Tasuku Honjo, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, failed to declare about 2.2 billion yen in income in the four years through 2018 in compensation for patents related to cancer immunotherapeutic drug Opdivo, sources said.
The undeclared income was uncovered in an investigation by the Osaka Regional Taxation Bureau. Honjo, who is a distinguished professor at Kyoto University, has already paid about 700 million yen in back taxes, including additional tax for income understatement.
Honjo filed a lawsuit over loyalties concerning the drug against the drug's producer and seller Ono Pharmaceutical Co. According to people familiar with the matter, the company signed a deal with Honjo in 2006 to use the patent.
Under the agreement, Honjo's compsenation from the company for the use of the patented drug would be based on its sales.
However, Honjo temporarily refused to accept the payments, saying the amount was too low.
Honjo sued Ono Pharmaceutical at the Osaka District Court for about 22.6 billion yen in June. At that time, Ono Pharmaceutical deposited the Honjo-rejected compensation with the Legal Affairs Bureau.
Under the Income Tax Law, taxable income is earned when the right to receive money is confirmed under a contract. The taxation bureau determined that the money deposited to the Legal Affairs Bureau could be taxed as income made by Honjo.
A lawyer representing Honjo said, "There was a difference of views with the taxation bureau as to whether the deposit was income or not."
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