Photo/Illutration The Finance Ministry building housing the National Tax Agency in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A regional tax bureau seized about 30 million yen ($259,000) from the salaries and assets of two Brazilian soccer players in the J.League to cover the tax payments they owed in South Korea, sources said.

The seizures were made under the convention on mutual assistance for tax collection signed by 77 countries and regions, including Japan and South Korea, as of December 2021.

When the two Brazilians were playing in the South Korean professional league, they fell behind in their tax payments.

After the players transferred to the J.League, South Korean tax authorities could not seize their assets to cover the taxes owed, so they asked Japan’s National Tax Agency for help under the convention, the sources said.

Between 2017 and 2020, the Brazilians played on different J.League teams, including one in the top-ranked J1 division. The teams’ bases fell under the jurisdiction of the Kanto-Shinetsu Regional Taxation Bureau.

The tax bureau seized part of players’ salaries or urged them to pay the taxes through their teams, and the collected money was sent to South Korean tax authorities. The tax collection process was completed by January 2021, the sources said.

The two teams have acknowledged the tax collection. The two Brazilians no longer play in Japan’s professional soccer league.

“The mutual assistance system is a powerful tool to improve tax collection,” said Nobuhiro Miki, a tax accountant and former tax agency official. “More workers are crossing international borders, so it is hoped that more countries will join the convention.”

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