Social Insurance Caps in Japan for High Earners

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the Japan Pension Service and Kyokai Kenpo · Tokyo rates for fiscal 2026

Pension and health insurance in Japan are charged on a grade set from your pay, and the grades stop: pension at ¥650,000 a month, health insurance at ¥1,390,000. Bonuses have caps of their own. Above them the premium stays the same however much more you earn, so the share of pay that goes in social insurance falls: about 14.7% on ¥6,000,000 a year, 8.3% on ¥20,000,000. To see your own figures, use the take-home calculator.

The figures are for Kyokai Kenpo in Tokyo, aged 30. A company health insurance society sets its own health rate, though the grades and the caps are the same.

The four caps

• Pension: the top of 32 grades is ¥650,000, so from a monthly pay of ¥635,000 you pay ¥59,475 a month and no more. On bonuses it is charged on at most ¥1,500,000 in a month, with bonuses paid in the same month added together.
• Health insurance: the top of 50 grades is ¥1,390,000. The health premium, with the child-care support levy, stops at ¥70,056 a month in Tokyo. On bonuses it is charged on at most ¥5,730,000 over a fiscal year from April to March; long-term care insurance from 40 follows the same caps.
• Employment insurance is charged on every yen of pay and bonus, with no cap.

The grade is set from what you are paid, usually from April to June, and used from September; one month of overtime does not lift you to the top. The guide to the October drop explains when it moves.

Three high earners

A year of social insurance in Tokyo, aged 30, with the share of pay it takes. The first row is a salary below both monthly caps, for comparison:

• ¥12,000,000 a year in twelve salaries is above the pension cap but not the health one: pension stops at the same ¥713,700 a year as on any salary from ¥635,000 a month, while health insurance keeps rising.
• ¥20,000,000 a year is above both. Only employment insurance still grows with pay, which is why the share falls to 8.3%.
• A large bonus meets the bonus caps. Each ¥3,000,000 bonus pays pension on ¥1,500,000 only, ¥137,250 each. Health insurance takes the first bonus in full, ¥151,200; the second is charged only on the ¥2,730,000 left of the year’s cap, ¥137,592. The same ¥15,600,000 in twelve equal salaries would pay less pension, because every month would sit at the top grade.

What the caps do not change

• Income tax has no cap: the premiums you pay are deducted, so paying fewer of them leaves a little more taxable income.
• Benefits follow the same capped figures. The earnings-related pension is worked out on your capped grades and capped bonuses. The sickness allowance (傷病手当金) is worked out on the average of your monthly grades over the last twelve months, so it is capped at the top grade too, and ordinary bonuses do not count towards it at all. Pay above the caps adds nothing to either.

Questions people ask

Is there a maximum on social insurance in Japan?

For pension and health insurance, yes. Each is charged on a grade with a top, and bonuses have caps of their own, so above them the premium stops rising. Employment insurance has no cap.

When does the health insurance bonus cap start again?

Every April. It counts bonuses over a fiscal year from April to March, so a large bonus in March and another in June fall in different years.

Does paying less because of the caps mean a smaller pension?

The earnings-related pension is worked out on the same capped figures, so pay above the caps adds nothing to it. The caps save premiums now and give no extra pension later.

Sources

• Japan Pension Service — 厚生年金保険料額表 (32 pension grades to ¥650,000, from a monthly pay of ¥635,000) and 健康保険の保険料額表 (the grades used by Kyokai Kenpo; 50 health grades to ¥1,390,000, from ¥1,355,000). Japanese.
• Japan Pension Service — 賞与にかかる保険料 (bonuses capped at ¥1,500,000 a month for pension, bonuses in the same month added together; ¥5,730,000 a fiscal year from April to March for health insurance). Japanese.
• Kyokai Kenpo — 令和8年度の協会けんぽの保険料率 (Tokyo 9.85% and the child-care support levy 0.23% from April 2026). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Kyokai Kenpo — 病気やケガで会社を休んだとき（傷病手当金） (worked out on the average standard monthly remuneration of the last twelve months; bonuses are not in it). Japanese.
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 雇用保険料率について (charged on all pay, 5/1,000 for the employee in fiscal 2026). Japanese.