The Japan government is contemplating a plan of action to withhold tax on casino winnings by non-resident foreigners at the nation’s casino resorts, as per the latest reports. In addition to that, the government is considering maintaining chip purchase records as well as win-loss result data mandatory for the casino operators.
According to the reports, the government officials are looking at the tax system as it would become difficult for them to trace down foreigners once they leave the nation. Some nations that already have a tax withholding system on casino winnings in place include South Korea and the United States.
Under the new system, casino winnings would be taxed much like horse racing. The taxes would be imposed on the difference between the purchased chips’ value and the amount of the ones that the players convert back to cash. Also, the record-keeping of purchased chips, along with the win-loss outcomes, would prohibit instances of cheating by the players as they would no longer be able to present their won-chips as their purchased-chips.
As per a Japanese government executive, if they don’t decide on a particular framework at the fore, it would affect the operators’ investment decisions.
The reports also revealed that the proposals would be added in next year’s tax reform outline that the ruling parties would finalize by month-end. If all goes well, the proposals would be in implementation post-April 2021 under the tax system reforms.
It was reported that the country has plans to select up to 3 locations for constructing such integrated resorts that have a huge hotel, gambling areas and conference rooms, anticipated to be in operation from the mid-2020s.
