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Tax deductions in Japan: family, medical, furusato nōzei, iDeCo and NISA

Taxes in Japan can feel high, but there are legal ways to pay less: deductions for your family, medical bills and insurance, the hometown tax donation (ふるさと納税, furusato nōzei), iDeCo contributions and a NISA account. How much each one saves, how you claim it — through your employer or in a tax return — and who it makes sense for. This page explains the rules; it is not personal financial advice: what suits you depends on your income, family and plans in Japan.

All deductions in one table

Income tax

Checked against the National Tax Agency and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications websites on October 7, 2026 · All taxes · Family and dependents

Medical bills for the year above this lower your income¥100,000

What a hometown tax donation costs you within your limit¥2,000

Monthly iDeCo limit for employees from December 2026¥62,000

You can invest tax-free through NISA each year¥3.6M

In short

What lowers your tax in Japan

  • Family: deductions for a spouse, children aged 16 and older and parents — including relatives abroad, if the conditions are met.
  • Medical bills above ¥100,000 a year.
  • Insurance: all social insurance premiums, private life insurance and earthquake insurance.
  • Hometown tax donation (furusato nōzei) — a donation to a city that sends you a gift and comes back almost in full as lower tax.
  • iDeCo — a private pension plan whose limits rise sharply from December 2026. NISA — an account where investment gains are not taxed.
  • Most of these only make sense if you pay income tax or resident tax.

How a deduction works

A deduction from income (所得控除) does not lower the tax itself but the income it is calculated on. So the saving = the deduction × your income tax rate (5% to 45%, plus the 2.1% surtax) + about 10% resident tax, if resident tax has the same deduction. Example — iDeCo contributions of an employee without a company pension, at income tax rates of 5% and 10%:

Step Rate 5% Rate 10%
iDeCo contributions ¥23,000 × 12 months ¥276,000 ¥276,000
− income tax (with the 2.1% surtax) × 5.105% ≈ ¥14,100 × 10.21% ≈ ¥28,200
− resident tax, 10% ¥27,600 ¥27,600
Saving for the year ≈ ¥41,700 ≈ ¥55,800

The amounts are approximate: the real tax is rounded. A tax credit (税額控除), such as the housing loan credit, is different: it lowers the tax itself.

All deductions

How much each one gives, and how to get it

Deduction How much How to claim
Social insurance premiums (社会保険料控除) everything you paid or had deducted, including for your family deducted from salary — automatic; National Pension and National Health Insurance — the insurance premiums form or a tax return
Life insurance (生命保険料控除) up to ¥40,000 in each of 3 categories, ¥120,000 in total the insurance premiums form + the insurer’s certificate
Earthquake insurance (地震保険料控除) up to ¥50,000 the insurance premiums form + the insurer’s certificate
iDeCo (小規模企業共済等掛金控除) all contributions the insurance premiums form or a tax return
Medical expenses (医療費控除) the part above ¥100,000 (or 5% of income if it is under ¥2,000,000), up to ¥2,000,000 tax return only
Donations, hometown tax donation (寄附金控除) the amount above ¥2,000 tax return or the one-stop procedure (ワンストップ特例)
Spouse, dependents (配偶者控除, 扶養控除) usually ¥380,000 per person; more at ages 19–22 and at 70 and older the dependents form (扶養控除等申告書) or a tax return
Working student (勤労学生控除) ¥270,000 through your employer or a tax return
Housing loan (住宅ローン控除) part of the loan balance — off the tax itself first year by tax return only

Insurance

Social insurance, life insurance and earthquake insurance

  • Social insurance premiums — pension, health insurance, long-term care and Employment Insurance — are deducted in full, including premiums you pay for family members. Contributions to another country’s social security system count only where a tax treaty between Japan and that country says so, and only within its limits. Ask the tax office. (Social security agreements are a separate thing: they decide which country’s system you pay into — see social security agreements.)
  • Life insurance (contracts from 2012): 3 categories — life, medical care and long-term care, personal pension. Up to ¥40,000 in each, ¥120,000 in total. In 2026–2027, with a dependent under 23, up to ¥60,000 in the life category (the total stays ¥120,000). For resident tax: up to ¥28,000 per category, ¥70,000 in total.
  • Earthquake insurance — up to ¥50,000.

Life insurance deduction in one category

Premiums for the year Deduction
up to ¥20,000 the whole amount
¥20,001 – ¥40,000 half + ¥10,000
¥40,001 – ¥80,000 a quarter + ¥20,000
over ¥80,000 ¥40,000

The insurance company sends you a certificate of premiums. Give it to your employer with the insurance premiums form (保険料控除申告書) — the deduction is counted in December. Every field of the form in English: year-end adjustment.

Medical bills

A deduction when treatment cost more than ¥100,000 in a year

If you spent more than ¥100,000 on treatment in a year, the part above that can be deducted from your income. If your income is under ¥2,000,000, the threshold is lower — 5% of your income. The deduction is at most ¥2,000,000.

  • What you actually paid counts, including your 30% share under health insurance: doctor and dentist fees, medicine for treatment, public transport to the hospital, and massage, acupuncture and judo therapy by licensed practitioners when it is treatment.
  • Prevention does not count: routine health checkups and vitamins.
  • Amounts paid back by insurance are subtracted.
  • You can add up the bills of your whole family sharing one budget.
  • Instead you can choose the simpler self-medication deduction (セルフメディケーション税制) for marked over-the-counter medicines: the part above ¥12,000 a year, up to ¥88,000. You cannot take both.

What to do. The medical deduction is claimed only in a tax return (確定申告): attach the list of costs (医療費控除の明細書). Keep the receipts for 5 years — the tax office may ask for them. A refund return can be filed for 5 years: how to file a tax return.

Hometown tax donation (ふるさと納税)

A donation with a gift that comes back as lower tax

Furusato nōzei is a donation to a Japanese city or prefecture of your choice. To thank you, it sends a gift — local food or products — and the donation minus ¥2,000 lowers your income tax and resident tax.

Where the limit comes from

Everything above ¥2,000 comes back in three parts: from income tax (at your rate), from resident tax — the basic 10% part — and a special part that covers the rest. But the special part cannot be more than 20% of your resident tax (the income-based part). Donate more and the gift costs you more than ¥2,000 — that is the limit. It depends on your income and family; donation websites have calculators. A worked example:

Step Amount
Annual salary (2026), single employee ¥5,000,000
Income after the deduction for employment income (¥5,000,000 × 20% + ¥440,000 = ¥1,440,000) ¥3,560,000
Resident tax, income-based part: (¥3,560,000 − ¥750,000 social insurance − ¥430,000 basic deduction) × 10% − ¥2,500 ¥235,500
20% of it — the cap of the special part ¥47,100
Special part = (donation − ¥2,000) × (90% − 5% × 1.021) 84.895% of the amount above ¥2,000
Limit ≈ ¥47,100 ÷ 84.895% + ¥2,000 about ¥57,000

With a donation of ¥57,000 your share is exactly ¥2,000; with ¥58,000 it is already about ¥2,440.

What to do

  • Choose a city and a gift on a furusato nōzei website and pay the donation.
  • If you don’t file a tax return and donated to no more than 5 cities, you can use the one-stop procedure (ワンストップ特例): send an application to each city. Cities usually accept it until January 10 of the next year — the exact date is in their instructions. The whole deduction then comes off next year’s resident tax.
  • With more than five cities, or if you file a tax return anyway, enter all donations in the return (確定申告): filing a return cancels the one-stop procedure.

Good to know. Since October 1, 2025 cities may not take donations through websites that give points for them. The 2026 tax reform set a cap of ¥1,930,000 a year on the special part; it is expected to apply to donations from 2027 and affects only very high incomes.

iDeCo and NISA

A private pension and a tax-free investment account

iDeCo — private pension

iDeCo is an individual-type defined contribution pension. Contributions are fully deducted from income, so they lower both income tax and resident tax. Anyone in the Japanese pension system who pays contributions can join, foreign residents included. With an exemption or deferral of National Pension contributions — such as the student one — you in principle cannot. Monthly limits:

Who you are Until November 2026 Contributions from December 2026
Self-employed, freelancer, student (pays National Pension) ¥68,000 (with the National Pension Fund) ¥75,000
Employee without a company pension ¥23,000 ¥62,000
Employee with a company pension ¥20,000 ¥62,000 — including the company pension
Dependent spouse of an employee (Category III) ¥23,000 no change

From December 2026 you can contribute until age 70, and a new category for ages 60–69 allows up to ¥62,000. Important: as a rule the money cannot be taken out before 60. Before you leave Japan for good, check in advance what happens to your savings.

NISA — investment gains without tax

NISA is an account where gains from shares and funds are not taxed (normally about 20% is taken). Residents of Japan aged 18 and older (on January 1) can open one. Each year up to ¥1,200,000 in the installment part and up to ¥2,400,000 in the growth part, ¥3,600,000 in total; the lifetime limit is ¥18,000,000 invested (up to ¥12,000,000 in the growth part). From January 1, 2027 the installment part is also open to children aged 0–17: ¥600,000 a year. NISA does not lower the tax on your salary. Special rules apply when you leave Japan — ask your broker.

Other deductions

Housing loan, donations, working students

  • Housing loan (住宅ローン控除). With a loan for a home in Japan that you live in, part of the loan balance comes off your tax every year. The conditions depend on the year of purchase and the type of home. The first year only through a tax return.
  • Donations (寄附金控除). The lower of the donations or 40% of income, minus ¥2,000.
  • Working student (勤労学生控除) — ¥270,000, if income after the deduction for employment income is up to ¥850,000 for 2025 and ¥890,000 for 2026 (salary up to ¥1,500,000 and ¥1,630,000). Not every school qualifies — not every language school, for example; ask your school.

Most of this matters once you work full-time on a work visa. Students with a part-time job usually earn less than the income tax threshold (¥1,600,000 for 2025, ¥1,780,000 for 2026), so there is often nothing to lower. The exceptions are the medical and dependents deductions: they also lower resident tax, which starts at a lower income. More: taxes for international students.

How to claim

Through your employer or in a tax return

An employee gets most deductions in the year-end adjustment at work. The rest goes in a tax return. The deductions reach resident tax by themselves: the city gets the data.

What When If you miss it
Year-end adjustment forms: family, insurance, iDeCo the date your employer sets, usually at the end of the year you have to claim the deductions in a tax return
One-stop application (ワンストップ特例) usually by January 10 of the next year — the city gives the date you need a tax return, or there is no deduction
Tax return (medical bills, donations, housing loan) February 16 – March 15 (for 2025 income: by March 16, 2026) a refund return can still be filed within 5 years
New iDeCo limits contributions from December 2026 to pay in more, ask your iDeCo bank or broker how to change your contribution

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.

  • Dependents — ¥380,000 for each person aged 16 and older, ¥630,000 at ages 19–22 (resident tax: ¥330,000 and ¥450,000); aged 70 and older ¥480,000, or ¥580,000 for a parent living with you (resident tax: ¥380,000 and ¥450,000). The dependent’s income after the deduction for employment income must be up to ¥580,000 for 2025 and ¥620,000 for 2026 (salary ¥1,230,000 and ¥1,360,000).
  • A child aged 19–22 earns more — the parents get a partial deduction (特定親族特別控除, special exemption for specified relatives), up to ¥630,000.
  • Spouse — a similar deduction, ¥380,000, and a partial one if the spouse earns more. Details: your spouse.
  • Relatives abroad also give a deduction, but people aged 30–69 only if they left Japan to study abroad, have a disability or received at least ¥380,000 from you for living or study costs that year. You need documents of the relationship and bank transfers; foreign documents with a Japanese translation. Cash does not count. Hand the documents to your employer for the year-end adjustment or attach them to your tax return. Details: relatives abroad.
  • Declare your family on the dependents form (扶養控除等申告書) — when you are hired, at the start of each year and when your family changes.

FAQ

Tax deduction questions

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How can I reduce my taxes in Japan legally?

Declare your family on the dependents form, claim medical bills above ¥100,000 a year, hand in your insurance certificates at the year-end adjustment, use the hometown tax donation within your limit and contribute to iDeCo. Most of these only help if you actually pay income tax or resident tax.

Exactly as for Japanese residents: anyone who pays income tax and resident tax in Japan can donate. Everything above ¥2,000 comes back as lower tax, up to a limit that depends on your income and family; for a single employee earning ¥5,000,000 it is about ¥57,000 a year.

No. The medical expense deduction is claimed only in a tax return: attach the list of costs and keep the receipts for 5 years. A refund return can be filed within 5 years.

Yes, if you are in the Japanese pension system and pay contributions. With an exemption or deferral of National Pension contributions, such as the student one, you in principle cannot. The money normally stays in the plan until age 60, so check what happens to it before you leave Japan for good.

No. NISA makes investment gains tax-free instead of the usual 20% or so, but contributions are not deducted from your income. iDeCo contributions are.

Only where a tax treaty between Japan and your country says so, and only within its limits. Japanese social insurance premiums, including those you pay for family members, are deducted in full.

Yes, if they are aged 16 to 29 or 70 and older on December 31, or aged 30 to 69 and either left Japan to study abroad, are disabled under Japanese rules or receive at least ¥380,000 a year from you. You need documents of the relationship with a Japanese translation and bank transfer records for each person; cash does not count.

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 Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Financial Services 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, not tax advice. Your city office and the tax office decide your actual tax. For a complex case — income from abroad, a business, leaving Japan — talk to a licensed tax accountant (税理士, zeirishi).

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