If you paid into Japan's pension system and you're leaving the country for good, there is a payment you can claim called the 脱退一時金 (dattai ichijikin), or "lump-sum withdrawal payment." It exists specifically for foreign nationals who contributed but won't stay long enough to collect a Japanese pension. Most people who qualify either never apply, or apply and never realize a chunk of it was withheld as tax and could be claimed back. A smaller number of people apply when they shouldn't have — because their home country has an agreement with Japan that would have let those same contribution months count toward a pension back home, and claiming the refund erases that possibility for good.
This page walks through the actual math for both pension types, the tax withholding and how to get it back, and the one decision point — the treaty trade-off — where slowing down matters more than the refund itself. For the practical steps of leaving Japan more broadly, see the full leaving-Japan checklist.
Eligibility and the two-year deadline
To qualify for the 脱退一時金, you need to meet all of the following, according to 日本年金機構 (the Japan Pension Service):
- You are not a Japanese national.
- You paid pension contributions for 6 months or more.
- You no longer have a Japanese address (住民票, jūminhyō) — meaning you've formally moved out.
- You have not qualified for or already received a Japanese pension (for example, through the 10-year minimum for the old-age pension).
The part people miss is the deadline. You must apply within 2 years of the day you lose your Japanese residence. There is no grace period and no appeal process built around it — miss the window and the refund is gone permanently, regardless of how much you contributed.
The clock starts the day you deregister, not the day you decide to apply. Many people leave Japan, get settled in a new country, and only think about the pension refund a year or two later. If your 住民票 was removed more than two years ago, you are very likely too late. If you're still in the window, don't wait — file as soon as you have a foreign address to receive payment at. Keeping a Japanese bank account can simplify the payout; see keeping a bank account open for the refund.
The 国民年金 math
If you paid into 国民年金 (National Pension) — typically because you were self-employed, a student, or between jobs — the refund formula is simple: the current monthly premium × 1/2 × the number of counted months, calculated in 6-month bands. For FY2026 (令和8年度), the monthly premium is ¥17,920, and the published band amounts are:
| Months contributed | Refund amount (FY2026) |
|---|---|
| 6–11 | ¥53,760 |
| 12–17 | ¥107,520 |
| 18–23 | ¥161,280 |
| 24–29 | ¥215,040 |
| 30–35 | ¥268,800 |
| 36–41 | ¥322,560 |
| 42–47 | ¥376,320 |
| 48–53 | ¥430,080 |
| 54–59 | ¥483,840 |
| 60+ | ¥537,600 |
These figures revise every April along with the premium, so a claim filed under a different fiscal year will use a different table. The good news for 国民年金: this lump sum is not taxed. Whatever the table says is what lands in your account, in full, with no withholding to chase down later.
The 厚生年金 math
If you were on a company payroll, you were most likely enrolled in 厚生年金 (Employees' Pension) instead of, or alongside, National Pension. The formula here is different: it's your 平均標準報酬額 (average standard monthly remuneration, with bonuses factored in and averaged across your enrollment period) multiplied by a 支給率 (payment-rate multiplier) that depends on how many months you contributed.
For coverage ending April 2021 or later, the multipliers are:
| Months contributed | Payment-rate 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 |
| 60+ | 5.5 |
Worked example: say your average standard monthly remuneration over your enrollment period was ¥300,000, and you contributed for 60 months or more. The gross lump sum is:
¥300,000 × 5.5 = ¥1,650,000 (before the tax withholding described below).
Unlike 国民年金, this number is an average across your whole working period in Japan, including bonus months, so it's worth pulling your actual 標準報酬月額 history from your 年金定期便 (pension statements) or your Nenkin Net account rather than guessing from a single payslip.
The 60-month cap
Both formulas count contribution months only up to 60 months (5 years). If you worked in Japan for eight years, your refund is calculated as if you'd worked for five. Time beyond the cap does not increase the payout under the rules currently in force. This is the single biggest reason long-term residents describe the 脱退一時金 as a poor deal relative to what they paid in — and it's also the exact rule the 2025 reform (covered below) is set to change, just not yet.
The 20.42% tax — and how to get it back
Here's the part that costs people real money without them noticing: the 厚生年金 lump sum is treated as みなし退職所得 (deemed retirement income), and Japan withholds 20.42% in income tax at the source before you ever see the payment. In practice, only about 80% of the calculated amount actually arrives in your account. The 国民年金 lump sum has no such withholding — this issue only applies to the 厚生年金 portion.
Most people stop there and accept the reduced amount. That's a mistake in most cases, because the 退職所得控除 (retirement income deduction) — ¥400,000 per year of coverage, with a ¥800,000 minimum — usually exceeds the entire lump sum for anyone with a short career in Japan. When the deduction is larger than the income, the actual tax owed is close to zero, meaning nearly all of the 20.42% withheld can be reclaimed.
To claim it back, you need to act before you leave:
- Before departing Japan, appoint a 納税管理人 (tax representative) — a trusted person or professional who will act on your behalf with the tax office after you're gone.
- File the 納税管理人の届出書 (tax representative notification form) at the tax office covering your final Japanese address, before you leave.
- After you receive the 脱退一時金 payment (which typically arrives months after you've already left), your representative files a 確定申告 (final tax return) the following year, using 退職所得の選択課税 (elective taxation on retirement income) to apply the deduction and recalculate the correct tax.
- The refund of over-withheld tax is paid out once the return is processed. You have up to 5 years to file this, so it's recoverable even if you didn't set up a representative in time — though appointing one before departure is far simpler than doing it retroactively.
For the mechanics of appointing a representative and filing from abroad, see the tax reclaim and 納税管理人 in detail.
The treaty trade-off: the one place to stop
This is the part that most English-language guides skip entirely, and it's the one decision that can matter more than every calculation above.
Japan has social-security agreements with 24 countries. With 20 of them, the agreement totalizes pension periods — meaning the months you contributed in Japan can be added to your home-country contribution record to help you reach that country's minimum qualifying period for a pension. That group includes Germany, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, Brazil, India, the Philippines, and others.
If your country totalizes periods with Japan, claiming the 脱退一時金 forfeits those Japanese months permanently. Once you take the refund, those contribution months can no longer be counted toward your home country's pension. If you're realistically going to retire on your home-country pension and you're anywhere near its minimum qualifying period, the credits sitting in Japan's system may be worth far more over your lifetime than the one-time lump sum. This is not a decision to make quickly — check with your home pension authority about how Japanese credits would apply to your record before you file anything.
Four countries have a narrower kind of agreement with Japan — the United Kingdom, South Korea, China, and Italy — that only prevents double coverage (so you're not paying into two systems for the same work) but does not totalize periods. If you're from one of these four, there's nothing to forfeit, because your Japanese months were never going to count toward your home pension anyway.
If your country has no social security agreement with Japan at all, there is likewise no way to carry the credits home, so for most people in that position the refund is the only way to recover any value from the contributions. The rule of thumb: if you are from one of the 20 totalization countries, pause and check with your home pension authority before applying. If you're from the UK, South Korea, China, Italy, or a non-agreement country, that particular concern doesn't apply to you.
The upcoming reform — not yet in effect
A 2025 pension-reform law, published on 2025-06-20, will eventually raise the 60-month cap to 96 months (8 years) and will bar claims from people who leave holding a valid 再入国許可 (re-entry permit) — closing a gap where someone could claim the refund while still technically intending to return. The exact start date will be set later by Cabinet Order, within 4 years of the law's publication.
As of August 2026, this reform is not yet in effect. The 60-month cap and the rules described throughout this page are the ones currently applied to every claim. Don't delay a claim you're otherwise eligible and ready to make on the assumption that better terms are imminent — there's no confirmed date yet, and your own 2-year deadline doesn't wait for the reform.
Estimating your own number
Every figure above comes from 日本年金機構's published rate tables, but the amount actually awarded is determined by 日本年金機構 itself based on your specific contribution record, and the tables are revised every April. Nothing on this page is tax or pension advice — for a decision this size, especially if a totalization country is involved, confirm your specific situation with the pension office or a qualified professional before filing. To get a working estimate based on your own months and average pay, try the refund calculator, and if you have more questions about the process, the FAQ covers common edge cases.