Japan's Monthly Withholding Table, Explained

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the National Tax Agency’s 2026 withholding tables · figures for the 2026 tax year

The income tax on each Japanese payslip is not worked out from your tax bracket. Payroll reads it off the National Tax Agency’s monthly withholding table (月額表, getsugakuhyō) with two numbers: your pay after social insurance, and the number of dependents on your dependents declaration. On ¥300,000 a month in Tokyo, under 40, the pay after insurance is ¥255,930, and the table takes ¥6,320 with nobody to declare. The take-home calculator reads the same table for its monthly income tax line.

This is a general explanation for an employee paid monthly in Japan. Computerised payroll may instead use the formula the Ministry of Finance sets for column kou (電子計算機等を使用して源泉徴収税額を計算する方法), which can come out slightly different from the table each month; the year-end adjustment settles either.

The two numbers

• Pay after social insurance (社会保険料等控除後の給与等の金額): the month’s taxable pay — salary and taxable allowances, not the tax-free part of a commuting allowance — less health insurance, pension and employment insurance taken in that month.
• The number of dependents (扶養親族等の数): from the dependents declaration (扶養控除等申告書) — a spouse who qualifies, dependents aged 16 or over, and extra counts if you or a dependent has a disability, or you are a widow, a single parent or a working student.

The table lists pay in bands — ¥2,000 wide up to ¥221,000 and ¥3,000 wide above it — with one column for each number of dependents from 0 to 7. On ¥300,000 a month the ¥255,930 falls in the band from ¥254,000 to under ¥257,000:

The table has the employment income deduction, the basic exemption and the deductions for dependents built in, so nothing else is subtracted month by month. Above ¥740,000 of pay after insurance the table stops listing bands and gives formulas instead: a fixed amount for each number of dependents plus a share of the pay above the step — 20.42% from ¥740,000, rising to 45.945% at the top.

Column kou and column otsu

Column kou (甲欄) is for the one employer that holds your dependents declaration. Every other employer — a second job, or any employer you have not given the declaration to — uses column otsu (乙欄), which takes far more: ¥37,600 rather than ¥6,320 in the band above. That is meant to be settled later, on a tax return — two jobs in Japan shows how.

Bonuses use a different table

A bonus is normally not read off the monthly table. Its tax is a percentage taken from a separate rate table, chosen by the previous month’s pay after insurance and your dependents — how a bonus is taxed has it. There are two exceptions, both worked out with the monthly table instead: a bonus after a month with no ordinary salary, and a bonus more than ten times the previous month’s salary — bonus tax with no salary last month.

Why December settles it

The table assumes the month is a twelfth of a steady year. It cannot see a raise, a bonus, life insurance or a dependent declared late, so the year’s withholding rarely matches the year’s tax, and the year-end adjustment settles the difference in December — why December pay is different. In 2026 the table used through November 2026 does not include that year’s larger basic exemption, which December gives back.

Questions people ask

Why did my income tax go down when I married?

If you declared your spouse and their income is low enough, they count as one on your dependents declaration, and the table reads one column to the right, which takes less each month.

Why is the income tax on my second job so high?

Because without your dependents declaration that employer has to use column otsu, which is set to take more. The year is settled on a tax return.

Does the table include resident tax?

No. The table is for national income tax only. Resident tax is a separate line on the payslip, set by your city for the year and divided into monthly amounts.

Sources

• National Tax Agency — 令和8年分 源泉徴収税額表 (the monthly table: bands of pay after social insurance, columns for 0 to 7 dependents, column otsu, the formula above ¥740,000; the bonus rate table). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — Withholding Tax Guide 2026 (the dependents declaration, the counts, and the year-end adjustment). English, PDF.
• National Tax Agency — 令和8年度税制改正による所得税の基礎控除の引上げ等について (withholding through November 2026 unchanged). Japanese.

See your monthly income tax line