Salary Deductions in Japan: 2026 Tax, Insurance & Take-Home Pay Guide

A Japanese payslip commonly separates 支給 (earnings), 控除 (deductions) and 差引支給額 or net payment. The bank transfer is the amount left after deductions, not the gross salary stated in your contract.

Gross pay can include base salary, overtime, commuting allowance and other allowances. Some of those items are treated differently for tax, social insurance or employment insurance, so one percentage cannot explain the entire deduction section.

When take-home pay changes, compare the current payslip with the previous one line by line rather than comparing only the total deducted amount.

• 総支給 / 支給合計 — gross earnings
• 控除合計 — total deductions
• 差引支給額 — net or take-home pay
• Identify the exact deduction line that changed

Employers withhold national income tax and the special income tax for reconstruction from salary using the National Tax Agency's withholding rules. For 2026, the withholding tables were revised following changes to the basic deduction, salary-income deduction and dependent-related rules.

The amount depends on the payroll amount after relevant social-insurance deductions, whether you submitted the dependent declaration to that employer, the number and type of qualifying relatives, and whether the employer is the main or secondary payer.

Monthly withholding is provisional. When you qualify for year-end adjustment, the employer recalculates the annual income tax using the information and deduction certificates you submitted and refunds an overpayment or collects a shortage.

• 所得税 — income tax withholding
• 2026 uses a revised withholding table
• Main-employer and secondary-employer withholding can differ
• Year-end adjustment can create a refund or extra collection

The National Tax Agency states that the 2026 withholding tables changed after the 2025 tax reform revised the basic deduction and the minimum salary-income deduction, and introduced the special deduction for certain relatives aged 19 to 22.

The minimum salary-income deduction increased from ¥550,000 to ¥650,000. The basic deduction was also restructured by income level, with additional temporary increases applying to some income bands.

The practical point for employees is simple: do not use an old 2025 or earlier online payroll table to decide that a 2026 withholding amount is wrong. Check the 2026 table and the dependent information filed with payroll.

• 2026 withholding tables are not identical to 2025
• Minimum salary-income deduction: ¥650,000
• Dependent and special-relative rules changed
• Use current NTA tables when checking payroll

Resident tax is a local tax based mainly on the previous calendar year's income. The municipality where you were resident on January 1 calculates the amount and sends the special-collection amount to the employer.

For salary earners under special collection, resident tax is normally deducted from June through the following May. This is why a new employee or recent arrival can initially have little or no resident-tax deduction and then see take-home pay fall the following June.

A raise in the current year usually does not immediately change the resident-tax line in the same way that current income-tax withholding can. Its main effect appears through the next assessment based on the higher prior-year income.

• 住民税 — resident tax
• Usually based on previous-year income
• Special collection normally runs June to May
• Municipality sets the monthly amount

Employees enrolled in workplace health insurance usually share the premium with the employer. Under Japan Health Insurance Association coverage, the health-insurance rate differs by prefecture and is revised by fiscal year; health-insurance societies can use different rates.

The premium is generally calculated from 標準報酬月額, or standard monthly remuneration, rather than applying the health-insurance rate directly to this month's exact gross pay. The remuneration used for social insurance can include base salary, overtime, commuting allowance and other regular remuneration.

This explains why a small change in overtime can leave the health-insurance deduction unchanged while a later change in standard-remuneration grade can move the deduction noticeably.

• 健康保険 — health insurance
• Rate varies by insurer and, for Kyokai Kenpo, prefecture
• Calculation uses standard monthly remuneration
• Employer and employee generally share the premium

Employee Pension Insurance, 厚生年金, is calculated from standard monthly remuneration for regular salary and standard bonus amount for bonuses.

The total employee-pension insurance premium rate is fixed at 18.3%. The employer and insured employee generally each bear half, so the employee side is ordinarily 9.15% of the applicable standard remuneration or standard bonus amount, subject to grades, caps and rounding.

Do not compare the pension line with a percentage of net pay. The correct comparison is against the official standard remuneration or standard bonus amount used for that insurance period.

• 厚生年金 — employee pension
• Total rate: 18.3%
• Generally split equally: employee share ordinarily 9.15%
• Uses standard remuneration / standard bonus

Japan Pension Service performs an annual determination of standard monthly remuneration. Employers report remuneration paid in April, May and June, and the resulting standard monthly remuneration normally applies from September through the following August.

A change in fixed pay can also trigger a separate monthly-remuneration revision when the statutory conditions are met. In that case, the new grade can take effect before the next annual determination.

This timing is why September or October payslips can show a new health-insurance or pension deduction even when the employee did not receive a pay raise that exact month.

• April–June remuneration is used for annual determination
• New grade normally applies from September
• Fixed-pay changes can trigger an earlier revision
• Overtime changes alone do not always cause immediate regrading

Employment-insurance premiums are calculated from wages subject to employment insurance, so this line can respond more directly to overtime and other wages than health insurance and pension do.

For April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027, the employee rate for a general business is 5 per 1,000, or 0.5%. The employee rate is 6 per 1,000 for the specified agriculture, forestry, fisheries, sake-manufacturing and construction categories.

The total general-business employment-insurance rate is 13.5 per 1,000, with the employer paying the remaining share. If your employment-insurance line is missing or unexpectedly appears, check your employment conditions and insurance qualification date.

• 雇用保険 — employment insurance
• General-business employee rate in FY2026: 5/1,000
• Certain specified industries: 6/1,000 employee rate
• Calculated from covered wages

Fiscal 2026 introduced the 子ども・子育て支援金 contribution through medical-insurance collection. Under Japan Health Insurance Association coverage, the total contribution rate is 0.23% from the April 2026 insurance month, with ordinary employee collection beginning from the corresponding May payment cycle.

For employees, the contribution is shared between employer and employee. The payroll display can show the employee share separately or combine it with health-insurance-related deductions depending on the payroll system.

Do not confuse this new support contribution with the existing employer-only child and childcare contribution associated with employee-pension administration.

• 子ども・子育て支援金 — new 2026 contribution
• Kyokai Kenpo total rate: 0.23%
• Employee and employer share the contribution
• Payroll label may be separate or combined

Employees covered by workplace health insurance generally become second-category long-term-care insured persons from age 40 through age 64.

Under Japan Health Insurance Association, the fiscal 2026 long-term-care insurance rate is 1.62% nationwide and is added for eligible insured persons. The employee and employer generally share the premium.

If a new deduction appears around your 40th birthday, first check whether it is 介護保険 before assuming payroll made an error. The visible payroll month can depend on whether the employer deducts the current or previous insurance month.

• 介護保険 — long-term care insurance
• Generally relevant from age 40 through 64
• Kyokai Kenpo FY2026 rate: 1.62%
• Timing on the payslip depends on payroll collection method

Workers' compensation insurance and employment insurance are both part of labour insurance, but the burden is different.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare states that workers' compensation insurance premiums are entirely paid by the employer, while employment insurance is shared by employer and worker.

If a payslip appears to deduct a statutory 労災保険 premium from your wages, ask payroll for the exact Japanese label and legal basis. A private company insurance plan with a similar description may be a different voluntary deduction.

• 労災保険 — workers' compensation insurance
• Statutory premium is employer-funded
• Do not confuse it with employment insurance
• Ask for the exact label if an unfamiliar insurance deduction appears

A bonus can have income tax, health insurance, employee pension, employment insurance, long-term care insurance when applicable, and the child and childcare support contribution deducted.

Social insurance uses a standard bonus amount rather than the monthly standard-remuneration grade. Income-tax withholding on a bonus uses the National Tax Agency's separate bonus withholding calculation.

Resident tax is not normally recalculated as a separate percentage of the bonus because the municipality has already fixed the monthly special-collection amounts. Do not estimate bonus take-home by applying the same deduction percentage as an ordinary salary month.

• Bonus income tax uses separate withholding rules
• Social insurance uses standard bonus amount
• Employment insurance follows covered bonus wages
• Resident tax follows the municipality's monthly schedule

Not every line under 控除 is a statutory tax or public-insurance premium. Company housing, dormitory charges, meal costs, union dues, savings plans, group insurance, loan repayment or correction of a previous overpayment can also appear.

These items should connect to your employment terms, benefit enrollment, a lawful wage-deduction arrangement or another documented basis.

If a company-specific line is unclear, ask payroll to identify the agreement or rule behind it rather than comparing it with government tax rates.

• 社宅費 / 寮費 — company housing or dormitory
• 組合費 — union dues
• 財形 — employee savings plan
• 立替金 — repayment of company-advanced money
• Private group insurance or company benefit charges

A deduction change is usually easier to explain when you match it to the calendar. April and May can bring new insurance rates; June is the usual start of the new resident-tax year; September is the normal start of the annually redetermined standard remuneration; December can include year-end tax adjustment.

Also check whether you had overtime, unpaid absence, a bonus, a fixed-pay raise, a 40th birthday, a job change or an employer-specific correction.

If the amount still looks wrong, ask payroll one precise question: 'For this line on this payslip, what calculation base, rate and applicable month did you use?' That is much more effective than asking only why deductions are high.

• Compare the exact deduction line with last month
• Check April/May rate changes
• Check June resident tax
• Check September standard-remuneration changes
• Check year-end adjustment, bonuses, age and job changes
• Ask payroll for base × rate × applicable period