For an inherited vacant house, the heirs pay the property tax even before the title is moved

Property tax is a municipal tax on the owner of land and houses. Whether it applies is decided as of 1 January each year, and this day is called the assessment date (the base date for imposing the tax) (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Outline of Property Tax"). Even if the owner changes on 2 January or later, the person who pays that fiscal year's tax does not change.

The owner is usually decided by the name in the register. Then what if the person named in the register had already died on 1 January? The tax falls on the person who actually holds the house on that day, that is, the heir (Local Tax Act Article 343, paragraph 2, Takaoka City guide). This is the same even if the inheritance registration (the procedure to move the title from the deceased) is not done.

The tax for the year of death also remains. If the person died after 1 January, the heirs take over the duty to pay that fiscal year's tax (Local Tax Act Article 9, Koga City guide). Instalments not yet paid will be paid by the heirs.

When there are several heirs, the house is held jointly by all of them, and all are jointly liable to pay the tax (Local Tax Act Article 10-2). Jointly liable means each person is responsible for the full amount. You cannot say "I do not use the house, so it does not concern me."

If the title stays in the deceased person's name, the municipality does not know whom to send the tax notice to. So there is a rule that the heirs, who are the current owners, declare themselves. This is the declaration of current owner under Local Tax Act Article 384-3.

The declaration deadline is set by each municipal tax ordinance. For example, Tonami City, under Tonami City Tax Ordinance Article 74-3, says "until the day 3 months have passed from the day after you learned you are the current owner (such as the date the former owner died)." In other words, you submit it within about 3 months of learning of the death. The deadlines in other municipalities are set by their own ordinances.

On the declaration form, you choose one representative from among the heirs. Tax notices and other papers from the next fiscal year on go to this representative.

This declaration is not a registration. Toyama City writes: "This declaration form is for procedures concerning payment of property tax and the like until the inheritance registration is made at the Legal Affairs Bureau." In other words, it only decides where tax papers are sent, and the title of the house does not change. The inheritance registration is done separately at the Legal Affairs Bureau, and has been a legal duty since 1 April 2024 (Takayama City guide). The deadline and costs of registration are in Inheritance registration of the family home.

The form name differs a little by municipality. The table below shows the names we checked on each city's official website in October 2026.

Takaoka City says that if the inheritance registration is not finished by 31 December of the year of death, the property tax division sends out a declaration form. Takayama City also says that its tax division mails the declaration form. You can check the form names and how to submit them on the pages of Toyama City, Uozu City, Tonami City and Oyabe City.

For municipalities not in the table (including cities and towns in Ishikawa), please ask the tax division of the municipality where the house stands.

The tax notice goes to one representative. If no one has declared one, Uozu City says that, under Local Tax Act Article 9-2, paragraph 2, "the city designates the person who will be the heir representative." It also writes that becoming the representative "has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual right of inheritance." In other words, being chosen as representative does not mean that person inherits the house.

The duty to pay is not only the representative's. All the heirs have it. When the representative pays the full amount, how the siblings split it is decided by talking it over. Until a division agreement (a discussion among all heirs on who receives what) decides who gets the house, deciding in advance who pays how much makes later disputes less likely. For how to think about dividing, see How siblings divide an inherited family home.

The system is the same after the inheritance registration puts the house in the siblings' joint names (one house held in the names of several people). Takayama City says that for a co-owned house, "each co-owner is jointly liable for the tax," and that it sends the tax notice to the representative of the co-owners.

When a renunciation of inheritance (a notice to the family court that you will receive neither assets nor debts) is approved, the person is "deemed never to have been an heir" (Ministry of Justice document). In other words, a person who renounced does not become the owner of the house, and does not take over the duty to pay the deceased person's taxes.

You apply to renounce at the family court within 3 months of learning that you became an heir (court guide). If a tax notice has already arrived, tell the municipality's tax division that the renunciation was approved.

However, the duty to look after the house may not disappear. Article 940, paragraph 1 of the revised Civil Code requires a person who was actually using or managing the house at the time of renunciation to preserve it until handing it over to the next heir or others (Ministry of Justice document). Who keeps the duty, and what happens to the house if everyone renounces, are covered in Renouncing the inheritance does not make a vacant house disappear.

Land with a house on it pays less tax under the residential-land tax reduction (a system that lowers the property tax on land with a house). Under Local Tax Act Article 349-3-2, the tax base (the amount the tax is calculated from) becomes 1/6 for the part up to 200 ㎡ and 1/3 for the part over 200 ㎡ (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism document, "Local Tax Act (excerpt)", Toyama City guide).

Even a vacant house is usually covered by this reduction if a livable house stands on the land. However, a notice from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says that a house in a condition not recognised as a dwelling, or a house planned for demolition, does not count as a "house" for the reduction (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism document).

The reduction ends, and the land tax goes up, mainly in the following two cases.

• When you demolish the house and make it cleared land. Cleared land (land with the building removed and nothing on it) is not a house site, so the reduction cannot be used. Land with no house on 1 January stops counting as residential land from that fiscal year.
• When the municipality issues a recommendation. Under the Vacant Houses Act, if you receive a recommendation (a strong warning from the municipality) as a designated hazardous vacant house (judged dangerous by the municipality) or a vacant house in poor condition (pointed out by the municipality as dangerous if left alone), the site loses the reduction even though a house stands on it (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism document).

You may hear that "demolishing makes the tax 6 times higher," but the 1/6 is about the tax base. The tax amount does not simply become 6 times higher. For residential land that loses the reduction, the tax base is capped at 70% of the assessed value, and there is a mechanism that smooths the rise from the previous year (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Outline of Property Tax"). Please check the actual amount on the tax statement that the municipality sends you (the yearly breakdown of your property tax).

For the stages up to a recommendation and their deadlines, see When a vacant-house notice arrives from the city hall. For what to know before demolishing, see Appraisal with and without demolition.

Even if you sell the house partway through the year, the property tax for that fiscal year falls on the 1 January owner for the full year. Koshigaya City writes: "Even if ownership is transferred on 2 January or later, the taxpayer does not change."

In a sale and purchase, the seller and buyer sometimes split the tax by the day, with the handover (handing over the keys and changing the owner) as the dividing line. But this is not a legal rule. Koshigaya City also says that splitting by the day and similar settlements are "not provided for in the Local Tax Act," and that the seller and buyer decide by agreement.

How the property tax is split when we buy your house is agreed in the contract.

For the full yearly costs of a vacant house, such as property tax, mowing and snow removal, see What to do with a family home in Toyama. For the order of steps from inheriting to selling, see What to do with an inherited vacant house.

• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Outline of Property Tax"
• Toyama City, "Procedures when a taxpayer has died (declaration of current owner)"
• Toyama City, "What are property tax and city planning tax?"
• Takaoka City, "Procedures when the owner of fixed property has died"
• Uozu City, "Heir representatives"
• Tonami City, "About the property current-owner declaration form"
• Oyabe City, "Heir representative designation and current-owner declaration form"
• Takayama City, "Procedures after the death of a property owner"
• Koga City, "When a property tax taxpayer has died"
• Koshigaya City, "What happens to property tax if the owner of land or a building changes during the year?"
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, "Vacant-house measures concerning the residential-land reduction for property tax and similar taxes" (PDF)
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, "Local Tax Act (excerpt)": special provision on the tax base of property tax for residential land (PDF)
• Ministry of Justice, "Outline of the Act partially amending the Civil Code and the Act on the Return of Inherited Land to the National Treasury" (PDF)
• Courts, "Application to renounce an inheritance"