After Quitting a Job in Japan: Money and Deadlines

Last updated: 19 October 2026 · the Japan Pension Service’s, Hello Work’s and the National Tax Agency’s pages · figures for the 2026 tax year

When you quit a job in Japan, the things payroll did for you become yours: health insurance, the national pension, resident tax and the year’s income tax. Two of them have 14-day deadlines. The unemployment benefit (基本手当) that may replace part of the pay is not taxed, but it starts late: for somebody who resigns on ¥300,000 a month it is ¥6,307 a day, after a waiting period and a restriction. How much and for how long is in unemployment benefit in Japan; to estimate yours, use the unemployment benefit calculator.

This is a general explanation for somebody who leaves a salaried job in Japan and does not start another straight away. Hello Work, your city office and the tax office are the authority on your own case.

The first two weeks

• Health insurance. Your employee coverage ends the day after your employment end date. You either join National Health Insurance (国民健康保険) or keep your employee insurance by voluntary continuation (任意継続); the three choices compares them.
• Pension. If you are 20 to 59 and live in Japan, you move from employees’ pension to the national pension (国民年金) as a category 1 member, and the Japan Pension Service gives 14 days from the day after you left to register at your city office — unless a spouse’s employee pension covers you as a dependent.
• Hello Work. There is no 14-day deadline, but the benefit has to be used within a year of the day after you left, and the clock for the waiting period only starts when you apply.

A month of money

Take somebody aged 36 who resigns on ¥300,000 a month in Tokyo at the end of September 2026, and keeps their employee health insurance by voluntary continuation. Once the benefit is running, a 28-day stretch looks like this:

Voluntary continuation costs both halves of the premium, so ¥30,240 rather than the ¥15,120 the payslip took. National Health Insurance is worked out by your city on last year’s income instead, and can be more or less. On top of that comes resident tax: this salary carries a bill of ¥150,500 for the year from June, and ¥100,000 of it is still unpaid when you leave at the end of September. It comes to you as a bill, unless you ask for it to be taken from your last pay — what the month you leave decides.

The benefit does not start at once. Nothing is paid for the first 7 days after you apply, and if you resigned for your own reasons there is usually a further one-month restriction. It is three months if this is your third resignation for your own reasons within five years that led to a benefit decision, or after a dismissal for serious misconduct. Applying promptly with the usual restriction, the first payment comes about two months after your last day; keep enough to cover the premiums and your living costs until then, and longer if the restriction is three months.

Paying less while you look

• Pension: the exemption for job loss. If you lost or left your job, you can apply for the special exemption for unemployment (失業等による特例免除). Your own previous income is ignored, though your spouse’s and the head of household’s still count. Apply at the city office with a copy of your separation notice (離職票) or your benefit papers. A month with the full amount exempted still counts towards your pension, at half of a paid month.
• Health insurance: the reduction for involuntary job loss. If Hello Work classes you as laid off or as leaving for a reason it accepts, National Health Insurance is charged on a reduced figure for your previous salary. Resigning for your own reasons does not qualify for this one, but cities also reduce the premium for households on low incomes and may relieve a sudden fall in income, so ask your city office either way.

Tax on the year

• The benefit is not taxed. The Employment Insurance Act (雇用保険法, article 12) forbids taxing it, so it is not on a tax return and does not raise next year’s resident tax.
• The salary you were paid probably had too much taken. Monthly withholding assumed a full year of pay. If no new employer does a year-end adjustment for you, file a tax return for the year with the withholding tax statement (源泉徴収票) from your last job, and part of the tax usually comes back — a refund return can be filed from January.
• It still counts for a family member’s health insurance. Being a dependent on a family member’s employee health insurance has its own income test, and the benefit is income for that test even though it is not taxed.

Questions people ask

Is unemployment benefit taxed in Japan?

No. The Employment Insurance Act forbids taxing it, so it is not on a tax return and does not raise next year’s resident tax. It does count as income when a family member’s health insurance decides whether you can be their dependent.

Do I get the tax taken from my salary back?

Often part of it. If you do not start a new job before the end of the year, nobody does the year-end adjustment for you, so file a tax return for the year with the withholding tax statement from your last employer.

Does it matter that I quit rather than being laid off?

Yes. Resigning for your own reasons brings a restriction period before the benefit starts, usually fewer days of benefit, and no access to the reduction in National Health Insurance for involuntary job loss, though a city’s low-income and hardship reductions still apply. The pension exemption for job loss is open to both.

Sources

• Japan Pension Service — 国民年金に加入するための手続き (register at the city office within 14 days of the day after leaving). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — 国民年金保険料の免除制度・納付猶予制度 (the special exemption for unemployment ignores your own previous income; a fully exempted month counts as half). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Japan Pension Service — 国民年金保険料 (¥17,920 a month for April 2026 to March 2027). Japanese.
• e-Gov — 雇用保険法 (article 12: no tax on the benefit). Japanese, opened 19 October 2026.
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — 基本手当について (the waiting period, the restriction after resigning, and the year to use the benefit in). Japanese.
• Japan Health Insurance Association (協会けんぽ) — 任意継続 (apply within 20 days; you pay both halves). Japanese.

Estimate your benefit