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Leaving Japan · 帰国 · kikoku

Leaving Japan for good: a checklist with deadlines

You can leave Japan in a day, but you cannot close everything in a day. Resident tax arrives for last year after you have gone, your pension contributions can be claimed back only after you leave — or kept for a pension later — and your residence card is taken at the airport. Below: a checklist with dates — what to do a month before, two weeks before, on your last working day, at the airport and from abroad.

Checklist with dates

Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment

Checked against the websites of the National Tax Agency, the Japan Pension Service, the Immigration Services Agency, Japan Customs and city offices on October 7, 2026 · Taxes · Social insurance

How early you can file the moving-out notificationabout 14 days

Your address on this day decides your resident tax for the yearJanuary 1

To claim your pension contributions back after you leave2 years

Cash above this amount must be declared to Customs¥1M

In short

Leaving Japan in six lines

  • Moving-out notification (転出届, tenshutsu todoke) at the city office, from about 14 days before you leave. It ends your National Health Insurance and National Pension, and a foreign resident’s My Number Card stops being valid.
  • Resident tax (住民税, jūminzei) is owed for the whole year if you had an address in Japan on January 1. Tax that arrives after you leave is paid by your tax agent (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin).
  • Income tax is settled by your employer in a year-end adjustment (年末調整, nenmatsu chōsei) before your departure.
  • Pension: take the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin) within 2 years of leaving — or keep your Japanese years for a pension later, especially if your country has a social security agreement with Japan.
  • Residence card is handed in at the airport if you leave without a re-entry permit. Your status of residence ends — permanent residency included.
  • Last step from abroad: the pension claim and, through your tax agent, the tax refund on it.

Checklist with dates

Example: flying out on March 20, 2027

You work on the Engineer / Specialist in Humanities / International Services status. Your last working day is Friday, March 12, and your flight is on Saturday, March 20, 2027.

  1. January–February — job, bank, tax agentHand in your resignation (by law at least 2 weeks ahead) and agree on the date. Choose a tax agent, decide which accounts and contracts to close. Decide about your pension: refund or keep the years.
  2. March 12 — last working dayYear-end adjustment of income tax, the rest of the resident tax deducted in one sum from your last pay, the withholding record (源泉徴収票, gensen chōshūhyō). Company insurance ends on March 13.
  3. March 15 — city officeMoving-out notification with the date March 20 (possible from about March 6, 14 days ahead). For the days between your job and departure you are in National Health Insurance and, aged 20 to 59, National Pension. Both end with your departure; your My Number Card stops being valid.
  4. Before the flight — immigrationNotification of the Contracting Organization (契約機関に関する届出) that your contract has ended: due within 14 days, by March 26 — easiest online before you leave.
  5. March 20 — airportYour residence card is taken. Cash or other means of payment over ¥1,000,000 — a declaration to Customs.
  6. June 2027 — resident tax for FY2027The city calculates the tax on your 2026 income — your tax agent pays it.
  7. By March 20, 2029 — Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment2 years from departure, if you choose the refund. Then the 20.42% tax on it can be reclaimed through your tax agent.
What Where When
Resignation Employer 2 weeks or more ahead; company rules often ask for 1–2 months
Tax agent (納税管理人) Tax office and city office Before you leave
Moving-out notification (転出届) City office From about 14 days before departure
Year-end adjustment, withholding record Employer By your departure
Notification of the Contracting Organization Immigration Within 14 days of leaving the job
Residence card Airport On departure
Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (if you choose it) Japan Pension Service, by mail or online Within 2 years of leaving

Your job

Leave properly and take what is yours

  • Notice. On an open-ended contract the law asks for 2 weeks’ notice; company rules often say one or two months. How to resign and what to check: quitting a job in Japan.
  • Money and belongings. Your employer must hand over your last pay, your money and your belongings within 7 days of your request (Labor Standards Act, Article 23). Make the request in writing at least 7 days before your flight.
  • Documents. Take your withholding record (源泉徴収票) and the document with your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号通知書 or the older 年金手帳) — you need the number for the pension claim.
  • Immigration. Report the end of your contract within 14 days — online, at an immigration office or by mail. More: notifications to immigration.

City office

The moving-out notification and what ends with it

You file the moving-out notification for a move abroad (国外転出届) at the city or ward office where you live, from about 14 days before you leave. You can go yourself, a member of the same household can go, or someone with your power of attorney. The notification gives your departure date.

What What happens
National Health Insurance (国民健康保険) Ends on your departure date. Company Health Insurance ends the day after you leave the job; if there are days between your job and departure, you need National Health Insurance for them (join within 14 days).
National Pension (国民年金) Ends with your departure. Without the moving-out notification and with a re-entry permit you stay in the pension system and cannot claim the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment while the permit is valid.
My Number Card A foreign resident’s card stops being valid when you move abroad and is handed in at the city office. On the new combined residence card (特定在留カード) only the My Number function ends.
Certificate of removal from the resident register (住民票の除票) Not needed for the pension claim if you filed the moving-out notification before leaving.

Taxes

Income tax and resident tax

Income tax

  • Year-end adjustment on departure. If you leave for good, your employer adjusts the year’s income tax (year-end adjustment) by your departure. Premiums count only up to departure, dependents as of the day you leave.
  • Tax return. If you must file a tax return (for example, you had income other than your salary) and have no tax agent, you file it and pay before you leave — a quasi-final return (準確定申告, jun kakutei shinkoku). With a tax agent, the normal deadline (February 16 to March 15) applies and the mail goes to the agent.
  • Leaving in 2026. The new, higher basic exemption for 2026 takes effect on December 1, 2026. If your last pay is before December 1, 2026, the adjustment uses the old amounts; you get the new ones with a tax return filed from December 1, 2026 — from abroad, through your tax agent. If you already filed a return before leaving, your agent can ask for a correction (更正の請求) from December 1, 2026 to December 1, 2031.
  • You cannot just leave without paying: penalties and delinquency tax are added, and the tax can be collected abroad. Since 2022 the tax office can order you to appoint a tax agent.

Resident tax (住民税)

Resident tax for a fiscal year is paid by everyone who had an address in Japan on January 1 — even if they left on January 2. Leaving does not reduce it. In the example with a flight on March 20, 2027:

  • the rest of the FY2026 tax (up to May 2027) is deducted from your last pay in one sum — when you leave a job between January 1 and April 30 the law requires it, if your last pay covers it;
  • the FY2027 tax (on 2026 income) is calculated by the city by June 2027, when you have already gone. File a tax agent notification with the city (納税管理人申告書). Without it the city can serve the notice by public announcement (公示送達) and add late payment charges.

Your tax agent can be any person or company in Japan. You notify the tax office (for income tax) and the city office (for resident tax) separately. More: resident tax and taxes and your visa.

Your pension

Take the money back — or keep the years?

Every month you paid into a Japanese pension is on record. When you leave, you choose: claim part of the contributions back as a Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment, or leave the periods in place and get a Japanese pension later. Once the refund is paid, the periods are gone for good.

Option 1

Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金)

  • Who: non-Japanese nationals who paid contributions for 6 months or more, have less than 10 years of coverage and no longer have an address in Japan.
  • When: within 2 years of leaving. You may post the claim from Japan, but it must arrive on or after the departure date in your moving-out notification.
  • How much: at most 60 months (5 years) count. All your Japanese periods are erased — also for adding up under a social security agreement later.
  • Tax: 20.42% is withheld from the Employees’ Pension Insurance part; you can reclaim it through your tax agent. The National Pension part has no withholding.

Option 2

Keep the periods (totalization)

  • With a social security agreement: Japan has agreements with 24 countries, and 20 of them let you add up your years in both countries (totalization). Japanese years plus years at home can reach Japan’s 10-year minimum; Japan then pays a pension for its years from pension age.
  • No adding up under the agreements with the United Kingdom, Korea, China and Italy — they only stop double contributions.
  • If you come back to Japan later, the kept periods count toward the 10 years too.
  • If your totalized coverage already reaches 10 years (120 months), you cannot claim the refund at all.

How to decide. The refund is money now, but it counts at most 5 years — every month beyond 60 is paid in and never returned. Keeping the periods makes sense if your country has an agreement with totalization, if you have more than 5 years in Japan, or if you may come back. Check the agreement first: social security agreements. Amounts, the calculator and the claim form in English: Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment. How the Japanese pension works: pension in Japan.

Bank, phone, money

What to close and what to keep

  • Bank account. Tell your bank you are leaving: banks treat customers living abroad differently — some close the account, others restrict it. Close the accounts you don’t need before you go. If you keep one, ask whether you can use it from abroad.
  • Last payments. Decide in advance where your last salary, a tax refund through your agent and the pension refund will be paid.
  • Phone and internet. Cancel contracts in time and check that no phone installments are left. Keep your number until the last day while your bank and government services send codes by SMS.
  • Sending money abroad. You can transfer savings through a bank or a licensed money transfer service; the bank may ask the purpose of the transfer.
  • Cash. If you carry cash, checks or securities worth over ¥1,000,000, fill in the Declaration of Carrying of Means of Payment (支払手段等の携帯輸出・輸入申告書) for Customs when you leave.
  • Your apartment, utilities and large items of garbage (粗大ごみ, sodai gomi, collected by appointment for a fee) — start a month ahead.

At the airport

Your residence card and your status

Linked to your visa.

  • Without a re-entry permit your residence card becomes invalid when you leave and is taken at passport control. Your status of residence and period of stay end — permanent residency included.
  • With a re-entry permit (including the special re-entry permit, みなし再入国, minashi sainyūkoku — up to 1 year, not beyond your period of stay, and it cannot be extended from abroad) you keep the card. If you do not come back in time, your status ends and the card must be returned within 14 days.
  • Leaving with a permit “just in case” is possible, but without the moving-out notification you stay in the pension system and cannot claim the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment while the permit is valid.

Re-entry permit · Notifications to immigration · Permanent residency

If you want to come back

What stays and what starts again

What After leaving without a re-entry permit
Status of residence Ends. To come back you need a new job or school, a new Certificate of Eligibility and visa — as the first time.
Permanent residency Ends too. A new application usually needs 10 years of continuous residence in Japan, 5 of them on a work status; earlier years before a break usually do not count — ask immigration.
Pension periods Kept if you did not take the refund, and they count toward the 10 years for a Japanese pension. After a refund they are gone.
Tax record Tax and premium debts remain. Tax certificates are checked when you extend a status and apply for permanent residency.

Deadlines

What happens if you miss them

What When If you miss it
Moving-out notification (転出届) from about 14 days before departure health insurance and pension continue to be charged; for the pension claim you need a certificate of removal
Tax agent before you leave the tax return must be filed before departure; the city may add late payment charges
Resident tax the rest from your last pay; the next year through your agent late payment charges; the debt stays yours
Notification to immigration within 14 days of leaving the job a fine of up to ¥200,000
Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment within 2 years of leaving the right to the refund is lost (the periods stay on record)
Cash declaration on departure, over ¥1,000,000 a breach of customs rules

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.

  • A spouse and children with Dependent status (家族滞在) live in Japan as the family of the worker who supports them. If you leave and they stay, their status needs another basis — talk to immigration early. More: Dependent visa.
  • The moving-out notification can be filed for the whole household in one visit. Each family member hands in their own residence card at the airport.
  • Pension: everyone who paid contributions for 6 months or more decides for themselves — refund or keep the periods — and each person files their own claim.
  • Dependents for tax are counted as of the day you leave in the year-end adjustment. Families and taxes: Family and dependents.

FAQ

Questions about leaving Japan

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

Yes, if you are not a Japanese national, paid contributions for at least 6 months, have less than 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 of leaving. At most 60 months count, and 20.42% tax is withheld from the Employees’ Pension Insurance part, which you can reclaim through a tax agent.

The refund erases all your Japanese periods, also for adding up under a social security agreement later. If your country has an agreement with Japan that adds up periods (20 of the 24 agreements do), your Japanese years can count toward Japan’s 10-year minimum together with your years at home, and Japan pays a pension for them later. Keeping them also helps if you may come back to Japan. With more than 5 years paid in, the refund returns only part of the money.

Yes. Resident tax for a fiscal year is owed by everyone who had an address in Japan on January 1 of that year, and leaving does not reduce it. If you leave a job between January 1 and April 30, the rest of the year is deducted from your last pay if it covers it. Tax calculated after you have gone is paid by your tax agent.

A tax agent (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin) is a person or company in Japan who receives your tax mail and pays or files for you after you leave. Any individual or company in Japan can be your agent. You notify the tax office for income tax and the city office for resident tax separately, before you leave. Without an agent you must file and pay income tax before departure.

From about 14 days before your departure, at the city or ward office where you live. The notification gives your departure date and ends your National Health Insurance and National Pension from that date. A foreign resident’s My Number Card stops being valid.

If you leave without a re-entry permit, the card is taken at passport control and your status of residence ends, permanent residency included. With a re-entry permit you keep it; if you do not come back before the permit expires, your status ends and you must return the card within 14 days.

It depends on the bank. Banks treat customers living abroad differently: some close the account, others restrict what you can do. Tell your bank before you leave, close the accounts you don’t need and decide where your last salary and any refunds will be paid.

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

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

  1. Studylanguage school · part-time up to 28 h a week
  2. Find a jobresume, interviews, shūkatsu
  3. Workcontract, pay, your first 30 days
  4. Taxestaxes, insurance and pension
  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 National Tax Agency, the Japan Pension Service, the Immigration Services Agency, Japan Customs and city offices on October 7, 2026. Amounts are in Japanese yen. When a rule changes we update the page and the date above.

Results and examples are estimates, not your employer’s payroll. The amounts on your payslip and in your resident tax notice are the ones that count. For a complex case, talk to a licensed tax accountant (税理士) or a Labor and Social Security Attorney (社会保険労務士, sharōshi).

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