Resident Tax Exemption in Japan: Who Pays Nothing

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · city offices’ pages · lines for income earned in 2026 (the resident tax from June 2027)

Resident tax (住民税) is not charged at all below a line set by the size of your household (住民税非課税). In Tokyo’s 23 wards and other large cities, for income earned in 2026, a single person whose only income is salary pays nothing on ¥1,190,000 or less, and somebody supporting one dependent pays nothing on ¥1,750,000 or less. Resident tax has two parts — a flat part (均等割) and an income-based part (所得割) — and each has its own line. How the tax is worked out above the lines is in how resident tax is calculated.

This is a general explanation. Your city or ward decides your resident tax, and what being exempt brings you is set by each city.

The two lines

Both are set on your income for the year — salary after the employment income deduction, not the salary itself. The line for no tax at all uses total income (合計所得金額); the line for the income-based part uses total income after any losses carried forward from earlier years (総所得金額等), which for somebody with salary only and no such losses is the same figure. Both also depend on the number of people: you, plus a spouse you support and dependents, children under 16 included.

• No resident tax at all: total income of ¥450,000 or less if you are on your own; with a spouse or dependents, ¥350,000 × the number of people + ¥100,000 + ¥210,000.
• No income-based part (you pay only the flat part): ¥350,000 × the number of people + ¥100,000 + ¥320,000 if you have a spouse or dependents.

On salary alone, for 2026, the employment income deduction is at least ¥740,000, so up to ¥2,200,000 of salary the line in salary is the income line plus ¥740,000: ¥1,190,000 on your own, ¥1,750,000 with one dependent for no tax at all, and ¥1,860,000 with one dependent for no income-based part.

Smaller towns draw the first line lower

The line for paying nothing at all follows the grade of the area (級地) that the public assistance system uses. The figures above are for the top grade — Tokyo’s 23 wards and other large cities. Each city sets its own figures by ordinance from that grade, and in a second-grade area the ¥350,000 per person is usually ¥315,000 and the ¥210,000 is ¥189,000; in a third, ¥280,000 and ¥168,000. So a single person on salary alone pays nothing up to ¥1,155,000 in a second-grade town and ¥1,120,000 in a third-grade one. The line for the income-based part is the same everywhere.

Pensions, and the ¥1,350,000 rule

• A public pension at 65 or over. The deduction for public pensions is at least ¥1,100,000 at that age, so a single pensioner in a large city whose only income is a pension pays no resident tax on ¥1,550,000 or less.
• A person with a disability, a minor, a widow or a single parent pays no resident tax with total income of ¥1,350,000 or less — ¥2,090,000 of salary for 2026 — whatever the household.

What being exempt changes

Beyond the tax itself, many things are tied to a household being exempt (住民税非課税世帯): lower National Health Insurance and nursing care premiums, lower fees for some services, and one-off payments that the government sometimes makes. They differ by city and by year, so the city’s own pages are the place to look.

Questions people ask

Do children under 16 count towards the line?

Yes. For these lines a dependent includes a child under 16 and a spouse who qualifies, even though a child under 16 brings no deduction.

Is a household exempt if one member is?

Not necessarily. Each person’s resident tax is decided separately. Many city benefits ask whether the whole household is exempt, which means every member, so check how the city defines it.

Does the year-end adjustment decide this?

No. Resident tax is charged by your city on the previous calendar year’s income, so the line is checked against last year’s income when the bill is set in the spring.

Sources

• Nerima City — 住民税が課税されない場合 (the two lines and their formulas, who counts as a dependent, the ¥1,350,000 rule). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• City of Nagoya — 令和9年度以降適用される市民税・県民税に関する主な税制改正 (on 2026 income, salary up to ¥2,200,000 less ¥740,000 for resident tax). Japanese.
• e-Gov — 地方税法施行令 (article 47-3: each city sets the line by ordinance, from ¥350,000 and ¥210,000 scaled by the grade of the area). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.1600 公的年金等の課税関係 (the public pension deduction at 65 or over). Japanese.