English
Japanese Pension Refund FAQs
If you've worked in Japan and have since left the country, now is the time to apply for your refund and get a few extra hundred Euro in your pocket.
Pension insurance contributions in Japan are usually 11% of your salary so Taxback.com customers get an average Japanese pension refund of €840. We can also get back the income tax deducted from your pension refund.
To find out how much money you could claim get a FREE online refund estimation.
When can I get my pension refund?
You have up to two years after you leave Japan to apply for your pension insurance refund.
If you've worked in Japan since 2005 and have since left the country we can claim your pension refund now so download the Japanese Pension Refund Pack today.
Working in Japan this year? We can claim your pension insurance payments once you leave Japan so download the Japanese Pension Refund Pack today and send us your forms as soon as you get home.
What about pension reimbursement tax refunds? You have up to five years to claim your pension reimbursement tax so if you've worked in Japan since 2003 and have received your pension refund, we can apply to get your reimbursement tax back now.
I paid into a pension fund – can I get a refund from that?
-
Yes! Even if you're a foreigner working in Japan, you will probably have been paying into a Japanese pension plan out of your wages. We can apply for this refund up to two years after you've left Japan. Our average Japanese pension plan refund is €840 so download the Japanese pension refund pack today to get your cash back fast!
To apply for your pension refund from Japan, we'll need a copy of your pension book (nenkin techo) or pension number. Don't have that information? No problem – contact us on japan@taxback.com and we can sort it out for you.
Am I eligible for a pension refund from Japan?
-
You'll qualify for a pension insurance refund from Japan if:
- You're not a Japanese citizen
- You paid national pension insurance for more than six months
- You left Japan less than two years ago
- You don't have a place of residence in Japan
Get a FREE online refund estimation today to see how much cash you could get back!
What about the 20% tax on my pension refund?
When you receive your Japanese pension refund the Japanese Insurance Agency deducts 20% worth of tax off your pension reimbursement. Don't worry though - we can claim that tax back up to five years later for you. Our average pension reimbursement tax refund is €450 so download the Japanese pension reimbursement tax refund pack now and apply for your refund today!
How long will it take to receive my Japanese pension refund? Where's my refund?
-
As soon as we have it, you'll have it, because we contact you immediately when we receive your refund to organise the easiest way to get it to you.
You can watch the step-by-step progress of your application on your online account. It'll go something like this:
When we receive your documents it takes us less than five working days to get your Japanese pension refund application ready. This includes:
- Receiving and checking the documents
- Estimating your refund
- Completing your forms
- Sending them to the social insurance office
Once at the office, your application takes about four months to process, depending on how busy they are. Don't worry - our team will keep chasing them up to see how your application is progressing.
As soon as the social insurance office sends us your refund, we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your cash straight to you.
The total estimated time for your Japanese pension rebate is four months.
How do I know what's happening with my tax return?
-
You can follow the progress of your Japan pension insurance refund on your online tracking account. This allows you to see every step of your application. As soon as we have your refund we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your money straight to you.
Rather talk to a human being? We have our own taxback.com staff available to talk to you in 21 taxback.com offices in 18 different countries. Click here to find your local office number or use our Live Chat.
What are the advantages of using taxback.com?
-
Thousands of people choose our service because:
- We get you the maximum legal refund
- FREE refund estimations
- Every customer gets a Personal Online Tracking Account – you can follow your tax return every step of the way
- All our tax returns are legal and compliant with Japanese tax law.
- Document retrieval service
- 24-hour customer support and tax refund help
- Free phone, free fax, free post, free online tax help with our live chat!
- No language barriers - our services are available in: Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese-Taiwanese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
- Money sent worldwide and in your local currency. You can get your refund in: Australian Dollars, Brazilian Reals, Bulgarian Lev, Canadian Dollars, Czech Koruna, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Indonesian Rupiah, Japanese Yen, Latvian Lat, Lithuanian Litas, Moldovan Lei, New Zealand Dollars, Norwegian Krona, Pakistan Rupee, Peruvian Nuevo Soles, Philippine Peso, Polish Zloty, Romanian Lei, Russian Rubles, Singaporean Dollar, Slovak Koruna, South African Rands, South Korean Won, Swedish Krona, Thai Baht, Turkish Lira, UK Pounds, Ukrainian Hryvna, US Dollars.
How much will it cost?
First of all, our FREE Online Tax Estimation costs you nothing - just a few minutes to fill it out. We'll email your refund estimation straight to your personal email with no obligation to use our service.
When you send us your documents and signed forms, we'll evaluate your refund and what additional services you need such as document retrieval. Then we'll let you know how much it will cost to file your return for you.
For Japanese pension refunds we charge 9% + VAT of the refund received, subject to a minimum processing fee of €58.
Why the minimum fee?
This fee covers all the things that make filing your Japanese pension refund with us so easy, such as:
- Customer support 24/7 by phone and Live Chat
- Online tracking service – in seven languages
- Free phone and free fax
- Local staff to meet you and guide you through the process in 18 offices worldwide
- Researchers to identify new legal developments to maximise your refunds
- Quality team
Oops - I lost my documents/Help - I never got my documents – what do I do?
We know it's easy to lose documents in the move back home or to not even receive them in the first place. That's why we have a document retrieval service to organise replacements for you.
If you're missing documents, just contact us on japan@taxback.com and we'll sort it out for you.
What is a pension book (nenkin techo)?
To claim your Japanese pension insurance refund, we'll need your pension book (nenkin techo) and your pension number. Your pension book is the small orange or blue booklet you'll have received from your employer or contracting organisation when you first arrived to work in Japan. It contains your pension number. Your employer may have held on to the booklet for you during your employment and should have given it to you when you left.
If you don't have your pension book or number we can contact your employer to get it for you.
I worked abroad in other countries - can you help me to claim refunds from these countries?
Absolutely! We've been organising tax refunds for people working all over the world since 1996. If you've worked in any of the following countries click on them to apply for your refund!
Our research team is constantly developing tax return services for new markets so if you've worked in a country not mentioned above, email our team on newtaxes@taxback.com to see what we can do for you.
Can you guarantee that I'll receive the refund amount you estimated for me?
No, but we do guarantee to get you the most money back that we legally can.
Our estimate is based on your documents and our experience in filing thousands of refund applications every week since 1996. Naturally, the Japanese social insurance office has the final decision in your refund based on their systems and codes. Plus, when the social insurance office sends your refund, they deduct 20% income tax from the refunded amount. We can claim that back for you later.
When our technicians prepare and file your application, they ensure we apply for the maximum refund possible.
