SG System Inc, which is responsible for the IT management business within the SG Holdings Group centered around Sagawa Express, has refreshed the version of its reading service targeting the payroll payment report (hereinafter referred to as "Kyuhou") provided by its AI-powered OCR (Optical Character Recognition) platform service "Biz-AI×OCR" and started offering it from November 2024.
In this version upgrade, the reading accuracy reached an average of 99.1% for all items due to improvements in the non-standard engine and AI-OCR engine. Additionally, the reading of the "summary table," which had high demand from users, has become possible, and further business efficiency has been achieved through the addition of functionalities to the reading result conversion tool and the introduction of a new entry system.

Background of the service provision

Kyuhou is a document that reports the amount of salary paid by businesses to their employees to local governments for calculating residential tax. In recent years, although the promotion of electronic procedures has been facilitated by the introduction of the local tax portal system "eLTAX," the utilization rate for Kyuhou remained at 61.5% as of the 2021 fiscal year (there are approximately 60.68 million wage earners in Japan).
Furthermore, as Kyuhou is a non-standard form with different formats by municipality and is composed of multiple types of documents such as "head paper," "summary table," and "detailed statement," it is a challenging area for AI-OCR implementation. Therefore, business process outsourcing vendors (hereinafter referred to as "BPO providers") in municipalities and contracted companies are facing challenges with the data entry load during peak periods.
To address these challenges, SG System, in collaboration with Future Architect, developed an AI-OCR service for Kyuhou by combining its unique AI-OCR engine and algorithms, launching it in January 2021. Since then, continuous version upgrades have led to added functionalities and accuracy improvements. Recently, the direct adoption in municipalities along with BPO providers has been expanding, with reading achievements surpassing 2 million copies in the 2023 fiscal year.

"Biz-AI×OCR" Kyuhou reading service - Latest features

1. Improvements to non-standard engine and AI-OCR engine
With the renewal of AI Algorithms and the addition of an AI-OCR engine specialized for specific items, the reading accuracy has further improved. The average accuracy of all items in the statement table has reached 99.1%. As a result, mismatches during verification input have decreased by 20% compared to the previous version, which is expected to significantly contribute to reducing the psychological burden on verifiers and maintaining input rhythm. The 'Name Kana' item, which is difficult to read, has achieved an accuracy of 98.6% when separated by surname and given name.

2. Response to the summary table
Response to the highly demanded summary table reading. A new non-standard engine has been developed that supports the summary table. Similar to the existing detail table reading service, it can automatically analyze and return reading results one sheet at a time without prior setting of reading positions. The reading targets for the summary table respond to the industry’s most items as per our survey, with a total of 8 items supported.

Salary Payment Reporting Summary Table (Form No. 17)

3. Addition of functions to the reading result conversion tool
A new 'File Layout Conversion Tool' has been provided to convert the OCR reading results file into specifications required by subsequent systems (such as entry systems and tax systems).

Image of the file layout conversion tool.

4. Introduction of an entry system that makes it easy to confirm and correct reading results.
A new input system is provided to confirm and correct the reading results of 'Biz-AI×OCR'. With the 'Fast Entry Feature', items with high AI reliability do not need to be verified, allowing only low-reliability items to be checked, which is expected to achieve high work efficiency. During input, the exact input location on the scanned image can be indicated, enabling intuitive and stress-free input. This configuration is optimal and simple for municipalities conducting input work for salary reporting.

Biz-AI×OCR (for salary payment reports) entry screen.

SG System supports labor-saving for municipalities and businesses by providing AI-OCR services in collaboration with the co-developer Future Architect, while also working on further improvement of IT and digital technology that SG Holdings Group has developed, contributing to the operational efficiency and productivity enhancement of all customers advancing DX.

Note 1: 'Biz-AI×OCR' is the service name of SG System in 'Future OCR', provided by Future Architect.
'Future OCR' is a registered trademark of Future Architect.
※2 "Summary of the Study Group on Promoting Digitization in Local Tax for the 2022 Fiscal Year" (PDF)　　
※3 National Tax Agency "2023 Private Salary Actual Survey"

※4 【SG System】 Started providing AI-OCR services targeting salary payment reports.

※5 【SG System】 "Biz-AI x OCR" AI-OCR service targeting salary payment reports has exceeded 2 million readings in the 2023 fiscal year.
※6 The "Ordinary Collection Target" item is also compatible with summary tables that do not separate "Ordinary Collection Target (Retirees)" and "Ordinary Collection Target (excluding Retirees)".
※7 The images of salary payment reports (summary table and individual detail sheets) used in this press release are all created by processing "Form No. 17" (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) () .
Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications homepage ()

Company overview

■SG System Inc.
SG System is engaged in system integration services that focus on the development, design, maintenance, and operation of various systems of the SG Holdings Group, which is centered around Sagawa Express. It also provides logistics IT consulting based on know-how for improving logistics within the group to external customers, a payment business that offers financial services such as cash on delivery, and a BPO business that handles document imaging, text data conversion, call center services, and back-office operations.
Head office: 25 Kamitoriba Katsuda-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto City.
Representative: President and CEO Shinji Maruyama.
Established: February 17, 1983.
URL:

■Future Architect Inc.
Head office: 1-2-2 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo.
Representative: President and CEO Tomohiko Taniguchi.
Established: April 1, 2016.
Business Content: Providing Consulting Services that use IT as a Weapon to solve problems.
URL: