano-ku, Tokyo, was indicted at home and the company as a corporation. The Tokyo National Tax Bureau Inspection Department had filed a complaint in February last year.
According to the indictment, income was reduced and the total corporate tax of about 109 million yen was evaded in the August 2015, 2017, and 2018 periods by excluding part of the sales. It is said that it was exempted from the consumption tax of about 28 million yen from September 2014 to August 2018 by excluding a part of taxable sales.
In a statement on its website on Friday, ufotable acknowledged the indictment and gave assurances that the company had already filed a corrected tax return and paid the appropriate amount.
Previous reports from The Mainichi Shimbun newspaper from last year claimed that Kondo allegedly hid around 30% of the profits from some of ufotable’s anime-themed restaurants in Tokyo and stored them in a private safe at home. Those reports said that ufotable allegedly owed 139 million yen (about $ 1.28 million) in taxes at the time while the investigation was taking place.
Bungeishunju’s Weekly Bunshun Digital magazine reported in April 2019 that ufotable allegedly owes 400 million yen (about $ 3.57 million) in taxes, citing a source from the Tokyo Regional Tax Office. The report noted that ufotable is suspected of allegedly embezzling funds raised at a charity auction for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, a violation of the Penal Code that carries a possible prison term of no more than 10 years. The Tokyo Regional Tax Office conducted a search of ufotable’s offices in early March of that year as part of an investigation but did not end up pressing charges.
Kondo eventually resigned as chairman of the executive committee of Machi Asobi, the Tokushima event of which ufotable was once the main organizer, in May 2019.
Ufotable, Inc. is a Japanese animation studio founded in October 2000 by former staff of the TMS Entertainment Telecom Animation Film subsidiary and located in Nakano, Tokyo. A unique hallmark seen in many of his works is a clay sequence. The studio is famous for its own uniqueness among anime fans.
Famous Works of Ufotable –
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Fate/Zero
- The Garden of Sinners
- God Eater
- Futakoi Alternative
- Tales of Zestiria the X
Source – Kyodo, The Mainichi Shimbun (志村一也), ufotable
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