How to Read a Japanese Payslip (Kyuyo Meisai)

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · Kyokai Kenpo, Japan Pension Service, the labour ministry and the National Tax Agency · figures for the 2026 tax year

A Japanese payslip (給与明細, kyūyo meisai) has three blocks: what you are paid (支給), what is taken off (控除), and what reaches your bank (差引支給額). Take a monthly salary of ¥300,000 in Tokyo, aged 30, with a commuting allowance of ¥15,000: the payslip shows ¥315,000 paid, ¥65,403 taken off and ¥249,597 net. Below is what each line is, how it is worked out, and why the deductions move in June and October.

Layouts differ from employer to employer, and most add a fourth block for attendance (勤怠: days worked, leave taken, overtime hours). This page reads the usual lines for a full-time employee in Kyokai Kenpo (協会けんぽ); a company health insurance society (健康保険組合) sets its own rate.

The three blocks

The example below is one settled month — after your first year, with resident tax running. Each deduction has its own section after the table.

Overtime pay (時間外手当), housing and family allowances go in the first block when you have them. Some payslips also list items taken off after tax — a company savings plan, union dues, a company flat — which are not insurance or tax and are agreed with your employer.

Health insurance and pension: a grade, not this month’s pay

Health insurance (健康保険料) and employees’ pension (厚生年金保険料) are charged on your standard monthly remuneration (標準報酬月額), a grade set from your usual pay. The commuting allowance counts towards it, so the ¥315,000 above sits in the grade for ¥310,000 to under ¥330,000, and both are charged on ¥320,000.

• Health insurance: the Tokyo rate of 9.85% plus the 0.23% child-care support levy (子ども・子育て支援金), split half and half with your employer — ¥16,128. Some payslips print the levy on a line of its own.
• Long-term care insurance (介護保険料): added from the month you turn 40 until you turn 65. At 45, the same grade adds ¥2,592.
• Pension: 18.3%, also split — ¥29,280.

Because the grade stays put, a month with less overtime does not lower these two lines. Most employers take the premium for the previous month (前月分) from this month’s pay, which is why the first paycheck is usually bigger.

Employment insurance: this month’s pay

Employment insurance (雇用保険料) is the one insurance charged on what you are actually paid each month, the commuting allowance included. For April 2026 to March 2027 an employee in an ordinary business pays 0.5%: ¥1,575 on ¥315,000. It goes up with overtime in the same month.

Income tax: read off a table each month

The income tax line (所得税) is not a share of your gross pay. Payroll takes your pay after social insurance — leaving out the commuting allowance, which is free of income tax up to ¥150,000 a month by train or bus — and reads the monthly withholding table: ¥300,000 less ¥46,983 of insurance is ¥253,017, in the band from ¥251,000 to under ¥254,000, which takes ¥6,220 with nobody declared as a dependent. How the withholding table works has the details.

It moves from month to month for three reasons: overtime raises the pay after insurance and so the band; a spouse or child added to your dependents declaration (扶養控除等申告書) moves the column; and December’s year-end adjustment (年末調整) settles the year, so December’s line can be a refund — why December pay is different.

Overtime in April to June raises the insurance from October

Once a year the grade is reset from the average pay you received in April, May and June (定時決定). The new grade applies from September, and with the one-month lag it first shows on October’s payslip. In the example, ¥30,000 of overtime in each of those months averages ¥345,000 and moves the grade from ¥320,000 to ¥340,000: health insurance goes up ¥1,008 and pension ¥1,830 a month, until the next reset. The October drop walks through it.

Resident tax changes in June

Resident tax (住民税) is last year’s tax, charged by the city you lived in on 1 January and taken from your pay in twelve parts from June to May. The new amount starts on June’s payslip, and the city puts the rounding into the first month: on this salary a year of ¥147,000 becomes ¥12,800 in June and ¥12,200 from July to May. On your first payslips in Japan there is none at all — when resident tax starts.

Checking it with the calculator

Enter your monthly salary and commuting allowance in the take-home calculator and open the Payslip decoder tab: it prints the same lines in the same order, for a settled month. If your payslip differs, the usual reasons are a health insurance society’s own rate, a grade set from last year’s pay, or resident tax worked out on a different year’s income.

Questions people ask

Why did my net pay go down in October?

Usually because your grade was reset from the pay you received in April, May and June. The new grade applies from September, and with the one-month lag it first shows on October's payslip.

Why is there no resident tax on my payslip?

Resident tax is charged by the city you lived in on 1 January, on the year before. If you arrived in Japan this year, it starts with next year's June payslip, on this year's income.

Is the commuting allowance taxed?

Not for income tax, up to the monthly limit for train or bus fares. It still counts for health insurance, pension and employment insurance, which is why it can push you into a higher grade.

Sources

• Kyokai Kenpo — 令和8年度の協会けんぽの保険料率は3月分（4月納付分）から改定されます (the Tokyo rate, long-term care insurance and the child-care support levy). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — 厚生年金保険料額表 (the grades and the pension rate) and 定時決定（算定基礎届） (the reset from April to June pay, applied from September). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — Practical Guide to Pay Employees’ Pension Insurance and Other Contributions (the previous month’s premium taken from pay). English.
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 雇用保険料率について (the employee’s share for April 2026 to March 2027). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — 令和8年分 源泉徴収税額表 (the monthly table) and No.2582 電車・バスなどの通勤手当の非課税限度額 (the tax-free commuting allowance). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — For foreign residents working in Japan: Don’t forget to pay resident tax! (resident tax taken from pay from June to May). English, PDF.
• e-Gov — 地方税法 (article 321-5: the twelve monthly parts, with amounts under ¥100 added to June’s). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.

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