Every month you worked in Japan, about 9% of your salary went to employee pension — 厚生年金 (kosei nenkin). Half of that was your share. The other half was your employer’s.
When you leave Japan permanently, you can apply to get your half back. This is called 脱退一時金 (dattai ichijikin) — the Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment. It is not a full refund and it does not include the employer share, but for most engineers who worked in Japan for 2–5 years, the amount is real money.
The catch: you have to apply within 2 years of losing pension enrollment status. There are no extensions. Miss the deadline and the contributions stay with the Japanese pension system permanently.
What is the 脱退一時金?
It is a one-time payment for non-Japanese nationals who enrolled in Japan’s public pension system and then left Japan permanently without qualifying for an ongoing monthly pension benefit.
Japan’s public pension covers two overlapping schemes: Employees’ Pension (厚生年金), which most salaried employees are enrolled in via their company’s shakai hoken, and National Pension (国民年金), which covers freelancers, self-employed workers, and employees not enrolled in shakai hoken. You can potentially receive a lump-sum from each separately.
For most foreign engineers at Japanese tech companies, the relevant scheme is Employees’ Pension.
Am I eligible?
All of the following must be true:
- You are a non-Japanese national
- You were enrolled in Employees’ Pension or National Pension for 6 months or more
- You no longer have a registered address in Japan (residence deregistered)
- You are no longer enrolled in Japan’s public pension
- You have never received any Japanese pension benefit, including disability pension
- You have not accumulated the 10-year qualifying period for old-age pension
The last point is rarely an issue for someone who worked in Japan for 2–5 years, but if you have worked in Japan across multiple stints, double-check your total enrolled months.
How much will I get?
The calculation is based on your average standard remuneration (the salary bracket used for insurance and pension premium calculations — visible as 標準報酬月額 on your payslip stub) multiplied by a payment rate that incorporates the insurance premium rate, a 50% fraction for the employee share, and a multiplier tied to how many months you were enrolled.
Two important limits:
The 60-month cap. The payment rate calculation maxes out at 60 months of contributions. If you worked in Japan for 8 years, your refund reflects 60 months, not 96. This cap was raised from 36 months to 60 months in April 2021, which is good news for longer-stay workers.
Employer contributions are not included. The refund only covers the employee share — roughly half the total premium paid.
For reference, an engineer with an average standard remuneration of around ¥400,000/month and 36 months of Employees’ Pension enrollment might receive roughly ¥400,000–¥600,000 before tax. That is an illustration only — actual payment rates are set by law and change periodically, so use the official Japan Pension Service calculator for an estimate against your actual figures. Typical engineer ranges run from roughly ¥200,000 to ¥800,000+ depending on salary and contribution period.
The 20.42% withholding
For Employees’ Pension lump-sum payments, Japan withholds 20.42% at source (20% income tax plus 0.42% Special Income Tax for Reconstruction). This withholding is applied before the wire transfer reaches you. The National Tax Agency explains the basis for this rate.
National Pension lump-sum payments are not subject to this withholding.
If your home country has a tax treaty with Japan, and you appoint a Tax Agent (納税管理人) in Japan to file an Article 171 tax return on your behalf, you may be able to recover part or all of the withheld tax. This is optional and involves extra administrative work. Whether it is worth it depends on your home country treaty terms and how much was withheld.
How to apply
You can apply from abroad — there is no need to return to Japan to submit. The application must be received by the Japan Pension Service within 2 years of your pension disenrollment date.
The official application form is called 「短期在留外国人の脱退一時金請求書」 (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment Request Form for Short-term Foreign Residents). It is available in 14 languages including English from nenkin.go.jp.
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Obtain and complete the application form
Download the form from the Japan Pension Service website in your preferred language. Fill it out completely, including your overseas bank account details for the wire transfer.
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Gather the required documents
You will need: (1) the completed application form, (2) a copy of your passport showing your name, date of birth, nationality, signature, and former status of residence pages, (3) a copy of your pension handbook or documents showing your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号), (4) your overseas bank account information for the wire transfer, and (5) your 住民票の除票 (Residence Record for Departed Residents) — proof that you deregistered your Japanese address.
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Submit the application
Mail the application and documents to the Japan Pension Service branch office that handled your former address. Submissions from abroad are accepted. Keep copies of everything you send.
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Wait for processing
Processing typically takes 3–4 months. The payment will be wired to the overseas bank account you specified, minus the 20.42% withholding on the Employees’ Pension portion.
After submitting
The Japan Pension Service will send you a notice once the payment has been processed. The transfer will arrive in the overseas account you specified on the form.
If you appointed a Tax Agent in Japan to pursue treaty-based tax recovery, they will handle the Article 171 filing separately after the lump-sum is paid. This is independent of the pension application itself.
Keep your application copies and the payment notice — these may be relevant if you ever file tax returns for the year the lump-sum is received, or if you need to demonstrate prior Japan pension enrollment to another country’s social security system.
A note on National Pension
If you were ever not enrolled in Employees’ Pension through shakai hoken — for example, during a period between jobs when you enrolled in National Pension directly at city hall — those months of National Pension contributions are handled separately. You can claim a National Pension lump-sum in addition to the Employees’ Pension lump-sum if you meet the eligibility criteria for each. The same 2-year application deadline applies.
If pension contributions were showing up on your payslip, this refund is worth the 30 minutes of paperwork. The main things to get right: apply before the 2-year deadline, and read the Totalization Trap section above if your home country is on the agreement list before you commit.
For more context on how the Japanese payroll and social insurance system works, see the Japanese payslip guide for foreign engineers. For the related question of what happens to your health insurance when you leave, see NHI and shakai hoken explained.
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