How to File a Japanese Final Tax Return (Kakutei Shinkoku)

Japan’s final tax return, the Kakutei Shinkoku, reconciles all income you earned from January 1 through December 31 against the tax already withheld or paid during the year. To file a Japanese final tax return for the 2025 tax year, you submit the unified individual return form to the National Tax Agency between February 16 and March 16, 2026, through e-Tax, by mail, or in person at your local tax office, along with payment of any balance due.1National Tax Agency. 2025 Income Tax and Special Income Tax for Reconstruction Guide

Do You Actually Need to File

Most salaried employees in Japan never file. Their employer handles the reconciliation through the year-end adjustment (nenmatsu chōsei) each December, which covers workers with a single employer, standard deductions, and no significant outside income.2National Tax Agency. 2025 Income Tax Guide

You are required to file a Kakutei Shinkoku if any of the following describes your year:

  • Your total annual compensation exceeded 20 million yen.
  • You had a single employer handling withholding, but your other income (freelance work, rent, investments) exceeded 200,000 yen.
  • You received salary from two or more employers, and the combined non-adjusted salary plus other income exceeded 200,000 yen.
  • You are self-employed or run a business and need to declare net profits after expenses.
  • You received foreign-source income that was not subject to Japanese withholding.
  • You want to claim deductions your employer cannot process through the year-end adjustment, such as the first year of the housing loan credit or a large medical expense claim.

If your calculated tax after all deductions and credits is zero, or already fully covered by withholding, you are not required to file even when one of these triggers applies.2National Tax Agency. 2025 Income Tax Guide Many people file anyway to claim a refund.

What Income You Must Report Depends on Your Residency

Before you start filling out anything, confirm which residency category you fall into, because it determines what goes on the return.

Permanent residents (Japanese nationals, or foreign nationals who have lived in Japan more than five of the last ten years) owe tax on worldwide income regardless of where it was earned or paid.

Non-permanent residents are foreign nationals who have kept a domicile in Japan for five years or less within the preceding ten. If that is you, you owe tax on all Japan-source income plus any foreign-source income that is either paid inside Japan or remitted to Japan from abroad.3National Tax Agency. Taxpayers and the Scope of Taxable Income Foreign income that stays overseas and is never paid to you in Japan is generally not taxed. The NTA applies a specific ordering rule when calculating remittances: amounts sent to Japan are first attributed to non-foreign-source income paid abroad, with only the excess treated as remitted foreign-source income.

Non-residents (no domicile and no residence in Japan) are taxed only on Japan-source income, typically through withholding at the source rather than a final return.

Documents to Gather Before You Start

The single most important document for employees is the Withholding Tax Statement (gensen chōshū-hyō) that your employer issues after the year-end adjustment. It lists your total salary, withheld income tax, social insurance premiums paid, and any deductions already applied. You also need your My Number Card or notification card for identity verification.4National Tax Agency. Users Guide for Smartphone Tax Return Filing

For every deduction you plan to claim, pull the supporting paperwork: medical expense receipts, life insurance premium certificates, social insurance payment records, earthquake insurance certificates, donation receipts. For a housing loan credit claim, you need the loan balance certificate from your bank plus property registration documents. Self-employed filers need their full set of income and expense records.

The NTA now uses a single unified return form for all individual filers; the older Form A / Form B split has been discontinued. You can complete the current form on the NTA’s online Kakutei Shinkoku portal, which auto-calculates most fields as you enter data, or pick up a paper copy at your local tax office.

Keep all supporting documents for at least seven years after filing. The NTA can reassess returns within that window under the Act on General Rules for National Taxes, and you will need the originals if your return is questioned.5Japanese Law Translation. Act on General Rules for National Taxes

Deductions Worth Filing For

Deductions are the main reason many salaried workers voluntarily file when they don’t have to. Several of the most valuable ones cannot be claimed through the year-end adjustment.

Medical Expenses

If your household’s medical expenses for the year exceeded 100,000 yen (or 5% of your total income if your income is under 2 million yen), you can deduct the excess up to a maximum of 2 million yen. Eligible expenses include hospital visits, prescription drugs, dental treatment, and certain transportation costs to medical facilities. Insurance reimbursements must be subtracted first.

As an alternative, the Self-Medication Tax System lets you deduct qualifying over-the-counter medicine purchases if you spent more than 12,000 yen during the year, up to a maximum deduction of 88,000 yen. You must choose one system or the other for a given tax year, and to qualify for the self-medication route you need to show you took a preventive health measure during the year, such as a health checkup or flu vaccination.

Furusato Nōzei

Furusato Nōzei lets you redirect a portion of your tax liability to local municipalities in exchange for regional gifts. You receive a tax credit for the donation minus a 2,000 yen self-pay amount. If you donated to five or fewer municipalities and are not otherwise required to file, the One-Stop Exception system lets you skip the Kakutei Shinkoku entirely.

Here’s the trap: the moment you file a return for any reason, all your One-Stop elections are voided. You must include every Furusato Nōzei donation on that return or lose the credit. So if you used the One-Stop system and then later decide to file for a medical expense deduction, you need to claim the donations through the return too.

Housing Loan Tax Credit

Homeowners paying a mortgage on a qualifying residence can claim the housing loan tax credit (jūtaku rōn tokubetsu kōjo). The FY2026 tax reform extended this credit through 2030 and raised borrowing limits, with enhanced terms for young couples and households with children.6Ministry of Finance. FY2026 Tax Reform Proposals The first year’s claim has to go through the Kakutei Shinkoku. After that initial filing, salaried employees can apply the credit through the year-end adjustment in later years.

Other Deductions

Life insurance premiums, earthquake insurance premiums, spousal deductions, dependent deductions, and social insurance contributions are normally handled through the year-end adjustment for employees. If your employer missed any of them, or your situation changed after the adjustment was finalized, filing a return lets you correct the record. Every taxpayer also pays the Special Income Tax for Reconstruction at 2.1% of the calculated income tax, funding recovery from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake through 2037. Local inhabitant tax is assessed separately by your municipality and is not part of the Kakutei Shinkoku.7National Tax Agency. Taxpayers and the Scope of Taxable Income – What Is the Final Return

How to Submit the Return

You have three ways to file, and all must be completed by March 16, 2026, for the 2025 tax year.1National Tax Agency. 2025 Income Tax and Special Income Tax for Reconstruction Guide

e-Tax. The NTA’s electronic filing system is the fastest option. You authenticate using a My Number Card read by a smartphone with NFC capability or a separate IC card reader.4National Tax Agency. Users Guide for Smartphone Tax Return Filing The system generates a receipt confirming transmission, and refunds arrive faster than for paper submissions.

Mail. Send the completed return to the tax office with jurisdiction over your registered address. Include a stamped return envelope and a copy of your return if you want a reception stamp sent back — that stamped copy is what proves filing for bank loans, visa renewals, and similar purposes. The postmark date counts as your filing date.

strong>In person. Tax offices and temporary filing centers accept walk-in submissions during the filing season, and staff can flag obvious errors before you submit. Expect long waits during the first two weeks of March.

Paying What You Owe or Getting Your Refund

If your return shows tax due, payment is also due by March 16. The NTA accepts several methods:

  • Bank transfer (furikae nōzei), an automatic debit from your account drawn about a month after the filing deadline. You set this up by submitting an account transfer request form to your tax office or bank before the deadline.8National Tax Agency. Recommendation for Tax Payment by Transfer Account
  • Convenience store payment using a QR code generated through the NTA portal, for amounts up to 300,000 yen.
  • Credit card through the NTA’s online payment portal, with a processing fee based on the amount.
  • Direct payment at a bank or tax office counter using the payment slip from your return.

If you overpaid through withholding, the NTA deposits your refund into the bank account you designate on the return. Electronic filers generally see refunds within a few weeks; paper filers wait somewhat longer.

What Happens If You File Late

Missing the March deadline triggers an additional tax for failure to file. The standard rate is 15% of the unpaid tax, rising to 20% on any amount above 500,000 yen.9National Tax Agency. Overview of Additional Tax and Delinquent Tax Filing voluntarily before the NTA contacts you may reduce this surcharge.

Delinquent tax (entaizei) accrues on any unpaid balance as interest on top of that surcharge. For 2026, the rate is approximately 7.3% per year for the first two months after the deadline, jumping to roughly 14.6% after that; the exact figure is adjusted annually based on market interest rates.10National Tax Agency. Filing and Paying The failure-to-file surcharge and ongoing interest stack.

Deliberate tax evasion is treated separately and much more seriously. Criminal penalties under the Income Tax Act can include imprisonment for up to ten years or fines up to 10 million yen.11Japanese Law Translation. Income Tax Act These are reserved for intentional fraud, not honest mistakes or late filings.

If You’re Leaving Japan

Departing residents need to settle their tax affairs before leaving or appoint a tax agent (nōzei kanrinin) to handle them afterward. The agent can be any individual residing in Japan: a friend, a colleague, or a tax professional. You appoint them by submitting the Notification Form of Appointment of Tax Agent to your local tax office before you depart.12National Tax Agency. Notification Form of Appointment of Tax Agent Once appointed, the agent can file returns, receive notices, and handle refunds or payments on your behalf.

Without a tax agent, you must file your final return and pay any tax due before your departure date. That often means filing a partial-year return covering January 1 through your departure date, well outside the normal filing season.

High-net-worth individuals face an additional exit tax. If you have lived in Japan more than five of the last ten years and hold financial assets worth 100 million yen or more at departure, unrealized capital gains on those assets are taxed as if sold. The effective rate is 20.315% (15% income tax, 0.315% reconstruction surtax, 5% local tax). With a tax agent appointed and collateral provided, payment can be deferred up to five years, extendable to ten.11Japanese Law Translation. Income Tax Act The valuation date depends on whether you have an agent: with one, assets are valued on your departure date and the return is due by March 15 of the following year; without one, assets are valued three months before departure and the return is due on your departure date.