Japan pension refund: who can claim, how much, and how

Who can claim the pension refund?

You can claim if you meet all of these on the day the Japan Pension Service receives your claim (Japan Pension Service):

1. You do not have Japanese nationality.
2. You are no longer insured under the National Pension or the Employees’ Pension, and your address is no longer in Japan.
3. You have at least 6 months of paid National Pension contributions, or at least 6 months of Employees’ Pension coverage. Months with unpaid National Pension premiums do not count.
4. Your total qualifying period for an old-age pension is under 10 years. At 10 years or more you cannot claim, because you can receive the Japanese old-age pension later.
5. You have never been entitled to a pension, such as a disability pension.

The 6 months are counted separately for each pension. Four months in each does not make 8, and neither one qualifies by itself (Japan Pension Service Q&A). The National Pension counts paid months in full, and months with a partial exemption at three-fourths, one-half or one-fourth, depending on the exemption.

The deadline is 2 years from the day you lost insured status. If your address was still in Japan that day, it is 2 years from the day it was not (Japan Pension Service Q&A).

Fits you if you are leaving Japan for good or for years. Not for you if you plan to work in Japan again and may reach 10 years in total: claiming erases the earlier months (see What you give up).

How much is the pension refund?

Up to ¥537,600 from the National Pension, or up to 5.5 times your average standard remuneration from the Employees’ Pension. The payout counts at most 60 months (5 years) if you have any coverage from April 2021, and at most 36 months if all your coverage ended in March 2021 or earlier (Japan Pension Service). If you were insured for 61 months or more, the payout is calculated on 60 months and every earlier month is still erased.

Employees’ Pension (you worked for a company)

The payout is your average standard remuneration (標準報酬額, your pay grade for each month plus bonuses, averaged over all your months) multiplied by a rate that depends on how many months you were covered (Japan Pension Service). The rate is half of the 18.3% premium rate, which your employer and you split, times the number of months, rounded to one decimal. Half of 18.3% is 9.15%, and 60 months of that is 5.49, shown as 5.5, so the payout does not include your employer’s half (Japan Pension Service).

For a last insured month of April 2021 or later (Japan Pension Service). Months between two rows pay at the lower row: 35 months pays at the 30-month rate.

Our arithmetic on that table, before tax:

These two averages are examples, not typical pay. The Japan Pension Service works out your real average from your record.

National Pension (students, self-employed or unemployed)

The payout is that year’s National Pension premium times one half times a number set by your paid months, using the year of your last paid premium (Japan Pension Service). For a last premium month in April 2026 to March 2027:

Other years pay different amounts: the Japan Pension Service’s English claim form lists the figures for last premium months back to April 2021.

Is the pension refund taxed?

The Employees’ Pension payout has 20.42% income tax withheld, including the special reconstruction tax (National Tax Agency). On a ¥1,375,000 payout that is ¥280,775. The National Pension payout has no tax withheld (Japan Pension Service claim form).

You can claim the withheld tax back by filing a tax return under Article 171 of the Income Tax Act (National Tax Agency). A tax agent in Japan files for you. Before you leave, appoint a person who lives in Japan or a Japanese company and file a Notification of Tax Agent at your tax office (National Tax Agency). When the payout is sent, the Japan Pension Service posts a payment decision notice that goes with the return, so send the original to your agent.

This page does not walk through the tax return itself. Ask the tax office for your last address in Japan, or the agent you choose, which forms they need.

How do I claim the pension refund?

1. File a moving-out notice at your city office. Your address cannot still be in Japan on the day the Japan Pension Service receives your claim (Japan Pension Service Q&A). If you leave on a re-entry permit without filing it, you stay insured until the permit expires and cannot claim until then (Japan Pension Service Q&A).
2. Get the claim form. It is in Japanese plus English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, Filipino (Tagalog), Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Khmer, Russian, Nepali or Mongolian (Japan Pension Service, English page). It asks for your basic pension number, your coverage history and a bank account.
3. Attach the documents. A copy of your passport pages with your name, birth date, nationality, signature and residence status; a bank-issued document showing the account is in your own name; and a document showing your basic pension number. Add proof that you left Japan (a copy of your residence record with the removal marked, or the passport page with your departure stamp) unless you filed a moving-out notice (Japan Pension Service).
4. Pick the account. Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) and some internet-only banks cannot receive the payout. A Japanese account needs your name registered in katakana. For a bank outside Japan, the form needs the bank’s SWIFT code, and without it the payment cannot be sent (Japan Pension Service, claim form).
5. Send it. Post it to the Japan Pension Service Foreign Business Group, 3-5-24 Takaido-Nishi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 168-8505, or file it online through e-Gov (claim form, Japan Pension Service). If you post it before you leave, make sure it arrives on or after the moving-out date (Japan Pension Service Q&A).
6. Wait about 4 months. The payment comes about 4 months after your claim is received, if nothing is missing (Japan Pension Service Q&A). A mistake or a missing paper slows it. Keep your basic pension number: you need it to ask about the claim later.

The claim form lists the currency it pays in by country: US dollars for any country not on its list, and euros, pounds, Canadian or Australian dollars and a few others for the countries it names (claim form).

What do I give up by claiming the pension refund?

Every month of coverage before your claim stops counting as pension coverage, so you give up the right to add them toward a Japanese old-age pension (Japan Pension Service Q&A). This also applies to months above the 60-month cap: a person covered for 90 months is paid for 60 and loses all 90.

If you may come back, work out whether 10 years in total is realistic first. If you stay in Japan several times and your coverage will pass the cap, you may need to claim each time you leave, which keeps each stay’s months paid at its own cap (Japan Pension Service Q&A).

Countries with a pension agreement with Japan let you add periods in both countries toward the 10 years. As of March 2026: Germany, USA, Belgium, France, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Switzerland, Hungary, India, Luxembourg, Philippines, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Austria (Japan Pension Service claim form). If your country is not on the list, such as Vietnam, China, South Korea, the UK or Indonesia, periods are not added together. Check the agreement’s own terms with the Japan Pension Service before you rely on it.

If you may apply for permanent residency later, read the permanent residency guide first: an application is checked on taxes, pension and health insurance paid properly.

What does the 2025 pension law change for the payout?

The pension reform law promulgated on 20 June 2025 will raise the payout cap from 5 years to 8 years, and will stop payouts to people who left Japan on a re-entry permit while the permit is valid (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The start date is set by a cabinet order within 4 years of promulgation, so by June 2029. We found no date as of 3 October 2026, and the Japan Pension Service’s claim form of September 2026 still says 60 months. Until a date is set, the tables above apply.

Today, a person who leaves on a re-entry permit can claim if they filed the moving-out notice. Once the new rule starts, the leaflet says no payout is made while the permit is valid, so that route closes.