Parental Leave Benefits in Japan: The Tax Side

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the National Tax Agency’s pages and the laws on each benefit · figures for the 2026 tax year

The money paid around a birth in Japan — the childbirth allowance (出産手当金), the lump-sum allowance for childbirth (出産育児一時金) and the childcare leave benefit (育児休業給付金) — is not taxed, and that reaches further than the monthly figure. A year spent mostly on leave can let your partner claim the exemption for spouse: on a partner’s salary of ¥4,800,000 that is worth ¥54,900. How much each benefit pays is in childcare leave pay in Japan; for your own figures, use the childcare leave calculator.

This is a general explanation for an employee in Japan. Your employer’s payroll, your health insurer, Hello Work and the tax office are the authority on your own case.

None of it is taxed

The laws that pay these benefits forbid taxing them. The Health Insurance Act (健康保険法, article 62) says no tax may be charged on money received as an insurance benefit, which covers the childbirth allowance and the lump-sum allowance; the Employment Insurance Act (雇用保険法, article 12) says the same of the childcare leave benefit. In practice:

• no income tax or resident tax is taken from them, and they are not on your withholding tax statement (源泉徴収票);
• you do not report them on a tax return;
• they do not count as income for the income tests in the tax system, such as the one for being claimed as a spouse or dependent.

Social insurance is a separate matter: on leave it is waived rather than untaxed — how the waiver works.

Your partner’s exemption for spouse

Because the benefits are not income, a year spent mostly on leave can leave your own salary low enough for your partner to claim you. The exemption for spouse (配偶者控除) needs your salary for the year to be ¥1,360,000 or less, and above that the special exemption for spouse (配偶者特別控除) carries on and tapers. Both need you to be legally married and sharing a household budget, and your partner’s own total income to be ¥10,000,000 or less. On a partner’s salary of ¥4,800,000, paid monthly in Tokyo, claiming a spouse with no salary is worth ¥54,900: ¥19,400 off the year’s income tax and ¥35,500 off the resident tax that follows.

Your partner claims it on their own employer’s year-end forms, using an estimate of your salary for the year, or later on a tax return. It is the year of the leave that matters, not the year of the birth: a baby born in December usually means the leave fills most of the next year. The spouse exemption guide shows the amounts at each salary.

Your own year

• Income tax. Monthly withholding assumed a full year of pay. In the year your leave starts, the year-end adjustment usually gives part of it back. Your employer normally still does the adjustment for you while you are on leave, as long as you are on its payroll at the end of the year.
• Resident tax. It is charged on the previous year’s income, so the bill keeps coming during leave, often to you directly when there is no pay to take it from. The bill the year after a year of leave is much smaller, because the benefits are not in it.

The cost of the birth and the medical expense deduction

Pregnancy check-ups, the delivery and the hospital stay count as medical expenses for the medical expense deduction (医療費控除). The lump-sum allowance for childbirth, ¥500,000 in most cases, has to be taken off them first, because it pays for the same thing. The childbirth allowance does not: the National Tax Agency says it replaces pay rather than covering medical costs.

The deduction belongs to whoever paid: it counts what you paid in the year for yourself and for family who share your household budget, above ¥100,000, or above 5% of your income when that is less. Bills your partner paid are theirs to claim, not yours. A birth that the lump sum mostly covers often leaves nothing on its own, so add the year’s other medical bills paid by the same person before you decide, and claim it on a final tax return (確定申告): it is not part of the year-end adjustment.

Questions people ask

Do I have to file a tax return for the childcare leave benefit?

No. It is not taxed, so it does not go on a return or on your withholding tax statement. You may still want to file for another reason, such as the medical expense deduction.

Can my partner claim me as a spouse while I am on leave?

Often, for a year spent mostly on leave. You need to be legally married and share a household budget, your own total income for the year has to be low enough, which is ¥1,360,000 of salary if salary is all you have, and your partner’s own total income has to be ¥10,000,000 or less. The benefits do not count as income, and the special exemption for spouse covers a part-year of salary too.

Is the childbirth allowance taken off medical expenses?

No. The National Tax Agency says the childbirth allowance replaces pay rather than covering medical costs, so only the lump-sum allowance for childbirth is taken off the cost of the birth.

Sources

• e-Gov — 健康保険法 (article 62: no tax on money received as an insurance benefit) and 雇用保険法 (article 12: the same for the childcare leave benefit). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1124 医療費控除の対象となる出産費用の具体例 (the lump-sum allowance is taken off the cost of the birth; the childbirth allowance is not). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1120 医療費を支払ったとき（医療費控除） (the ¥100,000 or 5% threshold). Japanese.
• National Tax Agency — No.1191 配偶者控除 and No.1195 配偶者特別控除 (the spouse’s income limits). Japanese.
• Japan Health Insurance Association (協会けんぽ) — 出産育児一時金 (¥500,000). Japanese.

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