Japan Resident Tax: How the 10% Is Calculated

Last updated: 17 October 2026 · the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications’ resident tax pages · figures for 2026 income

Resident tax (住民税, jūminzei) is the local income tax, charged by your city and prefecture together. It has two parts: an income-based part (所得割) of 10% of taxable income — 6% for the city, 4% for the prefecture — and a per-capita part (均等割) of ¥5,000 a year, which includes ¥1,000 of forest environment tax (森林環境税). The 10% is charged on a taxable income of its own, worked out with smaller deductions than income tax uses, and a small credit then comes off. On a salary of ¥5,000,000 it comes to ¥243,000 a year. To see it next to your other deductions, use the take-home pay calculator.

This is a general explanation for somebody paid a salary in Japan. The city office that sends your resident tax notice is the authority on your own bill.

A taxable income of its own

The start is the same as for income tax: your salary less the employment income deduction (給与所得控除), which gives your employment income, less the social insurance premiums you paid. The difference is in the personal deductions. Resident tax gives a basic exemption (基礎控除) of ¥430,000 for total income of ¥24,000,000 or less, where income tax for 2026 gives ¥1,040,000 on most salaries, and its deductions for a spouse and dependents are smaller as well. The result is rounded down to ¥1,000.

One salary, line by line

For somebody on ¥5,000,000, paid as ¥416,667 a month with no bonus, in Tokyo, under 40, single and with no other deductions, this is the resident tax on the year’s income:

The city and prefecture shares are each rounded down to ¥100, which is why the income-based part is ¥238,000 and not ¥238,100. The same year’s income tax is ¥91,600; the guide to the income tax brackets works it through.

The adjustment credit

The credit dates from 2007, when part of income tax was moved over to resident tax; it keeps the smaller resident tax deductions from raising the combined bill. It is 5% of the difference between the two sets of personal deductions, counted in a fixed way: for the basic exemption the difference always counts as ¥50,000, whatever income tax gives in a particular year.

• With taxable income of ¥2,000,000 or less, the credit is 5% of the difference or of the taxable income, whichever is smaller.
• Above ¥2,000,000, it is 5% of the difference less the amount over ¥2,000,000, and never less than ¥2,500.
• Above ¥25,000,000 of total income there is none.

For a single person with no dependents that gives ¥2,500 at almost any salary. A spouse or dependents widen the difference and make the credit larger.

Is it 10% everywhere?

The law sets 10% as the standard rate, and nearly every municipality charges it. In the designated cities (政令指定都市) such as Yokohama, Osaka and Nagoya, the split is 8% for the city and 2% for the prefecture, because the city takes over some of the prefecture’s work; the total is the same. Many prefectures, and some cities, add a few hundred yen to the per-capita part for their own forest or water programmes, and a small number charge slightly more than the standard on income; the figures on this page use the standard rates. Below a line that depends on your household and city, neither part is charged.

Next to income tax

Resident tax is flat, and income tax rises in bands, so on lower salaries resident tax is the larger bill and on higher ones income tax overtakes it. For a salary in Tokyo, under 40, single, no bonus:

Both columns are for the same year’s income. The resident tax on it is paid in the following year.

When you pay it

Resident tax is charged on the previous year’s income, by the city where you live on 1 January. If you are employed, your employer takes it from your pay in twelve instalments from June to the following May (特別徴収); on ¥243,000 that is ¥20,800 in June and ¥20,200 in each of the other eleven months.

• Your second year in Japan. In your first year there is usually no resident tax, because there was no Japanese income the year before. From your second June the whole of your first year’s pay is taxed, and take-home drops. The guide to your first year explains it.
• Leaving a job. If you leave between 1 January and 30 April, what is left of the bill to May is normally taken from your last pay in one go; leave between June and December and it is taken in one go only if you ask, otherwise the city sends you the bills. The guide to changing jobs covers it.
• Leaving Japan. The bill you already have still has to be paid, from your last pay or by you or a tax agent after you go. The guide to leaving mid-year covers it.

Questions people ask

Is resident tax 10% everywhere in Japan?

The income-based part is 10% almost everywhere: the law sets it as a standard rate, and very few municipalities depart from it. The split between city and prefecture differs in the larger cities, but the total does not.

Why did my resident tax go up in my second year?

Because it is charged on the previous year's income. In your first year in Japan there is usually none, and the bill that starts in your second June is for the whole of your first year's pay.

Do I still pay resident tax if I leave Japan?

Yes, for the bill you already have. The year's tax is fixed on where you lived on 1 January, so leaving does not cancel it; the rest is collected from your last pay or paid by you or a tax agent.

Sources

• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications — 個人住民税 (the 6% and 4% split, 8% and 2% in designated cities; the per-capita part and the forest environment tax; charged on the previous year’s income by the city of 1 January). Japanese, opened 17 October 2026.
• Nerima City — 人的控除 (the resident tax basic exemption of ¥430,000 up to ¥24,000,000 of total income). Japanese, opened 17 October 2026.
• Nerima City — 調整控除 (the two cases either side of ¥2,000,000, the ¥2,500 minimum, none above ¥25,000,000, the ¥50,000 for the basic exemption). Japanese, opened 17 October 2026.
• City of Hiroshima — 個人住民税の特別徴収 (twelve instalments from June to May). Japanese.