Job Discussion Forums

employee · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 14

Hey there,

Was wondering if anyone could shed some light on the deductions from your salary for paying the health insurance as well as the (maybe) required pension payments as well as tax. I have several interviews coming up and I'm trying to access what deductions I can expect. Any information is greatly appreciated! Th salaries I'm looking at as of now are the usual starting 250k. Thanks!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Sounds like this might be your first year here.

If you have kokumin kenko hoken (one form of health insurance, the type that your employer does NOT put half into), then you will probably end up paying roughly 2,500 yen per month the first year and ten times that (roughly) for the second year).

If you have what you should get/be given (shakai hoken), you'll probably pay that 10-times amount from the start, divided by half. Exactly how much you pay depends on where you live and how much you make. Shakai hoken takes into account pension, too. Kokumin kenko hoken does not, so you have to apply for that separately if you get stuck with KKH.

Income taxes. Roughly 7-10% of your salary.
http://www.nta.go.jp/tetsuzuki/shinkoku/shotoku/tebiki2009/pdf/01_44.pdf

Pension can be figured out on this page.
http://www.sia.go.jp/e/index.html

Samurai · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Japan

With shakai hoken both the employer and employee pay an equal amount of contributions. On a salary of 250,000 yen that will come to around 30,000 yen a month for you and 30,000 yen a month for the company. (60,000 yen shared equally between employer and employee)

Glenski wrote:
If you have what you should get/be given (shakai hoken), you'll probably pay that 10-times amount from the start, divided by half.

This is a little confusing because it makes it appear that you only pay 12,500 yen a month form his calculations. I think he was trying to say what I have stated above.

A point to remember with paying into a national pension plan is that you can make a lump sum withdrawal from it when you leave Japan (up to 3 years contributions worth). Also some countries have a reciprocal agreement with regards pension so if you are from such a country then any contributions made in Japan will count back home (provided you didn't make a lump sum withdrawal for those years).

In all honesty though, it is very likely that your employer will offer you only two choices...private health insurance (no pension included) or National Health Insurance (kokumin hoken). The NHI you would have to sort out yourself at your city office...(which may then tell you to also join the pension too...kokumin nenkin) Neither of these will cost the employer anything...in deed with regards to the private health insurance offered by the company it actually makes money from commission! I know from fact that some Boards of Education are demanding that the dispatch company ensure that the ALT(s) are enrolled in shakai hoken. Hopefully this will happen more and more but what this will do for the salary of an ALT remains to be seen.

ginjoshu · Joined: 13 Sep 2010 Posts: 24

If you don't have kokumin kenko hoken with your first contract, can't you switch on your new contract?

Samurai · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Japan

ginjoshu:

If you don't have kokumin kenko hoken with your first contract, can't you switch on your new contract?

Yes, you can...but don't expect to be paying 2,500 yen during your first year on it. Your payments will be based on your previous years salary...so you'll probably be paying 25,000 yen right off.

seklarwia · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 3:33 am Post subject:

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

25,000 a month just for NHI sounds a little high for someone on a 250,000 salary. 2 years ago I earned an average of about 360,000 a month before tax, and my payments were around 20,000 a month for the next year, in west Tokyo.

Samurai · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Japan

Yes, 25,000 yen would be too high for his salary...I was just repeating the example given in the previous post. My aim was to show that he would be expected to pay the full amount...based on his salary and age.

Seklarwai wrote:

And don't forget that they may have to back pay whatever they were supposed to have paid in that the first year.

Not for health insurance you don't...you only pay for the current year with health insurance. Pension can be backdated...after all, every year of pension contributions counts. Not the case for health insurance...previous years don't count for anything.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

seklarwia · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 8:22 am Post subject:

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

seklarwia · Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 9:41 am Post subject:

Samurai · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 57 Location: Japan

Glenski wrote:

If you didn't have shakai hoken or kokumin kenko hoken but lived in Japan for at least a year, and then you decide to get kokumin kenko hoken, you will usually have to make a backpayment of up to 2 years' worth on that insurance, Samurai.

Yes, I stand corrected. I thought this to be the rule but my partner told me something different as I was writing. It shows you though, even Japanese people are confused by the rule.
Upon further investigation on Japanese information sites I have discovered something new that I don't think anybody has mentioned before. Here is an article form one site:

国民健康保険税（こくみんけんこうほけんぜい）は、国民健康保険を行う市町村が、国民健康保険に要する費用に充てることを目的として、被保険者の属する世帯の世帯主に対し課する税金であり（地方税法703条の4）、分類上は地方税、直接税、目的税に該当する。一方、市町村が地方税法の規定によらず保険料を徴収する場合や、国民健康保険組合が保険料を徴収する場合は、国民健康保険料と呼ぶ。

Translated this means that the number of years of backpayments of kokumin kenko hoken depend on how the city/town you live in want to interpret the health insurance. It can be interpreted in one of two ways either as a "fee", which means they can backdate up to 2 years. Or it can be interpreted as a "tax" which means it can be backdated 5 years. As I say it all depends on how your city/town wants to interpret backpayments.

One guy (Japanese) on one chat site stated that he had received a bill for 1.6 million yen for backpayments.

ginjoshu · Joined: 13 Sep 2010 Posts: 24

"If you didn't have shakai hoken or kokumin kenko hoken but lived in Japan for at least a year, and then you decide to get kokumin kenko hoken, you will usually have to make a backpayment of up to 2 years' worth on that insurance, ."

I lived in Japan for over 4 years and am headed back in a few weeks. ( left for about 2 years)If I sign up for shakai hoken or kokumin kenko hoken do you think I'll have to make back payments? I was previously insured with Interglobal.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

ginjoshu,
If they don't have a record of you for the past 12 months in the city where you go, you may not have to make those backpayments. Some people who want to skip out of paying for backpayments will relocate and avoid that way.

I do not encourage that.