I'm in the middle of negotiation to purchase some agricultural land. The seller is making some unusual requests and while he seems like an upstanding person, something seems off.
Details
* The agreed sales price is 2.5 million yen
* He wants to sell the land and have the sales contract state 500,000 yen (to avoid or reduce taxes)
* He wants me to pay him 2 million yen on the side
* He wants to give me a "receipt" for 2 million yen. he wants the money ASAP – far before the official sales process
* Obviously I can't imagine any lawyer or scrivener is going to write a contract to better protect the 2 million yen – basically they'd be documenting tax fraud
* He says his tax burden could be 1 million or more – this didn't sound right to me
* I had a Japanese real estate agent helping with the negotiation and she basically fired me mid-process saying "this is more complicated than it seems" but wouldn't explain why
After the agent "fired me", I offered him as a final offer a sales contract price of the 2.5 million yen plus he can choose 1) I will give him 250,000 yen for his taxes "on the side" or 2) He provides me his tax bills and I will reimburse him for them – not to exceed 500,000 yen. And we'll do this as a verbal or informal written agreement. I said – take it or leave it – but we're walking away if you don't agree to Option 1 or 2.
Either because 1) He's obviously running some kind of scam or 2) We don't want to be involved in any kind of tax fraud situation and 3) I'm not willing to risk 2 million yen and trust some guy I barely know.
Curious what other reactions people have to this story. PS – I am in the countryside. The land was an inheritance for him. He's like a 60 year old local guy, seems well connected in the community. But, he's been very aggressive about "where is my 2 million yen" and very aggressive about his intent to "lie" to the city about the sales price.
by fireinsaigon