Japan Lump-sum Pension Refund, Tax Refund - YouAT LLC

Pension Reform Laws were approved

On June 13 of 2025, pension reform laws were approved at Japanese Diets. Japanese pension systems are basically revised every 5 years.

Japanese government is now being in the process of their official proclamation. Within 4 years after official proclamation, the following reform is to be implemented.

Reform for lump-sum pension refund

According to the new laws, the qualification to claim lump-sum pension refund (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) is to change as follows.

• Non-Japanese are permitted to receive Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments (LSWP) after their re-entry permits expire.

Table: Before reform vs After reform

This table shows how lump-sum pension refund will change after the reform.

	NOW	AFTER REFORM
Re-entry permit	You can claim lump-sum pension refund with keeping re-entry permit if you submit Notification to Move Out of Japan (Tenshutsu Todoke, 転出届) at city office where you reside.	You need to surrender your re-entry permit (including 1 year’s re-entry permit). You will get a punch hole on your residence card at airport when you leave Japan. If you leave Japan with your re-entry permit, then you can claim your lump-sum pension refund after the expiration of re-entry permit.
Period to claim	Within 2 years after losing Japanese address. To so do you need to submit Notification to Move Out of Japan / or get your re-entry permit expired.	Within 2 years after re-entry permit expires.
Permanent Residency (PR)	PR holders are permitted to claim lump-sum pension refund if some conditions are cleared.	PR holders get one of conditions to claim lump-sum pension refund if they surrender PR (or they need to wait until PR visa’s expiration comes). Even after that some other conditions need to be cleared.
Maximum year of payoff	5 years. If applicant over 5 year’s contribution claims lump-sum pension refund, then the payoff is done as 5 year’s contribution.	It is planned to extend it to 8 years.

We posted the latest article "About pension reform laws and change for lump-sum pension refund" on YouAT Blog.

- To YouAT Blog Page..

[Summary]

• Ministry of HL&W published the pension reform bills


• How lump-sum pension refunds will be reformed

We posted the latest article "How much 2025 tax reduction is expected?" on YouAT Blog.

- To YouAT Blog Page..

[Summary]

• Latest developments of tax reduction bill


• Tax reduction is to get enforced from 2025’s income tax


• Note for persons to leave Japan in 2025

We posted the latest article "Why SWIFT (BIC) is needed to receive Japanese pension refund?" on YouAT Blog.

- To YouAT Blog Page..

[Summary]

• You need SWIFT (BIC) to receive Japanese pension refund


• If you receive pension refund at Japanese account you don’t need SWIFT (BIC)

We launched our Q&A blog for non-Japanese about Japan’s pension and tax refunds:

https://www.blog-youat.com/

Please leave your comments on articles.

(Oda Mitsuo, YouATLLC)

1.Kosei Nenkin (Employees’ Pension Insurance)

Kosei Nenkin (厚生年金, こうせいねんきん) covers people who are employed by companies.

Pension refund (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) of Kosei Nenkin is calculated as

Pension Refund = Average Standard Remuneration * Multiplier

(*)Average Standard Remuneration is calculated from the average of your salaries and bonuses you receive throughout the period in that you pay your pension contributions. Please note that it isn’t necessarily the same as the average of your REAL salaries & bonuses (especially if your monthly salary is over 650,000 Yen it is trimmed to 650,000 Yen to derive Average Standard Remuneration).

Your pension refund amount is decided multiplying this Average Standard Remuneration by Multiplier according to your contributed months, shown below.

Case 1: You contribute Kosei Nenkin in April 2021 or after

Months Contributed	Multiplier
6-11	0.5
12-17	1.1
18-23	1.6
24-29	2.2
30-35	2.7
36-41	3.3
42-47	3.8
48-53	4.4
54-59	4.9
over60	5.5

Case 2: You end contributions of Kosei Nenkin in March 2021 or before

Months Contributed	Multiplier
6-11	0.5
12-17	1.1
18-23	1.6
24-29	2.2
30-35	2.7
over36	3.3

[NOTE1] App. 20% of pension refunds are withheld as income tax.
[NOTE2] The sum of Lump-sum Payments are calculated by Japanese Yen. When they are transferred into the bank accounts you designate, they will be exchanged from yen into a foreign currency.
 

2.Kokumin Nenkin (National Pension)

Kokumin Nenkin (国民年金,こくみんねんきん) covers people who are not employed by companies or public offices, that is, for example, the self-employed persons.

Pension refund (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) of Kokumin Nenkin is paid in the same way as Kosei Nenkin, according to your contribution months.
To take an example,

Case 1: You end contributions of Kokumin Nenkin from April 2022 to March 2023

Months Contributed	Refund Amount (JPY)
6-11	49,770
12-17	99,540
18-23	149,310
24-29	199,080
30-35	248,850
36-41	298,620
42-47	348,390
48-53	398,160
54-59	447,930
over60	497,700

Case 2: You end contributions of Kokumin Nenkin in March 2021 or before

If you ended contributions of Kokumin Nenkin in March 2021 or before, your pension refund is paid only by 36 months.
How much it is paid differs year by year (not drastically but modestly), so this is one example.

Example: You end contributions of Kokumin Nenkin from April 2020 to March 2021

Months Contributed	Refund Amount (JPY)
6-11	49,620
12-17	99,240
18-23	148,860
24-29	198,480
30-35	248,100
over36	297,720

[NOTE]The sum of Lump-sum Payments are calculated by Japanese Yen. When they are transferred into the bank accounts you designate, they will be exchanged from yen into a certain currency according to your accounts.

For non-Japanese who contribute Japanese Pension (Kosei Nenkin / Kokumin Nenkin) AFTER APRIL 2021, maximum period of pension refunds (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) is extended up to 5 years (60 months).

For non-Japanese who end their contributions of Japanese Pension (Kosei Nenkin / Kokumin Nenkin) BEFORE APRIL 2021, maximum period of pension refunds (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) is 3 years (36 months), that is unchanged.

Note: Pension refund (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments) can be claimed by non-Japanese who contribute Japanese Pension (Kosei Nenkin / Kokumin Nenkin) for more than 6 months AND less than 10 years (120 months).

For details please see this article:
https://www.youat-jp.com/pensiontopics_detail_e.php?id=13

Website of Japan Pension Service (Japanese):
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/jukyu/sonota-kyufu/dattai-ichiji/20150406.html

To claim your pension refund (lump-sum withdrawal payments) and / or tax refund, you only have to send necessary forms and copy to our office with a postal service, either from inside Japan or outside Japan.
The guidance and the set of claiming forms will be sent to you using emails, so you don’t have to visit our office at all.

(YouAT LLC)

(1) From August 2017 persons who have contributed Japanese pensions for 10 years or over will be granted a qualification of Japanese old age pension. After qualified, they won’t be allowed to claim a lump-sum pension refund (lump-sum withdrawal payments).
(2) Persons who once acquired Permanent Residency will be also granted a qualification of old age pension, if "oversea years (outside Japan) since age 20 to the period PR acquired" + "pension contribution years" get to 10 years or over.
(3) Please note that persons of (1) and (2) won’t be allowed to claim lump-sum pension refund after August 2017.


(1)2017年8月から、年金納付期間10年以上の方には老齢年金の受給権が与えられます。老齢年金の受給権を持つ方は、脱退一時金の申請はできません。
(2)また永住権を与えられたことがある方は、「20歳から永住権を認可されるまでに日本国外に居住していた期間（合算期間）」＋「年金納付期間」が10年以上あれば老齢年金の受給権が与えられる予定です。
(3)これら(1)(2)の方は2017年8月以降は脱退一時金が申請できなくなる予定とされているので、注意してください。


(1)2017年8月起，年金缴纳10年以上的人都有领取老龄年金资格。有了老龄年金领取资格的，就不能申请退出补助金。
(2)拥有永住权的人，“从满20岁以后到拿到永住权以前住在日本以外的期间（加算期间）”+“缴纳年金期间”→有10年以上的话，有老龄年金领取资格。
(3)注意！符合上面（1）（2）条件的人，2017年8月以后就不能申请退出补助金！！

YouAT LLC launches a new service as well as a new website.
It aims for old age person’s (over 60-65 years old) Japanese old age pension claiming.
Japanese old age pensions (Kokumin Nekin, Kosei Nenkin etc) can be claimed both Japanese citizens and non-Japanese citizens if they fill the conditions.
Since August 2017 pension contributors for over 10 years are entitled to claiming Japanese old age pensions.
But there is a difficulty for non-Japanese to claim Japanese old age pensions, so we give you our skilled service in this field too.
Please see our new website if you get interested.

www.65agepensionjapan.com


We will also give you our service for claiming lump-sum pension refunds (for short-period contributors) & tax refunds, of course.


YouATは、60代からの老齢年金の代理申請サービスを始めて、新しいサイトを開きます。
日本の老齢年金は、日本国籍者に限らず非日本国籍者でも基準を満たせば請求することができます。
2017年8月から、この基準が「納付年数10年以上」に短縮されて、申請できる範囲が大きく広がることになります。
ただ日本国外から申請すること、および日本語に通じていない方が申請することはハードルが高く、当社はそのためのサポートを行う用意があります。
興味のある方は、ぜひ当社の新サイトを訪れてください。

www.65agepensionjapan.com

なお、短期滞在者の脱退一時金と税金還付についても、当社は引き続きサービスを継続します。


我们YouAT开始，从60岁以上的老龄（养老）年金申请代办的新业务，同时作了新的网站。
日本的老龄（养老）年金，除了拥有日本国籍者以外，只要满足条件的非日本国籍者也可以申请。
2017年8月起，该条件的时间缩短了“年金缴纳期间10年以上”，也就是说能申请老龄（养老）年金的人会更多了。
考虑到你在国外申请有诸多的不便（日语，申请程序，手续等），为了能帮你尽快申请到老龄年金，我们提供老龄年金代办申请服务。
我们的新的网页。

www.65agepensionjapan.com


关于短期逗留日本的人士的脱退一时金以及税金退还代办服务，继续提供服务。