Tax Documents to Keep in Japan, and for How Long

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

An employee in Japan whose year is settled at work does not have to keep anything by law. Once you file a return, or run a business on the side, the periods are set: receipts and certificates behind a return are kept for five years from the filing deadline, and business books for seven. The table lists the usual papers; the sections below say why the number is five, and what to take with you if you leave Japan.

This is a general guide to national income tax for individuals. A company, consumption tax or an inheritance has periods of its own. When in doubt, keeping a paper longer costs nothing.

What to keep, and for how long

Why five years

The number comes from the deadlines on both sides. You can file a refund return for 5 years, counted from 1 January of the year after, and ask for a mistake in your favour to be corrected (更正の請求) generally within 5 years of the filing deadline. The tax office in turn can usually reassess a year for 5 years after the deadline, and for 7 years where tax was evaded on purpose. A receipt you threw away cannot back up a claim in that time.

Papers behind a return

• Medical expenses. You send a statement listing the expenses, not the receipts. The receipts stay with you until 5 years from the filing deadline — or from the day you filed, for a refund return filed after the deadline — unless you attached the health insurer’s notice of medical expenses (医療費通知) instead — the medical expense deduction.
• Certificates on an e-Tax return. Life and earthquake insurance, social insurance you paid yourself, iDeCo and other small-business mutual aid contributions (小規模企業共済等掛金), donation receipts such as furusato nozei: on e-Tax you type in the figures and send no paper, and the tax office can ask to see the certificate for 5 years from the deadline. A refund return filed after the deadline counts from the day you filed: a return for 2026 sent in October 2030 means keeping its papers until October 2035.
• Housing loan papers. The year-end balance certificate is handed to your employer each year from the second; the purchase contract and the first year’s papers are worth keeping for as long as you claim the deduction. The first year’s papers go with the return even on e-Tax: only the balance certificate from the second year on can be left out.

If you have a business or side work

With business, rental or forestry income you keep books by law. On a white return (白色申告) that is the books of income and expenses for 7 years, and invoices, receipts and the other records for 5 years. On a blue return (青色申告) the books, and also the receipts and bank records (現金預金取引等関係書類), are kept for 7 years; those records drop to 5 years if your business and rental income two years before was ¥3,000,000 or less, and quotes, orders and delivery notes are always 5. Side work counted as miscellaneous income (雑所得) has a lighter rule: once its takings were over ¥3,000,000 two years before, the cash and bank records for it are kept for 5 years.

Anyone who has to keep books or records by law also has to keep invoices and receipts that arrived electronically — a PDF by e-mail, a download from a platform — as data, not as a printout. The side income guide sorts which kind of income you have.

Before you leave Japan

Take the last withholding tax statement and the resident tax notices with you, as paper or scans: a tax return at home may ask what Japan taxed, and a refund or a correction in Japan is still possible for 5 years through a tax agent. If you claim the pension lump-sum withdrawal payment, keep the notice that comes with it, since reclaiming the tax withheld from it needs that notice — the pension refund and your last taxes. If a paper is lost, the guide to tax certificates says who can issue what.

Questions people ask

I only have a salary and never file a return. Do I have to keep anything?

No law makes you keep your own papers then. It is still worth keeping each withholding tax statement for five years, because a refund return or a correction for that year can be made for that long.

Can I keep scans instead of paper?

For an employee's own papers there is no set format, but the tax office can ask to see a certificate or receipt you claimed, so keep the original. If you keep business books, the electronic record rules decide how scans and e-mailed invoices are stored.

I lost my withholding tax statement. What now?

Ask the employer that paid you for another copy. For resident tax, the city can issue a tax certificate for the year.

Sources

• National Tax Agency — No.1120 医療費を支払ったとき（医療費控除） (receipts kept until 5 years from the deadline) and No.1904 給与所得者と電子申告 (certificates not attached on e-Tax, asked for up to 5 years from the deadline) and the e-Tax 告示 (for a refund return filed later, 5 years from the day it was filed). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2080 白色申告者の記帳・帳簿等保存制度 (books 7 years, other records 5 years; miscellaneous business takings over ¥3,000,000) and No.2070 青色申告制度 and the 電子帳簿保存法一問一答（スキャナ保存関係） (question 9: blue-return receipts and bank records 7 years, 5 where that income was ¥3,000,000 or less two years before). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.2030 還付申告 and No.2026 確定申告を間違えたとき (refunds and corrections within 5 years). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• e-Gov — 国税通則法 (article 70: reassessment within 5 years of the deadline, 7 years for evasion). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — 電子取引データの保存方法をご確認ください (electronic transactions kept as data by everyone who keeps books). Japanese, PDF, opened 19 October 2026.

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