Spouse as a Health Insurance Dependent in Japan

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the Japan Pension Service’s pages · figures for the 2026 tax year

Your spouse can be a dependent (被扶養者, hihuyōsha) on your employee health insurance, at no premium of their own and, if they are 20 to 59, with category 3 cover in the national pension, while their expected income is under ¥1,300,000 a year and, if you live together, under half of yours. The income counts allowances such as commuting, and since April 2026 a spouse paid only a salary can be judged on their employment contract. Above the line the household pays for a second set of insurance: a spouse who earns ¥1,400,000 and joins their own employer’s insurance takes home less than one who earns ¥1,290,000 as your dependent. This page is about health insurance only; tax has its own line, in what a dependent spouse is worth.

This is a general explanation for somebody in employee health insurance (Kyokai Kenpo or a health insurance society). The insurer decides who is a dependent; a society can have its own procedures.

The line

• Under ¥1,300,000 a year of expected income — under ¥1,800,000 if your spouse is 60 or over or has a qualifying disability. The higher ¥1,500,000 line for dependents aged 19 to 22 does not apply to a spouse.
• Under half of your income if you live together. A spouse earning more than half of yours can still be accepted if your income is the higher and the insurer finds you are the household’s main earner.
• Less than you send them if you live apart: their income has to be below the support you give them.
• The year ahead, not the year behind. It is the income expected over the next twelve months from when they become, or are checked as, a dependent — for a salary, a month of ¥108,333 or less.

What counts as their income

• Salary with its allowances, the commuting allowance included, and bonuses. This is before tax and deductions, unlike the tax line.
• Other income: unemployment benefit (a daily amount of ¥3,611 or less still fits), pensions, and sickness or maternity pay from health insurance. They count here whether or not they are taxed: unemployment benefit and sickness or maternity pay are not, but an old-age pension is.

The April 2026 rule: judged on the contract

For a spouse whose only income is a salary, from 1 April 2026 the insurer can judge the year from the employment contract: if the pay in the notice of working conditions (労働条件通知書) or contract, allowances and bonuses included, comes to under ¥1,300,000 a year and no other income is expected, they are treated as a dependent, as long as the half-of-yours or support condition is met too. The Japan Pension Service says this can let a spouse be accepted whose pay would have been over the line on the old way of judging it, as long as the contract keeps it under. It does not work for a contract shorter than a year from the date they become a dependent, for hours left to a shift rota, or for a commuting allowance with no amount stated. You send the contract or an employer’s statement with the dependent form, and your spouse confirms in writing that salary is their only income.

The employer’s insurance can come first

Separately from the ¥1,300,000 line, a spouse who works 20 hours or more a week for a large enough employer joins that employer’s health insurance and pension, whatever they earn: the old monthly pay test was abolished on 1 October 2026. Once they are insured in their own right, they stop being your dependent — the 20-hour rule has the conditions.

What changes above the line

Your spouse then needs insurance of their own: their employer’s, if they qualify, or National Health Insurance from the city and, if they are 20 to 59, the national pension at ¥17,920 a month as a category 1 member. Either way the household starts paying premiums it did not pay before. For a spouse in Tokyo, under 40, paid evenly through the year:

Earning ¥110,000 more leaves them ¥89,420 less after tax and insurance. Their own employees’ pension does add to the pension they will receive, and their own health insurance pays sickness and maternity allowances that a dependent does not get, so the gap is not all loss.

Questions people ask

Is the ¥1,300,000 line the same as the tax one?

No. The tax exemption for spouse looks at the calendar year’s income after deductions; the health insurance line looks at the income expected over the next year, before deductions and including allowances. A spouse can be within one and outside the other.

Does the ¥1,500,000 line for 19 to 22 apply to a spouse?

No. The higher line for dependents aged 19 to 22 excludes the insured person’s spouse, so a spouse of that age is held to ¥1,300,000.

Is there still a ¥1,060,000 line?

Not since 1 October 2026. Whether a part-timer joins their own employer’s insurance now turns on working 20 hours or more a week at a large enough employer, not on monthly pay.

Sources

• Japan Pension Service — 従業員が家族を被扶養者にするとき (under ¥1,300,000, or ¥1,800,000 at 60 or over or with a disability; under half if living together, with the main-earner exception, or below the support if living apart; the year ahead; ¥108,333 a month; ¥3,611 a day of unemployment benefit; pensions and sickness or maternity pay count). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — 労働契約内容による年間収入での被扶養者の認定の取扱いについて (from 1 April 2026: judged on the contract's pay including allowances and bonuses; not for contracts under a year, shift rotas or unstated commuting allowances; the documents). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — 19歳以上23歳未満の方の被扶養者認定における年間収入要件が変わります (the ¥1,500,000 line excludes spouses). Japanese.
• Japan Pension Service — 2026（令和8）年10月に社会保険の短時間労働者に係る賃金要件が撤廃されました (the monthly pay test abolished on 1 October 2026). Japanese.
• Japan Pension Service — 国民年金に加入するための手続き (category 1 and category 3 are for people aged 20 to 59 living in Japan). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.

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