Tax panel mulls reforms in R&D, asset inheritance taxes.

TOKYO, Oct. 11 Kyodo

The government's Tax Commission on Friday discussed specific ways to reform taxes for corporate activities and asset inheritance, the main pillars of the tax reform plan for fiscal 2003.

The panel headed by Hiromitsu Ishi, president of Hitotsubashi University, also discussed ways to reform the taxation system for securities transactions, which the government wants to simplify in a bid to lure investors back into the slumping stock market.

Among the possible steps discussed by the panel in the area of corporate research and development (R&D) was to introduce tax exemptions for a certain amount of expenses for the activities, Ishi said.

''Members basically said that the cuts in R&D activities as well as capital investment should be aggressively pursued,'' Ishi said at a news conference.

The panel also basically approved a plan outlining reforms on the gift tax and the inheritance tax aimed at promoting transfer of assets from the older generation to the younger generation.

According to the plan, the system would apply when parents aged over 65 transfer their assets to children aged over 20.

The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, presented a proposal to the panel aimed at simplifying securities transaction taxes, which has been criticized as being complicated.

The proposal targets the special securities accounts to be created at brokerages in January.

The accounts are to be established as the current system of withholding tax on capital gains will be abolished and investors will be required to pay capital gains taxes by filing tax returns from January.

Brokerages that create the special accounts will assume the burden of filing tax returns on behalf of customers.

But investors would still have to file tax returns under certain circumstances under the system, and the reform plan presented on Friday tries to avoid that scenario as much as possible.