How to Read a Japanese Payslip: Kyuyo Meisai Explained for Foreign Workers (2026)

Quick answer (30 seconds): A Japanese payslip (kyuyo meisai, 給与明細) has three blocks: shikyu (支給, what you're paid — base salary, overtime, allowances), koujo (控除, what's deducted — health insurance, pension, employment insurance, income tax, resident tax), and kintai (勤怠, your attendance record — days worked, overtime hours, paid leave used). For a typical full-time employee, take-home pay lands around 75–80% of gross salary once social insurance and taxes are subtracted, though the exact figure depends on your age, income level, dependents, and how long you've lived in Japan.

If your first Japanese payslip left you staring at a wall of unfamiliar numbers, you're not alone. Almost none of it is explained to you in plain language, and the gap between your contract salary and what actually lands in your bank account can be a shock. This guide breaks down what each line means, uses officially sourced 2026 rates where a flat rate exists, and flags the parts that legitimately vary.

The Three Blocks of a Kyuyo Meisai

Nearly every Japanese payslip format — whether it's a paper slip or a PDF from a payroll system — is organized into the same three sections:

Shikyu (支給) — everything you're paid: base salary, overtime, allowances, and bonus if applicable.
Koujo (控除) — everything taken out: social insurance premiums and taxes.
Kintai (勤怠) — your attendance data for the pay period: days worked, absences, overtime hours, and paid leave (yukyu kyuka) used and remaining.

At the bottom, you'll usually find sou shikyu gaku (総支給額) — total gross pay — and sashihiki shikyu gaku (差引支給額) — the net amount actually transferred to your account, sometimes labeled tedori (take-home pay). That final number is sou shikyu gaku minus every line in the koujo block.

Block 1: Shikyu (支給) — What You're Paid

This section lists every component of your gross pay:

Kihonkyu (基本給) — your base salary, fixed by your employment contract.
Zangyo dai (残業代) — overtime pay, calculated from your hourly wage times overtime hours times a legally required premium (typically 25% extra for standard overtime, more for late-night or holiday work).
Tsukin teate (通勤手当) — commuting allowance, usually reimbursing your actual train or bus pass cost. This is often non-taxable up to a monthly cap set by the National Tax Agency, which is one reason it's listed separately from base salary rather than folded in.
Other allowances — housing allowance, position allowance, qualification allowance, and similar items, depending on your employer's pay structure.
Shoyo (賞与) — bonus, paid separately (commonly twice a year, summer and winter) and taxed differently from monthly pay; it appears on its own payslip, not folded into a regular month.

Add these together and you get sou shikyu gaku (総支給額) — your gross pay for that period, before anything is deducted.

Block 2: Koujo (控除) — What Gets Deducted

This is where the real gap between "contract salary" and "money in your account" comes from. Five deductions typically appear here: four social insurance premiums (shakai hoken) and two taxes.

2026 Social Insurance Rates at a Glance

Insurance	Japanese term	FY2026 rate	Who pays	Applies to
Health insurance	Kenko hoken (健康保険)	~9.9% national average (9.21%–10.55% by prefecture)	Split 50/50 employer/employee	Everyone enrolled in Kyokai Kenpo
Long-term care insurance	Kaigo hoken (介護保険)	1.62% nationwide	Split 50/50	Employees aged 40–64 only
Employees' pension	Kosei nenkin (厚生年金)	18.3%	Split 50/50	Full-time employees generally
Employment insurance	Koyou hoken (雇用保険)	1.35% total (general industries)	Employee 0.5%, employer 0.85%	Most employees regardless of nationality

A few things worth knowing about this table:

Kenko hoken rates are set per prefecture by Zenkoku Kenko Hoken Kyokai (nicknamed Kyokai Kenpo) if your employer uses that plan; large companies with their own health insurance union (kumiai kenpo) have a different rate, set by where your employer is registered, not where you live. Check your prefecture's published table rather than assuming 9.9% applies to you.
Kaigo hoken only appears once you turn 40 and drops off again at 65. Under 40, you won't see this line.
Kosei nenkin has stayed at 18.3% since September 2017 — the one rate here you can treat as stable year to year.
Koyou hoken rates are reviewed annually by MHLW and moved for FY2026, so if you're reading this well past March 2027, check the current published rate.

For background on how kenko hoken and kaigo hoken fit into the wider system — and how the Kyokai Kenpo employee plan compares to the National Health Insurance (kokumin kenko hoken) that self-employed and some part-time workers use instead — see our shakai hoken vs kokumin hoken comparison. And if you're brand new to Japan and haven't enrolled yet, our health insurance and pension enrollment guide for newcomers walks through the paperwork.

Shotokuzei (所得税) — Income Tax Withholding

Unlike the insurance premiums above, income tax is not a flat percentage. Your employer looks up a monthly withholding amount from the National Tax Agency's kyuyo shotoku no gensen choshu zeigaku hyo (源泉徴収税額表) — the withholding tax table — using your pay after social insurance deductions and your number of declared dependents. Most full-time employees fall under the ko-ran (甲欄) column, which applies once you've submitted a fuyo koujo tou shinkokusho (扶養控除等申告書) — a dependents' deduction declaration — to your main employer. Because this is a lookup table, not a formula, treat any "your income tax will be X%" claim with suspicion — check the official table for your exact pay level instead.

This withholding is provisional. Your final annual income tax liability gets reconciled at year-end through nenmatsu chosei (年末調整), year-end adjustment — see the section below.

Juminzei (住民税) — Resident Tax

This is the deduction that catches almost every newcomer off guard. Resident tax is billed on the prior calendar year's income, not your current income — standard total rate 10% (typically 6% municipal + 4% prefectural, or 8%/2% in designated cities), plus a flat-rate levy of roughly 5,000 yen per year. It's assessed on income earned January–December of the previous year and starts being withheld from June of the following year.

The practical trap: if you arrived partway through your first calendar year, you likely had little prior-year Japan income, so year-one resident tax is small or zero. The following June, resident tax on your first full year of Japan income kicks in — and take-home pay drops, even though salary hasn't changed. This is the single most common reason people report "my paycheck got smaller in year two," and it isn't a payroll error. See our resident tax guide for the full mechanics.

Block 3: Kintai (勤怠) — Your Attendance Record

This section is informational rather than financial, but it's what your pay calculation is based on:

Days worked and scheduled working days for the period
Overtime hours (broken down by regular overtime, late-night, and holiday work if applicable, since each has a different pay premium)
Absences and late arrivals/early departures, if any
Yukyu kyuka (有給休暇) — paid leave days used in the period, and often your remaining balance

This is the block worth double-checking every month: if your overtime hours here don't match your own log, or your paid leave balance looks wrong, that's your evidence trail for a conversation with HR.

Sample Payslip: Gross to Net

Here's an illustrative example for a single employee, no dependents, under 40, with a monthly gross salary of ¥300,000. This is a worked example to show the calculation logic, not a prediction of your own numbers — your prefecture's kenko hoken rate, your dependents, and your income tax bracket will all change the real figures.

Line item	Block	Example amount	Basis
Kihonkyu (base salary)	Shikyu	¥280,000	Per contract
Zangyo dai (overtime)	Shikyu	¥15,000	Hours × wage × premium
Tsukin teate (commuting)	Shikyu	¥5,000	Often non-taxable up to a cap
Sou shikyu gaku (gross total)	—	¥300,000	Sum of shikyu lines
Kenko hoken (health insurance)	Koujo	≈ ¥14,850	Employee half of ~9.9% (prefecture average; check your own rate)
Kosei nenkin (pension)	Koujo	≈ ¥27,450	Employee half of 18.3%
Koyou hoken (employment insurance)	Koujo	¥1,500	Employee share, 0.5%
Shotokuzei (income tax)	Koujo	Varies	Looked up from the ko-ran table based on pay after social insurance and dependents
Juminzei (resident tax)	Koujo	¥0 in year 1 / varies from year 2	Based on prior-year Japan income; usually starts June of your second year
Sashihiki shikyu gaku (net pay / tedori)	—	≈ ¥230,000–¥245,000	Gross minus all koujo lines, depending on income tax and resident tax

Here, net pay lands roughly in the 75–82% range of gross — matching the rule of thumb below. Add kaigo hoken (40+) or a higher resident tax bill (year two onward), and the percentage moves down a few points.

How Much of My Salary Do I Actually Take Home?

As a rough planning number, expect 75–80% of your gross salary to reach your bank account, for a typical single employee with no dependents in their first year or two. That range narrows once resident tax fully kicks in (year two onward), if you're 40+ and paying kaigo hoken, or if income moves into a higher tax band; it widens for lower incomes with more dependents. This is a planning heuristic, not a guarantee — your own kenko hoken prefecture rate and tax band will move the real number. For salary levels across job types, see our foreign engineer salary reality guide.

Overtime, Commuting Allowance, and Bonus — How They're Treated

Zangyo dai (overtime) is fully taxable and gets the same social insurance and income tax treatment as base salary — it's simply added to shikyu before the koujo lines are calculated.
Tsukin teate (commuting allowance) is commonly non-taxable up to a monthly cap for income tax, but it's still generally included in the base used to calculate your kenko hoken, kaigo hoken, and kosei nenkin premiums (hyojun hoshu getsugaku, the standard monthly reward amount). "Non-taxable" for income tax doesn't mean "excluded from everything."
Shoyo (bonus) is paid on its own payslip, with its own income tax withholding calculation and its own social insurance deduction (same percentage rates, applied to the bonus amount). Don't assume your bonus take-home rate matches your monthly rate — they're calculated independently.

Kyuyo Meisai and Nenmatsu Chosei (Year-End Adjustment)

Every month, your employer withholds an estimated shotokuzei amount from the ko-ran table. That estimate is rarely exact, since it doesn't automatically account for mid-year premium changes, deduction eligibility, or a partial working year. In December, your employer runs nenmatsu chosei (年末調整) — year-end adjustment — reconciling your actual annual tax liability against what was withheld, refunding overpayment (or deducting a small shortfall) in your December or January pay. This is also where you'll want to check whether you need to separately file kakutei shinkoku (確定申告) — for example, with side income, multiple employers, or a deduction your employer's adjustment doesn't handle. Our nenmatsu chosei vs kakutei shinkoku guide covers which applies to you, and our tax filing guide for foreign residents walks through the kakutei shinkoku process itself.

Common Mistakes to Check on Your Payslip

Wrong dependents count — if your fuyo koujo tou shinkokusho wasn't updated after a life change (marriage, a child, a dependent leaving Japan), income tax withholding may be off all year.
Kaigo hoken missing or present when it shouldn't be — this line should appear from the month you turn 40 and disappear at 65; flag any mismatch with HR.
Overtime hours that don't match your own log — cross-check the kintai block against your own time records monthly.
Commuting allowance not updated after a move or route change — affects both reimbursement and your shakai hoken base.
Resident tax that looks unusual — if you moved municipalities or arrived mid-year, timing can look odd; confirm against your municipal tax notice.
Pension premiums stopping unexpectedly — can happen if reduced hours dropped you below the kosei nenkin threshold. Leaving Japan for good? Contributions may be partially refundable — see our pension refund guide. Temporarily reducing income? Our pension exemption guide covers applying for a reduction instead of falling into arrears.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is my take-home pay only 80% of my salary?

Because social insurance premiums (kenko hoken, kosei nenkin, koyou hoken, and kaigo hoken if you're 40+) and two taxes (shotokuzei and juminzei) are subtracted before it reaches your account. Combined, these typically remove 20–25% of gross pay for a single employee with no dependents — see the sample calculation above.

What is the difference between shikyu, koujo, and kintai on my payslip?

Shikyu (支給) is everything you're paid — base salary, overtime, allowances, bonus. Koujo (控除) is everything deducted — insurance premiums and taxes. Kintai (勤怠) is your attendance record for the period — days worked, overtime hours, and paid leave used. Your net pay (sashihiki shikyu gaku) is the shikyu total minus the koujo total; kintai doesn't directly appear in the money calculation but is the basis for it.

Why did my take-home pay suddenly drop in my second year in Japan?

This is almost always resident tax (juminzei), not a mistake. Juminzei is billed on your prior calendar year's income and starts being withheld from June of the following year. If you had little or no Japan income the year before you arrived, your first year or so has little to no juminzei deduction — then it appears (or increases) once a full year of Japan income is on record, reducing your take-home pay even though your salary hasn't changed.

Is my commuting allowance (tsukin teate) taxed?

Generally no, up to a monthly cap set by the National Tax Agency for income tax purposes — but it's usually still included in the base amount used to calculate your health insurance, long-term care insurance, and pension premiums. Being non-taxable for income tax doesn't mean it's excluded from every deduction category.

Do I still pay shakai hoken if I'm on a working holiday or short-term contract?

It depends on employment classification and working hours, not visa type directly — many working-holiday and part-time arrangements fall under National Health Insurance and National Pension instead of the employer-based kenko hoken and kosei nenkin shown on a typical kyuyo meisai. Check with HR or a municipal office; see our shakai hoken vs kokumin hoken comparison for the criteria.

What is the ko-ran (甲欄) column on the income tax section?

Ko-ran is the withholding table column the National Tax Agency designates for employees who've submitted a fuyo koujo tou shinkokusho (dependents' deduction declaration) to their main employer — which is the default situation for most full-time employees with one job. It results in lower monthly withholding than the alternative otsu-ran column, which applies to secondary jobs or employees who haven't filed that declaration.

How does year-end adjustment (nenmatsu chosei) connect to my monthly payslip?

Your monthly shotokuzei deduction is only a provisional estimate looked up from the withholding table. In December, nenmatsu chosei recalculates your true annual income tax liability and reconciles it against everything withheld during the year, refunding the difference (or occasionally deducting a small shortfall) in your December or January pay.

What should I do if I think there's a mistake on my payslip?

Compare the kintai block against your own attendance and overtime records first — that's the most common source of genuine errors. If numbers don't match, or a deduction line looks wrong (missing kaigo hoken at 40, an outdated dependents count), raise it with HR or payroll directly. Payroll systems are generally accurate, but they only reflect the information your employer has on file — which is worth keeping current yourself.

This guide is for general informational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Insurance premium rates, tax tables, and resident tax rules can vary by prefecture, municipality, employer, and fiscal year — confirm current figures with your employer's payroll department, your municipal tax office, or a qualified tax professional (zeirishi) before making financial decisions.

Last updated: July 2026