Leaving Japan in the Right Order: Residence Tax, Exit Notification & Your Pension Refund (2026)

Most guides about leaving Japan tell you about one piece — the pension refund, or residence tax, or the final tax return — in isolation. The expensive mistakes happen in the gaps between them, and almost always because of timing and order.

Residence tax you owe gets billed after you have already gone. Your pension refund is paid with 20.42% tax already taken off the top — and you can only get that tax back if you set up the right person before you leave. Cancel things in the wrong sequence and you can lock yourself out of a refund worth hundreds of thousands of yen.

This is the order of operations for leaving Japan cleanly. It is the hub that ties the separate pieces together; where another article goes deeper, we link to it.

The one decision that controls everything: your tax agent (納税管理人)

If you remember nothing else, remember this: before you leave Japan you should decide whether to appoint a tax agent (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin).

A tax agent is simply a person who still lives in Japan — a friend, a former colleague, a spouse who stays, or a paid service — whom you authorize to receive tax mail, file returns, and pay (or receive) tax on your behalf after you have become a non-resident.

You need one because two of the most valuable things you do happen after you leave:

1. Your residence tax for the year may still be billed after departure, and
2. Your pension refund has 20.42% tax withheld that can only be reclaimed by filing a return from outside Japan — which legally requires a tax agent.

The national tax version is filed by submitting a "Notification of Tax Agent for income tax / consumption tax" to your tax office. The National Tax Agency is explicit: appoint the agent and submit the notification before departure; if you leave Japan without submitting it, you "must file a quasi-final return and pay the tax before departure" instead.¹ There is a separate municipal appointment for residence tax, handled at your ward/city office (see below).

The departure timeline at a glance

When	What to do	Why the timing matters
4–8 weeks before	Decide on a tax agent; settle or arrange residence tax; gather pension documents	Some steps must be done before you lose your Japan address
Final 2 weeks	File the moving-out notification at the ward office; return what must be returned	The move-out date drives residence registration and insurance
Departure week	Settle utilities, bank, phone; do not close the bank account you need for the pension refund	The refund is paid to a bank account months later
After you leave	Apply for the pension lump-sum; then file to reclaim the 20.42% tax via your agent	These only happen once you are a non-resident

The rest of this guide walks the timeline in order.

Step 1 — Residence tax: settle it before the bill arrives

Residence tax (住民税, jūminzei) is the step that catches people out, because it is always paid one year behind. The bill you receive in June is for last year's income, and your liability is fixed by where you were registered as a resident on January 1.

That creates a trap when you leave:

• Leaving January–May (before the June bill): the year's bill has not been issued yet, but you may still owe it. You generally must either pay it in advance at your ward/city office, or appoint a tax representative for residence tax to pay it for you after you go.
• Leaving June–December (after the bill): you have the bill, but the remaining instalments will come due after you have left. Pay the balance early, or have your representative handle the instalments.

For the mechanics of how residence tax is calculated and the classic "second-year shock," see our dedicated guide: Residence Tax in Japan. To understand the income-tax side (and why unpaid tax now affects visas), see Japan's 2026 visa & tax rules.

Step 2 — The exit notification at your ward office

About two weeks before you leave, go to your ward/city office and file the moving-out notification (転出届, tenshutsu todoke), giving your planned departure date.

While you are there, ask staff to confirm what else must be closed or returned, which typically includes:

• National Health Insurance / National Pension status if you were enrolled directly (your final premiums are tied to your move-out date)
• Your My Number card handling
• Whether any child or municipal benefits you receive need to be stopped

Bring your residence card and My Number card. Treat the staff's checklist as authoritative for your municipality — procedures differ slightly between cities. For the broader pre-departure logistics (bank, phone, utilities, mail forwarding), our checklist still applies in reverse: Your first 7 days in Japan.

Step 3 — Claim the pension lump-sum (脱退一時金)

After you have left Japan and are no longer covered by the system, you can apply for the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin) — a partial refund of the pension contributions you made.

The core eligibility conditions from the Japan Pension Service are:

• You are not a Japanese national.
• You paid in for at least 6 months.
• You no longer have an address in Japan and are no longer enrolled.
• You have not received a Japanese disability or old-age pension.
• You apply within 2 years of leaving Japan.²

The cap that surprises people: the payment is calculated on a maximum number of months, not your full history. From April 2021 that cap was raised from 36 months (3 years) to 60 months (5 years) for people whose last (base) month of premium payment is on or after April 2021; if your base month was before March 2021, the 36-month cap still applies.³ So even if you contributed for seven years, only up to five years (or three, under the old rule) count toward the payment — and your record is wiped either way.

Step 4 — Reclaim the 20.42% tax taken off your refund

Here is the step almost everyone misses, and it is pure money left on the table.

When the pension lump-sum is paid, Japan withholds income tax at 20.42% (this includes the Special Income Tax for Reconstruction) at source — so you receive only about 79.58% of the approved amount.⁴

You can claim that withheld tax back. The National Tax Agency allows a non-resident to "claim a refund of the amount withheld if you opt to file a tax return pursuant to Article 171 of the Income Tax Law" — and that return must be filed through your tax agent in Japan.⁴ Because retirement-type income is taxed lightly for residents, a large part — often most — of the 20.42% can come back.

The order is what makes it work:

1. Appoint your tax agent before you leave (Step 1's national-tax notification). It is possible to submit the notification together with the return after you are home, but doing it first avoids a scramble and missed mail.
2. Receive the lump-sum payment, then have your agent file the refund return using the official "Notice of Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments" you are sent.
3. The refund is paid into a Japanese account — which is exactly why Step 2 said don't close it.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Closing your only Japanese bank account. The lump-sum and the tax refund both arrive months later, in yen, to a domestic account.
• Skipping the tax agent, then trying to get the 20.42% back from abroad. Without an agent the refund route under Article 171 is blocked.
• Assuming you owe no residence tax because you "already left." Liability is fixed by your January 1 registration, not your departure date.
• Taking the lump-sum when a totalization agreement would have been better. It is irreversible — your Japanese contribution months are erased.
• Leaving the pension claim too long. The window is 2 years from departure.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need a tax agent if I just want my pension refund?

To receive the lump-sum, no — you apply directly to the Japan Pension Service. To reclaim the 20.42% income tax that was withheld, yes: that refund is filed under Article 171 of the Income Tax Law and must go through a tax agent in Japan.⁴ Most people appoint one specifically for this.

Is the residence-tax representative the same as the tax agent?

No. The tax agent (納税管理人) for income/national tax is registered at the tax office (税務署). Residence tax is municipal, so its representative is appointed at your ward/city office. They can be the same person, but they are two separate appointments.¹

I'm leaving in March — do I still owe this year's residence tax?

Possibly. Residence tax is based on your status as of January 1 and is billed later in the year. If you leave before the June bill, you may need to pay in advance or appoint a representative to pay it after you go. Confirm the exact amount with your municipal office.

How long does the pension refund take?

The Japan Pension Service generally takes several months to process a complete claim and pay the lump-sum; the tax refund of the withheld 20.42% is a further filing after that. Build in time and keep a Japanese bank account open throughout.

What if I already left without doing any of this?

You usually still have 2 years to claim the pension lump-sum,² and you may still be able to appoint a tax agent and file the Article 171 refund return from abroad — it is just harder and slower than arranging it before departure. Act quickly and consider a licensed tax accountant.

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Last updated: 2026-06-21. Rules and figures depend on your individual circumstances and can change. Always confirm with the official sources below, your municipal office, or a licensed tax professional (税理士) before acting.

Footnotes

1. National Tax Agency, "No.12004 Income tax information for an individual who will leave Japan," https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/12004.htm (accessed 2026-06-21). ↩ ↩²

2. Japan Pension Service, "Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments," https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/english/japanese-system/benefit/payment.html (accessed 2026-06-21). ↩ ↩²

3. Japan Pension Service, "To foreigners departing from Japan (Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments)," English leaflet, https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/english/japanese-system/benefit/payment.files/A.pdf (accessed 2026-06-21) — maximum calculation period raised from 36 to 60 months from April 2021, applied by base (last-payment) month. ↩

4. National Tax Agency, "No.12005 Income tax on lump-sum withdrawal payments," https://www.nta.go.jp/english/taxes/individual/12005.htm (accessed 2026-06-21). ↩ ↩² ↩³