Toyota slapped with fine for tax evasion
Autonews.com
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay an unspecified amount in taxes retroactively after authorities found it had failed to report some income.
A Toyota spokesman declined to provide details, including whether the payment would affect its earnings this year.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that Toyota had failed to report $45 million in taxable income, leading the Nagoya Regional Tax Bureau to order payment of two billion yen including an administrative fine.
"There was a difference in interpretation between our side and the tax authorities, and we decided to accept the tax bureau's directive," the Toyota spokesman said.
An official at the Nagoya tax bureau said he could not discuss details of individual cases.
Toyota, the world's third-largest automaker, had revenues of more than $145.5 billion in the business year that ended on March 31, and net profit of 944.6 billion yen, up 53 percent, as it expanded its sales around the globe.
Figures released by the National Tax Agency on Tuesday showed Toyota reported the highest taxable income in Japan last year for the fourth straight term, at 988.73 billion yen -- nearly three times the amount at second-ranked Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc.
According to the Asahi, of the five billion yen it said was unreported, Toyota had deliberately shrunk its taxable income by about one billion yen by transferring the funds to a wholly owned unit in Singapore as aid to help it boost sales in the region.
Toyota's shares ended the morning down 2.27 percent at 3,440 yen, in line with a sharp fall in other auto makers' shares after the dollar broke through 110 yen to hit a three-year low against the Japanese currency.
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said on Wednesday it had agreed to pay an unspecified amount in taxes retroactively after authorities found it had failed to report some income.
A Toyota spokesman declined to provide details, including whether the payment would affect its earnings this year.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that Toyota had failed to report $45 million in taxable income, leading the Nagoya Regional Tax Bureau to order payment of two billion yen including an administrative fine.
"There was a difference in interpretation between our side and the tax authorities, and we decided to accept the tax bureau's directive," the Toyota spokesman said.
An official at the Nagoya tax bureau said he could not discuss details of individual cases.
Toyota, the world's third-largest automaker, had revenues of more than $145.5 billion in the business year that ended on March 31, and net profit of 944.6 billion yen, up 53 percent, as it expanded its sales around the globe.
Figures released by the National Tax Agency on Tuesday showed Toyota reported the highest taxable income in Japan last year for the fourth straight term, at 988.73 billion yen -- nearly three times the amount at second-ranked Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc.
According to the Asahi, of the five billion yen it said was unreported, Toyota had deliberately shrunk its taxable income by about one billion yen by transferring the funds to a wholly owned unit in Singapore as aid to help it boost sales in the region.
Toyota's shares ended the morning down 2.27 percent at 3,440 yen, in line with a sharp fall in other auto makers' shares after the dollar broke through 110 yen to hit a three-year low against the Japanese currency.


