Gensen Choshuhyo vs Tax Certificates in Japan

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the National Tax Agency’s, the Immigration Services Agency’s and city offices’ pages

Three different documents prove your income and tax in Japan, and they come from three different places. The withholding tax statement (源泉徴収票, gensen-chōshūhyō) comes from your employer and covers what it paid in the year — plus any earlier job that year it included in your year-end adjustment. The resident tax certificate (課税証明書, kazei shōmeisho) comes from your city and covers your whole year’s income and resident tax. Tax payment certificates (納税証明書, nōzei shōmeisho) prove tax was paid: from the city for resident tax, from the tax office for national taxes. A visa application usually wants the city’s certificates, not the employer’s slip. How to read the slip itself is in reading your gensen-choshuhyo.

This is a general explanation. What a given application accepts is up to the office or the bank that asks; check its own list before you order documents.

The three documents

Which one is asked for

• Renewing a work visa. For engineer, specialist in humanities and international services (技術・人文知識・国際業務), applicants whose employer is in category 3 or 4 submit the resident tax certificate and the resident tax payment certificate showing a year’s income and payments. Employers in categories 1 and 2 are generally spared them.
• Permanent residence. The Immigration Services Agency asks for the resident tax certificate and payment certificate for each of the last five years, or as many as the city issues, and the national tax certificate (その3) for withheld income tax, income tax, consumption tax, inheritance tax and gift tax. Every certificate has to be issued within three months before you apply.
• Loans, flats and nurseries. Banks and landlords often take the latest withholding tax statement, or the resident tax certificate if you changed jobs or have other income. Nursery applications are run by the city, which usually checks resident tax itself or asks for the certificate.

Getting each one

• The withholding tax statement. Your employer has to give it to you by 31 January for the previous year, and within a month when you leave. Only the employer issues it; if you lose it, ask payroll for another. If you changed jobs, check the remarks box (摘要) before adding two statements together: the new employer’s may already include the old one’s pay.
• The city’s certificates. Ask the city or ward where you were registered on 1 January of that fiscal year — at its counter, by post or online. With a My Number card many cities also issue them at convenience-store machines, but only while you are still registered there. A new fiscal year’s certificate is usually available from June, once the year’s resident tax has been decided.
• The national tax certificate. Ask your tax office in person or by post, or request it through e-Tax, choosing the kind (その1 to その4) the application names.

Two traps

• The year in the name. A resident tax certificate is named after the fiscal year of the tax, which is charged on the previous calendar year’s income: the fiscal 2026 certificate (令和8年度) shows your 2025 income.
• A blank certificate. If you had income that no employer reported and you did not declare it, the certificate can show no income, which is no use to a visa officer; file a tax return or a resident tax declaration so the figures are there.
• No certificate at all. If you were not registered in Japan on 1 January of that fiscal year — you arrived later — no city issues one for that year, and a declaration does not change that. Ask the immigration office, or whoever wants the certificate, what it accepts instead.

Questions people ask

I moved. Which city issues my resident tax certificate?

The one you were registered in on 1 January of the fiscal year the certificate is for, even if you have moved since. After you move out, the convenience-store service stops working for that city, so ask it by post or online.

Why does my certificate say 2026 when the income is from 2025?

Because resident tax certificates are named after the fiscal year of the tax, and each fiscal year’s tax is on the previous calendar year’s income. The fiscal 2026 certificate shows your 2025 income.

I lost my withholding tax statement. Can the tax office give me another?

No. Only the employer issues it, so ask the employer’s payroll for a copy. For proof of income from a public office, the resident tax certificate from your city shows the same year’s income.

Sources

• Immigration Services Agency — 永住許可申請３ (five years of resident tax certificates and payment certificates; the national tax certificate その3 for five taxes; issued within three months). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Immigration Services Agency — 在留資格「技術・人文知識・国際業務」 (renewal: the resident tax certificate and payment certificate for categories 3 and 4). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — 納税証明書の交付請求手続 (the four kinds, and requesting them through e-Tax). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• National Tax Agency — No.7411 「給与所得の源泉徴収票」の提出範囲と提出枚数等 (the employer issues it by 31 January, and within a month of leaving). Japanese.
• National Tax Agency — 給与所得の源泉徴収票等の法定調書の作成と提出の手引 (a statement after a year-end adjustment that took in an earlier job includes that job’s pay, noted in the remarks). Japanese, PDF.
• Itabashi City — コンビニ交付での課税（非課税）・納税証明書の取得 (issued by the city where you were registered on 1 January; not at convenience stores after moving out). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.

See a year’s income and tax in the calculator