The anime production company Ufotable Inc., known for its Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series, and its president have been charged with evading about 139 million yen in corporate and other tax payments, according to sources.
The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau referred the charges on Ufotable and President Hikaru Kondo, 50, to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, alleging there were violations of the Corporate Tax Law and the Consumption Tax Law. Utofable is based in Nakano Ward, Tokyo.
Part of the hidden income had been stored in a safe at the president's home, the sources said.
The company manages restaurants related to anime characters across the nation, while also producing anime series. In four of the restaurants in Tokyo and Osaka, where sales were handled in cash, part of the money was allegedly kept out of accounting records.
The company is suspected of hiding about 446 million yen of income over the three-year period through the end of August 2018, and as a result, evading payments of about 110 million yen in corporate tax and about 29 million yen in consumption tax received from customers.
Kondo had told accounting officials for the four restaurants to bring 30% to 50% of the cash revenue to the house, which serves as his home and office.
When the taxation bureau conducted a compulsory inspection of the company in March 2019, its officials found about 300 million yen in cash, stored mainly in the safe at his home.
"We amended the tax reports in line with the instruction of the taxation bureau, and paid all the tax due. We sincerely apologize to all the fans [of the company's products] and all the people involved," Ufotable said through a lawyer, in response to questions from the press.
The Kimetsu no Yaiba series takes place during the Taisho era, and depicts a boy whose family members were killed by a demon. He bands together with others to fight the demons.
The anime and original manga series have become a social phenomenon. The original manga series ended in May, but the company is scheduled to make a theatrical release this autumn.
Ufotable was established in 2000. Other anime series have also boosted its sales, including the Fate series based on story settings of a popular game series.
According to a private credit research firm, Ufotable had sales of 800 million yen in the business year ended in August 2019.
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