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Social insurance · 脱退一時金 · dattai ichijikin

Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment: getting your pension contributions back

If you paid into a Japanese pension for at least 6 months and leave Japan before reaching 10 years of coverage, you can get part of your contributions back. The Japan Pension Service calls it the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin) — most people say “pension refund”. Who qualifies, how much, how to claim from abroad, how to recover the 20.42% tax — and when keeping your pension periods is the better deal.

Calculate your amount

How to claim

Checked against the Japan Pension Service and National Tax Agency websites on October 7, 2026 · Pension in Japan · Social security agreements

Minimum months of contributions6

Maximum months counted60

To claim after you leave2 years

Tax on the Employees’ Pension part20.42%

In short

The Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment in five lines

  • Who: foreign nationals who paid the National Pension (国民年金, kokumin nenkin) or were in Employees’ Pension Insurance (厚生年金, kōsei nenkin) for 6 months or more, and have left Japan.
  • How much: depends on your months and your salary; at most 60 months (5 years) are counted.
  • When: within 2 years from the day you no longer have an address in Japan.
  • Tax: 20.42% is withheld from the Employees’ Pension part; you can get it back through a tax agent.
  • The price: all your Japanese pension periods before the payment are erased. If your country has a social security agreement with Japan, those periods might count toward a pension at home — check social security agreements before you claim.

Conditions

All of them must apply

  • You are not a Japanese national.
  • You have 6 or more months of paid National Pension premiums or of Employees’ Pension coverage. Months with a partial exemption count in part (¼ exemption as ¾ of a month, ½ as ½, ¾ as ¼); months with a full exemption or the Special Payment System for Students (学生納付特例) do not count.
  • You have no address in Japan: you filed a moving-out notification (転出届, tenshutsu todoke) at your city office and left.
  • You are not insured in the Japanese pension system now.
  • You have never qualified for a Japanese pension (including a disability pension).
  • Your coverage is under 10 years — with 10 years you qualify for a Japanese old-age pension, and there is no refund.

Leaving with a re-entry permit? If you did not file a moving-out notification, you stay in the pension system and cannot claim while the permit is valid. If you did file it, you can claim. About the permit: re-entry permit.

How much you get

Two parts: Employees’ Pension and National Pension

If you were a company employee, the payment is your average standard monthly remuneration (標準報酬月額, bonuses included) times a rate. If you paid the National Pension, it is a fixed amount that depends on your months and on the premium in the month of your last payment.

Months of coverage Rate (Employees’ Pension) National Pension (last premium April 2026 – March 2027)
6–11 0.5 ¥53,760
12–17 1.1 ¥107,520
18–23 1.6 ¥161,280
24–29 2.2 ¥215,040
30–35 2.7 ¥268,800
36–41 3.3 ¥322,560
42–47 3.8 ¥376,320
48–53 4.4 ¥430,080
54–59 4.9 ¥483,840
60 or more 5.5 ¥537,600

Example: 3 years as an employee

Step Amount
Average standard monthly remuneration ¥300,000
× rate for 36 months 3.3
= payment before tax ¥990,000
− tax 20.42% ¥202,158
Paid to your account ¥787,842

For 5 years on the same salary: ¥300,000 × 5.5 = ¥1,650,000, tax ¥336,930, paid to your account ¥1,313,070. A student who paid the National Pension for 2 years (without the Special Payment System for Students) gets ¥215,040 — no tax is withheld from this part.

Calculator

Estimate your own amount

The calculator uses the rules above. The Japan Pension Service calculates the exact amount. Nothing you enter is sent to us.

How to claim

Step by step: before and after you leave

You send the claim to the Japan Pension Service. The claim form (脱退一時金請求書) with instructions is available in English and 13 other languages — Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepali, Indonesian, Filipino, Thai, Myanmar, Khmer, Mongolian, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian — on the Japan Pension Service page in English (English form, PDF).

  1. Moving-out notification (転出届)File it at your city office before you leave, with your departure date. Then you do not have to prove separately that you have no address in Japan, and you can claim even if you leave with a re-entry permit.
  2. Tax agentIf you want the 20.42% tax back, file a notification of a tax agent (所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書) with the tax office of your last address before you leave.
  3. Collect the documentsA copy of your passport (the pages with your name, date of birth, nationality, signature and status of residence); a bank document showing the bank name, branch, branch address, account number and you as the account holder; a document with your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号通知書 or 年金手帳). If you did not file a moving-out notification, also a certificate of residence showing your removal (住民票の除票).
  4. Send the claimBy mail — from Japan before you leave, timed so that it arrives on or after your moving-out date, or from abroad within 2 years. The Japan Pension Service FAQ also lists electronic application (電子申請) besides mail; and if you later visit Japan as a tourist, you can hand it in at a pension office.
  5. Receive the paymentThe money goes to your account, and a payment notice (脱退一時金支給決定通知書) arrives by mail. Send the original to your tax agent.

The account must be in your own name. It can be at a bank abroad (the form asks for the SWIFT/BIC code, and IBAN for Europe and the Middle East) or at a Japanese bank if the holder’s name is registered in katakana; Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) is not accepted. To a foreign account the payment is sent in the currency the form lists for your country — euro for euro countries, Australian dollars for Australia, Japanese yen for Myanmar, and so on — and in US dollars for every country not on the list. The exchange rate and bank fees can change what arrives.

The 20.42% tax and how to get it back

Only on the Employees’ Pension part

  • 20.42% income tax is withheld from the Employees’ Pension part, because after leaving you are a non-resident for tax. Nothing is withheld from the National Pension part.
  • You can get the tax back by filing a refund return for separate taxation of retirement income (退職所得の選択課税による還付のための申告書) with the tax office of your last address in Japan. The tax office calculates how much comes back.
  • Your tax agent (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin) files it — any person or company with an address in Japan, such as a friend, a former colleague or a tax accountant.
  • If you left without appointing an agent, the notification of the agent is filed together with the return.

Other taxes when you leave — resident tax for the current year and settling your income tax — are explained on resident tax and filing a tax return.

Before you claim

What you give up

  • Your periods are erased. After the payment all your Japanese pension coverage before it is gone. If you come back to Japan, counting starts from zero — including the 10 years you need for a Japanese pension.
  • No more than 60 months are paid. With 90 months of coverage you are paid for 60, and all 90 are erased. If you come to Japan several times, you can claim after each stay.
  • Totalization is lost. Japan has social security agreements in force with 24 countries; with 20 of them — among them India, the Philippines, the United States, Germany, Australia, Canada and Brazil — your Japanese periods can be added to your home-country periods to qualify for a pension (totalization). The agreements with the UK, Korea, Italy and China only prevent double contributions and do not add up periods. After a refund there is nothing left to add. If you may stay long enough to qualify, compare first: social security agreements.
  • Coming back and permanent residency. If you plan to return and apply for permanent residency later, immigration checks that you paid pension premiums on time in the last 2 years, not your total coverage.

Planned: the 2025 reform. The law raises the maximum from 60 to 96 months (8 years) and stops payment while a re-entry permit is still valid. It starts on a date set by the government, no later than June 19, 2029. No date has been set yet, and the Japan Pension Service still applies 60 months.

Deadlines

What and when

What When If you miss it
Moving-out notification (転出届) at your city office before you leave with a re-entry permit, no claim until the permit expires
Notification of a tax agent before you leave (or together with the tax return) the notification has to be filed with the return
Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment claim within 2 years from the day you no longer have an address in Japan you lose the right to the payment
Mailing the claim from Japan before you leave so that it arrives on or after your moving-out date the claim is rejected: you still have an address in Japan

Linked to your visa.

  • A re-entry permit (including the special re-entry permit) without a moving-out notification keeps you in the pension system — you can claim only after it expires.
  • If you come back to Japan with a work status of residence, your pension coverage starts again from zero. For permanent residency immigration checks pension and health insurance payments for the last 2 years.

Re-entry permit · Permanent residency

If you have a family

Spouse, children, parents: what changes

A dependent for tax and a dependent for health insurance are two different things with different income limits. All the rules for families: Family and dependents.

  • Each family member claims separately — if they paid the National Pension themselves or were employees for 6 months or more.
  • A spouse who was a Category III insured person (第3号被保険者, your dependent) paid no premiums, so those months do not count for a refund: only paid National Pension months and Employees’ Pension coverage count.
  • Children under 20 who did not work as employees are not in the pension system — there is nothing to claim for them.
  • Your family also needs a moving-out notification: without it, everyone who leaves with a re-entry permit stays in the pension system.
  • If your family stays in Japan, a spouse aged 20–59 stops being a Category III insured person after you leave and must join the National Pension.

FAQ

Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment questions

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Ask us a question

Can I get my Japanese pension contributions back when I leave?

Yes, if you are not a Japanese national, paid into the National Pension or Employees’ Pension Insurance for at least 6 months, have under 10 years of coverage and no longer have an address in Japan. You claim the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment from the Japan Pension Service within 2 years.

For Employees’ Pension Insurance, your average standard monthly remuneration times a rate from 0.5 (6 months) to 5.5 (60 months or more), minus 20.42% tax. For the National Pension, a fixed amount from ¥53,760 to ¥537,600 if your last premium was paid between April 2026 and March 2027. At most 60 months are counted.

Yes. Most people mail the claim from abroad within 2 years after leaving. You can also mail it from Japan before you leave, as long as it arrives on or after the moving-out date in your moving-out notification.

To a foreign bank account it is paid in the currency the claim form lists for your country, such as euro or Australian dollars (Japanese yen for Myanmar), and in US dollars for countries not on the list. You can also use a Japanese bank account registered in katakana, but not Japan Post Bank.

You can apply for a refund. Appoint a tax agent in Japan, ideally before you leave, and have them file a refund return for separate taxation of retirement income with the tax office of your last address. The tax office decides the refund amount.

Think first. With 20 of the 24 agreement countries your Japanese periods can be added to your home-country periods to qualify for a pension. The refund erases those periods for good, so if you may need them, keeping them can be worth more than the refund.

You are paid for at most 60 months, but all your months are erased. A law raising the cap to 96 months has passed, but no start date has been set yet. With 10 years of coverage there is no refund: you qualify for a Japanese pension instead.

Only if you filed a moving-out notification at your city office. Without it you stay in the National Pension, and the claim is accepted only after the re-entry permit expires.

Study → Find a job → Work → Taxes → PR or leave

From student to working in Japan — and where you are on the way

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  5. PR or leavea clean record for PR — or the pension refundYou are here

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the Japan Pension Service, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the National Tax Agency on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

This page is general information. Your employer, the health insurance association, the Japan Pension Service and your city office decide your actual premiums and benefits. A Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi) can help with a dispute.

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