When Employees Must File a Tax Return in Japan

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · National Tax Agency · figures for the 2026 tax year

Most employees in Japan never file a final tax return (確定申告): the year-end adjustment (年末調整) settles the year at work. You must file if your salary is over ¥20,000,000, if you have more than ¥200,000 of other income, or if a second job’s pay is not settled anywhere. In other cases a return is optional and usually brings money back — medical expenses, the first year of a housing loan, a job that ended before December. The table below sorts the usual cases; the return for 2026 is filed from 16 February to 15 March 2027.

This is a general guide for a resident employee. It does not cover a company director paid by their own company, a disaster relief claim, or retirement pay on which too little tax was withheld, which have rules of their own (No.1900).

Do you have to file?

The cases where you must

Among employees, the National Tax Agency lists these (No.1900):

• A salary over ¥20,000,000 a year. The employer does not do a year-end adjustment above that line, so the year is settled on your return.
• Other income over ¥200,000 with one employer — income, not takings: freelance fees less their costs, rent less expenses. Shares in a withholding account (源泉徴収あり特定口座) and interest on a Japanese bank account, taxed at source, do not count; interest from a bank account abroad does. The ¥200,000 rule has the details.
• Two employers in the year, when the salary that no year-end adjustment took in, plus other income, is over ¥200,000. With two jobs at once that is usually the second job’s pay, taxed at column otsu (乙欄). After a job change, the earlier employer’s salary counts only if the new employer left it out — it is taken in when you hand over the earlier withholding tax statement before the adjustment. You are let off if all your salary less your deductions (leaving out medical expenses, donations, casualty losses and the basic exemption) is ¥1,500,000 or less and other income is ¥200,000 or less — two jobs in Japan.
• Pay from an employer that does not withhold tax — a foreign embassy in Japan, or a household that employs you directly.

None of these apply if the return would bring you a refund: a refund return is never required, only allowed.

The cases where it pays

• You left a job during the year and nobody did a year-end adjustment for you. Tax was withheld each month as if you would earn the whole year, so a return usually brings some back.
• Medical expenses above the threshold, for you or family who share your living costs — the medical expense deduction.
• The first year of a housing loan. The home-loan credit has to be claimed on a return the first time; from the second year, the certificate from the tax office goes to your employer and the year-end adjustment takes it.
• Furusato nozei when you gave to more than five places, or file a return for another reason: the one-stop exception then lapses and every donation goes on the return — furusato nozei and the one-stop exception.

When to file

The return for 2026 is filed from 16 February to 15 March 2027, and tax still owed is paid by the same day. A return that only brings a refund can be filed for 5 years, counted from 1 January of the year after — from 1 January 2027 for 2026, so before the crowds in February. The exception is a claim that needs a return filed on time, such as the ¥550,000 or ¥650,000 blue-return special deduction (青色申告特別控除) on side-business or rental income: that return has to be in by 15 March 2027 even when it brings a refund. Filing late when you owe tax can add a penalty for not filing and late-payment interest. A mistake on a year-end adjustment that is still at work is better fixed there first — fixing a year-end adjustment mistake.

Filing from a smartphone

1. Have your My Number Card (マイナンバーカード) and its passwords, a smartphone that can read it, and your withholding tax statement (源泉徴収票) for the year.
2. Open the National Tax Agency’s return-preparation site (確定申告書等作成コーナー) and choose e-Tax with the card.
3. Link Mynaportal (マイナポータル) if you want certificates such as life insurance, donations and medical expenses filled in for you; otherwise type them in.
4. Enter the figures from the withholding tax statement and anything else you are declaring, check the result, and send it. A refund goes to a bank account in your own name.

For the certificates e-Tax lets you leave out — insurance, social insurance, iDeCo, donations, the medical expense notice and the home-loan balance certificate from the second year on — you type in the figures and send no paper. The first year of the home-loan credit is different: its papers have to be submitted with the return, so follow the list of attachments the e-Tax screens show. The tax office can ask to see the certificates you left out for 5 years from the filing deadline (from the day you file, for a refund return filed after it), so keep them — which tax documents to keep, and for how long.

Questions people ask

I had a year-end adjustment. Can I still file a return?

Yes. The return replaces the year-end adjustment's result: you enter the same salary and withholding from your withholding tax statement and add what the adjustment could not include, such as medical expenses.

What happens if I should have filed and did not?

The tax is still owed, and a late return can add a penalty for not filing and late-payment interest. Filing as soon as you notice keeps both lower.

Do I need a tax return for resident tax too?

A final tax return also reports your income to your city, so you do not file twice. If you do not file one but had small side income, the city may still want a resident tax declaration.

Sources

• National Tax Agency — No.1900 給与所得者で確定申告が必要な人 (the cases, salary left out of the year-end adjustment, the ¥1,500,000 exception for two jobs, income that does not count) and No.2665 年末調整の対象となる人 (no year-end adjustment on a salary over ¥20,000,000). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2674 中途就職者の年末調整 (the new employer takes in the earlier salary from its withholding tax statement; without it, a return). Japanese, opened 25 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2030 還付申告 (refund returns for 5 years from 1 January, but by the deadline for the blue-return deduction; leaving a job, housing loans, medical expenses) and No.2020 確定申告 (16 February to 15 March). Japanese, opened 25 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2072 青色申告特別控除 (the ¥550,000 and ¥650,000 deductions need a return by the deadline). Japanese, opened 25 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1211-1 住宅の新築等をし、令和4年以降に居住の用に供した場合（住宅借入金等特別控除） (a return in the first year with its papers attached, the year-end adjustment after). Japanese, opened 25 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1904 給与所得者と電子申告 (e-Tax for employees; certificates not attached, but asked for up to 5 years from the deadline) and the 確定申告特集 (the smartphone and Mynaportal route). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• e-Gov — 地方税法 (article 317-3: a final tax return counts as the resident tax declaration). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.

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