Ufotable studio anime franchises such as Fate and Kimetsu no Yaiba, has been accused of tax evasion. According to reports, the formal notification was issued by the special investigation department of the Tokyo Procuratorate directly to President Hikaru Kondo .
Ufotable reportedly failed to pay 137 million yen (about US$1.24 million) in taxes. 😱
The company acknowledged the complaint and guaranteed that it had filed the corrected income tax return and paid the corresponding amount. Japanese portal Kyodo News reported that the written indictment specified that Ufotable allegedly owes 109 million yen (about US$990,000) in corporate taxes from 2015 to 2018 and 28 million yen (about US$254,000) in special taxes from consumption from September 2014 to August 2018.
Previous reports from The Mainichi Shimbun alleged that Kondo allegedly hid about 30% of the profits from some anime-themed restaurants at studio ufotable in Tokyo where he stored it in a private safe at home. These reports said that ufotable allegedly owed 139 million yen (about US$1.28 million) in taxes at the time, while the investigation was unfolding.
Additionally, Bungeishunju's Weekly Bunshun Digital magazine reported in April 2019 that the studio allegedly owes 400 million yen (about US$3.57 million) in taxes, citing a source at the Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau. The report noted that ufotable is suspected of allegedly diverting funds raised from a charity auction for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, a violation of the Penal Code that carries a potential prison sentence of no more than 10 years. The Tokyo Regional Tax Bureau conducted a search of ufotable's offices in early March of that year as part of an investigation, but did not end up filing charges.
Kondo ended up resigning as president of the executive committee of Machi Asobi, a Tokushima event for which ufotable was once the main organizer, in May 2019.
Finally, the studio was founded in the 2000s.
Via: ANN
