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2026-09-29

Who pays fixed asset tax after the owner dies? ― the owner on 1 January, the heirs' representative, and the current owner's declaration

Even after a parent dies, the fixed asset tax notice keeps arriving. That year's tax is charged to the owner on 1 January (the parent who died), and the heirs take it over and pay it. From the following year, if the property is still in the parent's name, the tax is charged to \"the person who actually owns it\", and if the division has not been decided, to all the heirs jointly and severally. Using a house with an annual tax of 120,000 yen as the example, this article sets out the notification of the heirs' representative, the current owner's declaration, and how they relate to inheritance registration.

About this translation ― This page is an English translation of an article originally written in Japanese by KuraLab's operator, a licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士) and administrative scrivener (行政書士) in Japan. The Japanese original is the authoritative text; where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. The article explains Japanese law and procedure in general terms as of the date shown. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation ― please confirm with a licensed professional in Japan. Japanese terms are kept in parentheses so you can search for them. Read the Japanese original

"A fixed asset tax notice has come in my father's name. He died in February. I don't have to pay this, do I?" Just after the May holidays, the eldest daughter came in with the envelope. It was addressed to her late father, the annual tax was 120,000 yen, and payment slips for four instalments were enclosed. The answer was: "It has to be paid. But it is not your father who pays; it is all of you, the heirs."

Fixed asset tax (固定資産税) is charged every year on the person registered as owner of land or a building on 1 January (the assessment date, 賦課期日). The tax notice that arrives around April to June is addressed to the owner as of 1 January that year. This father was alive on 1 January, so the fiscal 2026 fixed asset tax was his tax. After his death, the heirs take over the obligation to pay it. Even if the notice is still addressed to the deceased, paying with the slips is all you need to do.

The next fiscal year is different. Article 343(2) of the Local Tax Act provides that where the registered owner died before 1 January, the tax is charged to "the person who actually owns it" on that date. If the division of the estate has not been decided, that is all the heirs as co-owners. And the tax on co-owned real estate must be paid by the co-owners jointly and severally (Article 10-2 of the same Act). This means the municipality can demand the full amount from any one of the heirs.

Who receives the notice is decided by "the name on 1 January." Left, fiscal 2026: on 1 January the father was still alive, so the notice is addressed to him (he died in February), and the heirs take over his tax and pay it. Right, fiscal 2027: on 1 January the registration is still in the father's name and the division has not been decided, so the eldest daughter, the eldest son and the second daughter pay jointly and severally as co-owners, and the notice is sent to their representative. Once inheritance registration changes the name, from the following 1 January the notice goes to the new registered owner.

This is where the "notification of designation of the heirs' representative" (相続人代表者指定届) comes in. Where there are two or more heirs, they choose one representative to receive the notices and payment slips and notify the municipality (Article 9-2 of the same Act). If there is no notification, the municipality may designate one of the heirs itself. The representative is the person who receives the documents; it does not mean that only the representative is obliged to pay. Some families misunderstand this, someone refuses to be the representative, and things get tangled.

The other is the "current owner's declaration" (現所有者の申告). Since 2020, municipalities can by by-law require the person who actually owns land or a building in the name of a deceased person to declare their address and name (Article 384-3 of the same Act). The deadline is set by the municipality's by-law; by law it cannot be shorter than three months from the day after the person learned of it. Some municipalities combine it with the notification of the heirs' representative on a single form.

Something easily missed is direct debit. If the fixed asset tax was being debited from the deceased's account, then once the bank is told of the death and the account is frozen, the debit can no longer be made. The municipality will send separate payment slips, but they are still addressed to the deceased, so they tend to get buried as the post is sorted. If you miss the deadline, late payment charges apply. Once you have contacted the bank, it is safe to contact the municipal tax section within the same week as well and settle where the payment slips are to be sent, together with the notification of the heirs' representative. In areas where city planning tax (都市計画税) applies, it is charged on the same notice as fixed asset tax, and the rules on who pays are the same.

So from when does the name on the notice change to an heir's name? Once inheritance registration (相続登記) changes the name, the notice goes to the new registered owner on the basis of the following 1 January. If the division decides that the eldest daughter alone inherits and the registration is completed within the year, from the next fiscal year the notice is addressed to her. Under the mandatory inheritance registration rule, an application is required within three years of learning of the inheritance, and on the tax side too, putting the name in order early makes it clear whom the notice will go to.

There is one point that is easy to overlook. Within the same municipality, if the total taxable base of a person's land is under 300,000 yen, or of their buildings under 200,000 yen, no fixed asset tax is charged (the exemption threshold, 免税点, Article 351 of the same Act; according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, from fiscal 2027 the threshold for buildings also becomes under 300,000 yen). In other words, if someone owned only forest or narrow strips of land, a notice may never have come at all. You cannot say "no notice came, so there is no land." Check the list of real estate owned in the name-based property list (名寄帳), which you can get at the same counter as the fixed asset tax valuation certificate.

There is one more thing decided on 1 January. If you demolish the family home that has become vacant at the end of the year, the tax on the building disappears from the following fiscal year, but the tax on the land may go up. Land with a house on it has the residential land special rule (住宅用地の特例), under which the taxable base for the part up to 200 square metres is one sixth of the value. If there is no house on 1 January, this rule no longer applies, and the land tax can become several times higher. Because the following year's tax changes depending on whether demolition straddles 1 January, decide the timing together with your plans for selling (the points to watch when inheriting a vacant house are covered in detail in the article on vacant houses).

What about someone who has renounced the inheritance? Renunciation means you are treated as never having been an heir, so in principle you neither take over the deceased's tax nor count as "the person who actually owns it" in the following year. But if the notice arrives before the renunciation procedure and you hurriedly pay from the deceased's savings, it may be seen as disposing of the estate, and you may no longer be able to renounce. If you are thinking of renouncing, check the family court procedure and the order of things before paying (covered in detail in the article on renunciation of inheritance).

Decide how to treat the fixed asset tax for the year of death in the estate discussion too. It is the deceased's tax, so properly it is paid from the estate. If one heir paid it for the others, write a line in the agreement that it will be returned to that person in the division, and there will be no argument later about "who paid." In a family that needs to file an inheritance tax return, fixed asset tax not yet paid at the time of death can be deducted from the estate as a debt. Check with a tax accountant whether a return is needed and how much can be deducted.

Here are this family's figures. The heirs were three: the eldest daughter, the eldest son and the second daughter. The annual tax was 120,000 yen (80,000 yen for the land and 40,000 yen for the building), and each of the four instalments was 30,000 yen. The fiscal 2026 tax was the father's tax, and they decided to pay it from his savings. His account was frozen, so the eldest daughter paid it for now, to be settled in the division of the estate. The fiscal 2027 tax, if the division had not been decided, would be joint and several for the three. They talked it over and decided to make the eldest daughter the representative and that the other two would each give her one third by statutory share, 40,000 yen.

Who pays how much of this family's fixed asset tax (annual tax of 120,000 yen). Fiscal 2026: the tax belongs to the father (the owner on 1 January); the eldest daughter pays it for now and it is settled in the division; split three ways, 40,000 yen each (120,000 yen in total). Fiscal 2027, if still unregistered: the tax belongs to the three as co-owners (joint and several payment); the eldest daughter, as representative, pays it all; the other two each give her 40,000 yen (120,000 yen in total). Fiscal 2027, if registered to the eldest daughter within the year: the tax belongs to the eldest daughter (the registered owner on 1 January); she pays it; 120,000 yen for her, 0 yen for the son and the second daughter.

The division was decided in the autumn. The eldest daughter inherits the house, and the son and second daughter are paid money from the savings instead. If the eldest daughter completes inheritance registration within the year, the fiscal 2027 notice will be addressed to her as the registered owner on 1 January. In that case, what the three split is only the 120,000 yen for fiscal 2026, and from fiscal 2027 the tax is hers alone.

The eldest daughter, who had first asked "I don't have to pay this, do I?", said at the end, "The notice in Dad's name was his last piece of homework." Fixed asset tax is a tax decided on 1 January. Look not at the day of death but at whose name the property is in on 1 January, and you will know who pays.

Written by: 長澤 湊（licensed real-estate transaction specialist, administrative scrivener, assistant surveyor）　Content checked on: 2026-10-24

This article is a general explanation of Japanese rules and procedures, not advice on an individual case. Figures and rules are as of the date shown. For your own situation, consult a lawyer, judicial scrivener, tax accountant or administrative scrivener in Japan.

Official sources

The rules and figures in this article can be checked against the following official pages (in Japanese).

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