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Taxes · 確定申告 · kakutei shinkoku

Filing a tax return in Japan (確定申告) with e-Tax

Most employees never file one: the employer settles the year’s tax for them. But with a side job or freelance work, a salary from a company abroad, large medical bills, a housing loan or a job you left during the year, you file the final tax return yourself. Who must file, who can get money back, the deadlines, e-Tax with a My Number Card step by step — with the NTA’s manuals in English and five other languages — penalties and what to do when you leave Japan.

Who must file

Taxes for employees

Checked against the National Tax Agency website on October 7, 2026 · Year-end adjustment · Family and dependents

Filing period for last year’s incomeFeb 16 – Mar 15

Side income after expenses above which an employee must file¥200,000

Time you have to file for a refund5 years

Annual salary above which a return is required¥20M

In short

What the final tax return is

  • What: in the final tax return (確定申告, kakutei shinkoku) you calculate your income and income tax for the calendar year (January 1 to December 31) yourself and send it to the tax office for your address (所轄税務署).
  • When: from February 16 to March 15 of the next year. If March 15 falls on a weekend, the deadline moves to the next working day.
  • Paying: the tax office sends no bill. You pay yourself: by direct debit (振替納税), online banking, credit card, a payment app, at a convenience store with a QR code or in cash.
  • Refund: if too much tax was withheld, it is paid back to your account at a Japanese bank.
  • Resident tax is calculated by the city from your tax return — you don’t file anything separately.

Who files

Who must file, and who can get money back

Must file

A tax return is required

  • Salary for the year over ¥20,000,000.
  • One employer, year-end adjustment done, but other income after expenses over ¥200,000.
  • Two or more employers: salary without a year-end adjustment plus other income over ¥200,000.
  • Salary paid by someone who does not have to withhold Japanese tax (源泉徴収義務のない者) — for example a company abroad. Then the ¥200,000 rule does not apply: you must file whenever there is income tax to pay for the year, and in any case declare the income to the city for resident tax.
  • Freelance work or your own business.
  • Income from abroad that is taxed in Japan (for an employee with one employer: if it and other side income total over ¥200,000 after expenses). If you have lived in Japan for 5 years or less in the last 10 (non-permanent resident, 非永住者), only the part paid in Japan or sent to Japan is taxed.

If the return would only give you a refund, you don’t have to file — but it pays to.

Can get money back

A refund return (還付申告)

  • You left a job during the year and there was no year-end adjustment.
  • Large medical bills (医療費控除): the year’s total minus insurance payments minus ¥100,000 (or 5% of your income if it is under ¥2,000,000). Up to ¥2,000,000.
  • Hometown tax donations (ふるさと納税) to more than 5 municipalities — or if you file a return anyway.
  • A housing loan (住宅ローン控除): the first year only through a tax return.
  • Losses from a disaster or theft (雑損控除), losses on listed shares.

You can only get back tax that was withheld. If the withholding record (源泉徴収票) shows ¥0 tax, there is nothing to refund.

Deadlines

When to file and pay

What When If you miss it
Return for 2025 income February 16 to March 16, 2026 (passed) you can still file late — with a penalty and interest
Return for 2026 income normally February 16 to March 15, 2027 — the NTA will announce the exact dates late-filing penalty of 5% to 30% of the tax
Paying the tax by the last filing day; with direct debit, later (for 2025 income: April 23, 2026) interest: 2.8% a year for the first 2 months, then 9.1% (2026 rates)
Refund-only return within 5 years from January 1 of the next year (2025 income: until December 31, 2030) the right to the refund expires
Return when leaving Japan without a tax agent (準確定申告) by the day you leave penalties and interest; the debt can be pursued abroad

What to prepare

Documents and data for your return

  • Withholding records (源泉徴収票) from every employer for the year.
  • My Number Card — for e-Tax. Check the dates: for a foreign resident with a limited period of stay the card is valid to the end of that period, and its electronic certificate until your 5th birthday after it was issued.
  • A Japanese bank account in your name — for the refund.
  • Side income: what you received and what you spent during the year (statements, contracts, invoices).
  • Medical bills: the receipts for the year. You don’t attach them — you attach a list of the costs (医療費控除の明細書). Keep the receipts for 5 years: the tax office may ask for them.
  • Hometown tax donations: the donation receipts (寄附金受領証明書).
  • Insurance and iDeCo: the certificates (控除証明書) if you didn’t hand them in at work.
  • Relatives abroad: documents of the relationship and of bank transfers, if you didn’t give them to your employer (details).

e-Tax step by step

Filing from home with your My Number Card

The return is made in Japanese. The easiest way is the NTA website: it asks questions step by step and calculates the tax. The site itself has no English version, but the NTA publishes step-by-step manuals for it in other languages.

Manuals in your language. You can create a Final Tax Return at Home! — the NTA’s English guide to the Preparation Corner, screen by screen, for a salary from one employer without a year-end adjustment, medical expenses, donations (including the hometown tax donation) and refunds. The same manual in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Nepali. For the rules in English: the NTA’s 2025 Income Tax Guide. These manuals cover 2025 returns (filed in 2026); new ones usually come out before the filing season.

  1. Get your phone and card readyA smartphone that can read the My Number Card, with the Mynaportal App (マイナポータルアプリ) — or a computer with a card reader. Remember both card passwords: the 4-digit one for logging in and the 6–16 character one for the electronic signature.
  2. Final Tax Return Preparation Corner (確定申告書等作成コーナー)Open the Final Tax Return Preparation Corner on the NTA website and press Start Creation (作成開始).
  3. How you submitChoose e-Tax (My Number Card method, マイナンバーカード方式), not printing on paper.
  4. Income tax (所得税)Choose the income tax return and the year. Some data — insurance, hometown tax donations — can be imported automatically (マイナポータル連携).
  5. Income (収入・所得の入力)For salary, copy three numbers from your withholding record: 支払金額 (salary), 源泉徴収税額 (tax withheld), 社会保険料等の金額 (social insurance). Side work without an employment contract goes in as miscellaneous income (雑所得) or business income (事業所得).
  6. Deductions (所得控除の入力)Medical expenses, donations, insurance, your spouse and dependents.
  7. Refund or payment (還付・納付)Enter the bank, branch and account for the refund, or choose how you will pay.
  8. Send (送信)Check the result, hold the card to your phone, enter the signature password and send. Save the file of your return.

The main lines of the return

The website fills in the form for you, but it helps to know what is where. Blank forms and instructions are on the NTA income tax return page. Sheet 1 (第一表) has the totals, sheet 2 (第二表) the details.

Line What it is
収入金額等 → 給与 Gross salary for the year (支払金額 on the withholding record)
所得金額等 → 給与 / 雑 Salary after the deduction for employment income; side income after expenses
所得から差し引かれる金額 Deductions: 社会保険料控除 (social insurance), 生命保険料控除 (life insurance), 配偶者（特別）控除 (spouse), 扶養控除 (dependents), 基礎控除 (basic exemption), 医療費控除 (medical), 寄附金控除 (donations)
源泉徴収税額 Tax your employer already withheld
申告納税額 / 還付される税金 How much you pay / how much comes back
還付される税金の受取場所 Bank, branch and account number for the refund
第二表: 所得の内訳 Who paid you, how much, and how much tax they withheld
第二表: 住民税・事業税に関する事項 Data for resident tax. Here you choose how to pay resident tax on income that is not salary (side work without an employment contract, freelance): with your salary (特別徴収) or yourself (自分で納付)

Without a My Number Card, print the return on the same website and send it by mail or take it to the tax office for your address.

Side jobs and freelancing

The ¥200,000 rule and resident tax

  • ¥200,000 is income after expenses (所得), not revenue. With one main job, the year-end adjustment done and side income of no more than ¥200,000, you need no tax return.
  • But you still declare it to the city — at any amount. That is the income declaration for resident tax (住民税申告), from mid-February to March 15.
  • What counts as side income (雑所得, miscellaneous income): online sales, tutoring, babysitting, crypto, renting a room to tourists. Selling your own used belongings is not taxed (except valuables such as jewelry or art worth over ¥300,000 per item).
  • Remote work for a company abroad while you live in Japan is income from a Japanese source, even if the money goes to an account abroad. If the company withholds no Japanese tax, the ¥200,000 rule does not apply: you must file whenever there is income tax to pay for the year, and in any case declare the income to the city for resident tax.
  • Tax treaties between Japan and your country can change how some income is taxed and prevent double taxation, but salary for work done in Japan is normally taxed in Japan. Details: income from abroad; for your case, ask the tax office.
  • Your own business: the notice of starting a business (開業届) is due by the tax return deadline for the year you start. The blue return (青色申告) with double-entry books gives a ¥550,000 deduction, ¥650,000 if filed by e-Tax; otherwise ¥100,000. Apply for it by March 15 of the first year, or within 2 months of starting the business.

Linked to your visa.

  • A side job is not always allowed on a work, Dependent or Student visa: you often need permission (資格外活動許可), and students and dependents may work up to 28 hours a week. Check your status of residence first, then think about taxes.

Permission to work part-time · Student taxes

Late or not filed

Penalties and interest

Situation Penalty for not filing on time (無申告加算税)
You filed late yourself, before any notice of an audit 5% of the tax
After a notice of an audit 10% on the first ¥500,000 of tax, 15% on the part up to ¥3,000,000, 25% on the part above
After an audit 15%, 20% and 30% on the same parts
Up to 1 month late, all tax paid by the due date, no such penalty in the last 5 years no penalty

On top of the penalty, late payment adds interest (延滞税): in 2026, 2.8% a year for the first 2 months after the due date and 9.1% after that. If you cannot pay at once, ask the tax office about paying in installments (換価の猶予, up to 1 year).

Linked to your visa.

  • For permanent residency you need a certificate from the tax office that you owe nothing (納税証明書（その３）) for five national taxes. Paying late counts against you even if the debt is settled by the day you apply.

Taxes and your visa · Permanent residency

If you leave Japan

File before you leave, or through a tax agent

  • If your employer did the year-end adjustment and you have no other income, you need no return: when you leave for good, the employer adjusts your tax by the day you leave.
  • If you do need a return, file it and pay before you leave (準確定申告, departure return).
  • Or, before you leave, appoint a tax agent (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin) — any person or company in Japan — and send the tax office the notification (所得税・消費税の納税管理人の届出書). Then the return is filed at the normal time and the letters go to your agent. Since 2022 the tax office can itself require you to appoint one.
  • Leaving before December 1, 2026: an adjustment at departure and a departure return filed by November 30 use the old basic exemption. You can get the new one from December 1, 2026 — with a request for correction (更正の請求) if you already filed, or with a return if you didn’t.
  • 20.42% tax is withheld from the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment of your pension (脱退一時金). You can get it back with a return filed through a tax agent — see pension refund.
  • Resident tax is separate, through the city: resident tax when you leave Japan.

The NTA in English: Procedures before departing from Japan.

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 you did not declare at work — a spouse, children aged 16 and older, parents — can be claimed in the return.
  • Relatives abroad: attach or show documents of the relationship and of bank transfers if you didn’t give them to your employer. Cash handed over in person does not count.
  • Medical bills of all family members sharing your budget can be added together; the person who paid them claims the deduction.
  • A spouse with their own income files their own return, by the same rules. Spouses cannot both take the special exemption for spouse (配偶者特別控除) for each other.
  • Hometown tax donations: if you file a return, the simplified one-stop procedure (ワンストップ特例) is canceled — enter all your donations in the return.

FAQ

Tax return questions

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Ask us a question

Do I need to file a tax return in Japan as an employee?

Usually not: your employer settles the year’s tax in the year-end adjustment. You must file if your salary is over ¥20,000,000, if you have side income over ¥200,000 after expenses, two employers, a salary from a company abroad that withholds no Japanese tax, or a business.

Returns are filed from February 16 to March 15 of the following year, and the tax is paid by the same day. For 2026 income that is normally February 16 to March 15, 2027; the National Tax Agency announces the exact dates in the fall. A refund-only return can be filed for 5 years.

The Final Tax Return Preparation Corner works in Japanese only, but the National Tax Agency publishes a screen-by-screen manual for it in English, and also in Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Nepali. It covers a salary from one employer, medical expenses, donations and refunds.

Often yes. If you left during the year and had no year-end adjustment, more tax was usually withheld than you owe. Get your withholding record from the employer and file a refund return; you have 5 years. If the record shows ¥0 tax withheld, there is nothing to refund.

Yes. Salary for work you do while living in Japan is Japanese-source income, even if it is paid into an account abroad. If the company withholds no Japanese tax, the ¥200,000 rule does not apply: you must file whenever there is income tax to pay for the year, and declare the income to your city for resident tax in any case. Check first that your status of residence allows the work.

There is a penalty of 5% of the tax if you file late on your own before any audit notice, more after a notice or an audit, plus interest on late payment (2.8% a year for 2 months, then 9.1% in 2026). Filing up to a month late costs no penalty if all the tax was paid on time and you had no such penalty in the last 5 years.

Only if you have income that needs a return, such as side income or a salary without a year-end adjustment. Then file and pay before you leave, or appoint a tax agent in Japan and notify the tax office so the return can be filed at the normal time.

Sources

Where this information comes from

Rates, limits and deadlines on this page were checked against the official websites of the National Tax Agency and city offices 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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