- October 29, 2026
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Plenty of foreign employees aren’t sure how to fill out the year-end adjustment form, and feel lost each autumn when their employer hands them Japanese-language paperwork they don’t quite follow.
Year-end adjustment mainly uses three forms. It can look daunting, but with your deduction certificates and your family’s details on hand, you can work through them in order.
In this guide, certified financial planner Masamichi Takayanagi walks through the three forms, focusing on what to write where. We’ll also cover the documents you need to claim a family member living abroad as a dependent, and the changes for the fiscal 2026 filing.
For year-end adjustment as a system, our separate guide is worth a look too.
About the Supervisor & Writer
Masamichi Takayanagi
Financial Planner & columnist;
An independent financial planner with extensive experience as a financial columnist, specializing in a wide range of topics including asset management, life insurance, inheritance, loan products, and credit cards. Over 1,000 articles and projects have been contributed to the field.
1st grade Certified Skilled Professional of Financial Planning, Certified Financial Planner®.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: First, How Many Forms Will You Get?
Year-end adjustment uses three main forms:
- The dependent deduction form — 扶養控除等申告書 (fuyo kojo tou shinkokusho)
- The insurance premium deduction form — 保険料控除申告書 (hokenryo kojo shinkokusho)
- The combined form for the basic deduction, spouse deduction, special deduction for specified relatives, and income amount adjustment deduction — 基礎控除・配偶者控除等・特定親族特別控除・所得金額調整控除申告書 (kiso kojo / haigusha kojo tou / tokutei shinzoku tokubetsu kojo / shotoku kingaku chosei kojo shinkokusho)
The dependent deduction form tells your employer about you and the family members you support. Even if you have no dependents, as a rule you submit it to your main workplace.
On the insurance premium deduction form, you declare things like life insurance, earthquake insurance, social insurance premiums you paid yourself, and iDeCo contributions.
The third is a single sheet combining several declarations. Along with the basic deduction, those who qualify fill in the spouse deduction, the special deduction for specified relatives, and the income amount adjustment deduction.
Some companies have you enter this through a year-end adjustment system rather than on paper. The basic idea of what you enter is the same.
Chapter2 : How to Fill Out the Dependent Deduction Form
Work through this form from the top down: your own details first, then your spouse and dependents, then the residence-tax items.
Start with your name, date of birth, address, and My Number. You may be able to leave out your My Number under certain conditions, so follow your employer’s guidance.
Next, for each qualifying spouse or dependent, enter their name, date of birth, relationship to you, and estimated income. Dependents under 16 don’t qualify for the income-tax dependent deduction, but you still enter them in the “items related to residence tax” section at the bottom.
A change for 2026
For the fiscal 2026 filing, a tax reform raised the income limit for dependents to 620,000 yen or less in total income — about 1.36 million yen or less if the person has only employment income. So a family member who didn’t qualify before may now count. If that’s the case, you’ll need to file an amendment to the 2026 form you already submitted.
Claiming a relative who lives abroad
If you’re entering a relative living abroad, also check the box for “a relative who is a non-resident.”
For an overseas relative aged 30 to 69, the dependent deduction generally applies only if one of these is true:
- They live abroad in order to study
- They have a disability
- They received 380,000 yen or more from you for living or education costs during the year
You’ll also need to back this up with paperwork. On top of documents proving the family relationship, at year-end adjustment you submit or show:
- Remittance documents (proof you sent money)
- For students, study-visa documents
- For the 380,000-yen route, documents showing remittances of 380,000 yen or more
Two more points: any document in a foreign language needs a Japanese translation, and if you’re claiming more than one overseas relative, you need proof that you sent money to each of them separately.
Before you start, have on hand the deduction certificates sent by your insurers, the National Pension Fund Association, and so on.
For the life insurance premium deduction, first check the category shown on the certificate: general life insurance, nursing-care medical insurance, or individual annuity insurance.
General life insurance and individual annuity insurance also have an “old” and “new” split:
- Contracts signed on or before December 31, 2011 — old contracts
- Contracts signed on or after January 1, 2012 — new contracts
If the certificate shows the expected amount paid by year-end or a “declared amount,” and you’re keeping the contract as is, you generally copy that figure into the matching box on the form. How insurers word their certificates varies, so check how yours presents it.
For the fiscal 2026 and 2027 filings, there’s a special rule for people with a dependent under 23: the general life insurance premium deduction on new life insurance premiums is calculated differently. The usual maximum is 40,000 yen, but in that case it’s up to 60,000 yen. Even so, the overall cap on the life insurance premium deduction stays at 120,000 yen.
Earthquake insurance goes in the “earthquake insurance premium deduction”; national pension premiums you paid yourself go in the “social insurance premium deduction.”
iDeCo depends on how you pay. If it’s deducted from your salary (“employer payment”), your company already knows the amount, so as a rule you don’t declare it yourself. If you pay it yourself (“individual payment”), enter the amount shown on your small-business mutual-aid premium payment certificate (shokibo kyosai tou kakekin haraikomi shomeisho).
You submit or present the deduction certificates to your employer. If your employer files electronically, you may be able to submit them as electronic data.
Chapter4 : How to Fill Out the Basic / Spouse / Income-Adjustment Deduction Form
Start by working out your own estimated total income for the year.
If salary is your only income, enter your expected salary for the year in the “revenue” box (shunyu kingaku). Then use the form’s worked example, or the table of post-deduction employment income, to find your “income” (shotoku kingaku) — the figure after the employment-income deduction. If you earn anything beyond salary, add that estimate too.
Basic deduction. For 2026, if your total income is 4.89 million yen or less, the basic deduction is 1.04 million yen. Above that, the amount changes — check it against the assessment table printed on the form.
Spouse. If you’re claiming your spouse, enter their revenue and estimated income too. For 2026:
- Total income 620,000 yen or less → spouse deduction (salary only: about 1.36 million yen or less)
- Over 620,000 up to 1.33 million yen → spouse special deduction (salary only: about 1.36 to 2.07 million yen)
If your own total income tops 10 million yen, though, you can’t take either one.
Relatives aged 19–22. Check the “special deduction for specified relatives” box. For 2026, it covers total income over 620,000 up to 1.23 million yen (salary only: about 1.36 to 1.97 million yen). How much you get depends on the relative’s income.
Income-amount adjustment. This box is only for certain cases — for example, employment income over 8.5 million yen (subject to year-end adjustment) plus a dependent under 23. If your employment income is 8.5 million yen or less, skip it.
One last thing: if a section doesn’t apply to you, don’t force it. Leave it blank.
Chapter5 : Submission Deadline and What Comes Next
You submit your year-end adjustment forms by the deadline your employer sets.
For the basic deduction form and the like, the legal deadline is the day before you receive your last salary of the year. But companies often set an earlier cutoff for their own processing, so go by your workplace’s instructions first.
Based on what you declare, your company calculates your income tax for the year and settles it against the tax withheld each month. If you overpaid, you get a refund; if you came up short, the difference is collected. When this shows up depends on your company’s payroll schedule.
For 2026, changes such as the basic deduction and dependents’ income requirements take effect from the December year-end adjustment. The tax withheld through November 2026 generally doesn’t change, so the year-end adjustment is where the year’s tax is settled using the revised amounts.
For most employees, year-end adjustment completes the income-tax process. In some cases, though, you’ll need to file a tax return — or you’ll choose to, in order to claim a deduction:
- Your salary income tops 20 million yen
- You have one employer, and more than 200,000 yen of income outside salary and retirement income (a side job, say)
- You have two or more employers, and salary that wasn’t adjusted exceeds a certain amount
- You’re claiming the medical expense deduction
- You’re not using the furusato nozei one-stop system, or you’re filing a return anyway
- You’re claiming the housing loan deduction for the first time
For things like the medical expense deduction or the first year of the housing loan deduction, it’s less that you’re required to file than that you file in order to claim the deduction.
Chapter6 : Frequently Asked Questions
Here are the questions people ask most often about filling out the year-end adjustment form.
Q. What do I need to claim a family member living abroad as a dependent?
You need documents proving the family relationship and documents showing money you sent. For an overseas relative aged 30 to 69, there are extra requirements — studying abroad, a disability, or 380,000 yen or more sent during the year — so check their age and situation.
Q. Which figures do I write from my insurance deduction certificate?
Check the insurance category shown on the certificate and the expected premiums you’ll pay by year-end, and enter them in the right boxes. Life insurance is calculated differently for new and old contracts, so check the category on the certificate as it stands.
Q. If I do the year-end adjustment, do I still need to file a tax return?
For most employees, year-end adjustment settles the income tax and that’s it. But if you have side income over a certain amount, for example, you’ll need to file. And for the medical expense deduction, furusato nozei without the one-stop system, or the first year of the housing loan deduction, you may file a return in order to claim the deduction.
Chapter7 : In Closing
Year-end adjustment mainly comes down to three forms: the dependent deduction form, the insurance premium deduction form, and the combined form for the basic deduction and related deductions.
On the dependent deduction form, check your own and your family’s details, and if you have a relative living abroad, prepare documents proving the relationship and showing the money you sent.
On the insurance premium deduction form, copy over the figures, checking the category and amount on each deduction certificate. With iDeCo, note that the steps differ depending on whether it’s employer payment or individual payment.
On the basic deduction form, you enter the estimated income for yourself, your spouse, and others. For 2026, the basic deduction and dependents’ income requirements have changed — so don’t assume it’s the same as last year; check.
*This article is for general information only and is not individual tax advice. Information is accurate as of October 2026, but the forms, the deduction amounts, and the income requirements change almost every year, and each person’s situation is different. Whether a deduction applies, and how much, depends on your income, your family, and your circumstances, so check the latest forms and figures on the National Tax Agency’s site, and take anything unclear to your workplace or a tax professional before you submit.
