TOKYO, Oct. 7 (Kyodo) — Tokyo tax authorities have filed charges with local prosecutors that a former head of a Japanese unit of U.S. pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson allegedly evaded about 60 million yen in income tax by concealing income linked to stock options, sources familiar with the case said Wednesday.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau has accused 72-year-old Mitsuo Hirose of tax evasion by concealing the roughly 160 million yen he earned between 2005 and 2007 through the stock options he was allowed to exercise as president of Johnson & Johnson Japan Inc. and as an executive of another affiliate.
Hirose, who also was a senior member of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives between fiscal 2001 and 2008, used accounts at U.S. securities firms for his investment activities related to the stock options and deposited profits from stock sales in overseas accounts.
The Tokyo taxation bureau launched its investigation into the suspected tax evasion case after becoming aware that part of the income Hirose did not declare had moved between some of his overseas accounts, according to the sources.