JAPAN

Securities Firm Handed $42-Million Tax Bill: The Tokyo Regional Tax Bureau will hit Nomura Securities with a $42-million tax bill for failing to declare more than $100 million in income derived from illegal stock transactions, Japanese news reports said Friday. The case involves a transfer of shares in a Nomura real estate subsidiary to other holders at face value, rather than market value. The transfers were made under repurchase agreements that prohibited their sale to third parties without Nomura’s consent and allowed Nomura to buy them back at face value at any time. The transaction was, in effect, a stock parking scheme to evade a legal requirement that bars Nomura from holding more than 5% of the stock in any other corporation, according to investigators for Japan’s Fair Trade Commission, the reports said.