The National Pension System: Everyone Supports Each Other
Japan’s National Pension is a system in which everyone supports one another by pooling funds for everyday living during old age as well as for those with disabilities and cases in which a person financially supporting a family dies. The pension premiums you pay today are easing the lives of the elderly and those in difficulty.
Inquiries:
National Pension Subsection, National Health Insurance and Pension Section
(Hon Chosha 4F, Shinagawa City Office, Tel: 5742-6682 to 6684)
Shinagawa Pension Office, Japan Pension Service
(Kotoku Bldg. 2F, 5-1-5 Osaki, Tel: 3494-7831) |
○ Everyone between the ages of 20 and 59 living in Japan must enroll in the National Pension system. Registered foreign residents are also required to enroll. The premiums you pay can be deducted from your taxable income. If you are employed in a company in Japan that has an employee pension system, you are required to enroll in it. The company will complete the enrollment procedures.
● Category 1 insured person: This category includes the self-employed, students, part-time workers, the unemployed, etc. Pension premiums are ¥14,980 per month (FY2012) and must be paid by the member himself/herself.
● Category 2 insured person: This category includes company employees and public employees who are enrolled in an employee pension system or mutual benefit society. Pension premiums are deducted from their salaries.
● Category 3 insured person: This category refers to dependent spouses of category 2 insured persons. Since the pension plan of the category 2 insured person covers the pension premiums, there is no need for the spouse to pay individually.
Social Security Agreement
To prevent people from joining multiple pension systems simultaneously in Japan and abroad—and to help them receive the pensions they are due—Japan has concluded social security agreements with several nations. As of August 2012, Japan had signed agreements with Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, the United States, Belgium, France, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, and Switzerland. For more information, please check the Japan Pension Service website (www.nenkin.go.jp/) or ask the Shinagawa Pension Office.
Inquiries: Shinagawa Pension Office, Tel: 3494-7831 |
● Pension Benefits
Old-Age Basic Pension
As a rule, under the current system, when you turn 65 years of age and if the sum of the following periods listed in (1) through (3) below is 25 years or more, you can receive an elderly pension benefit:
(1) Period that pension premiums were paid (including the period that you were a category 2 insured person)
(2) Period that you were a category 3 insured person
(3) Pension premium exemption period, special payment exception period for students, and contribution postponement period (grace period) for low income youth
Disability Basic Pension
This is paid if a National Pension member (or other eligible person) becomes disabled to a designated degree.
Survivors’ Basic Pension
If a male National Pension member or other eligible person dies, a pension is paid to his wife and their children (as child support) or directly to the children until the fiscal year the children turn 18 years of age (or 20 years of age for disabled children).
Note: Other similar systems include the widow's pension and lump-sum death benefit. For all of them there is a requirement of a certain level of premium payment.
Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment System
Foreign residents who leave Japan without fulfilling the requirements for receiving a pension can still receive a lump-sum benefit if they have paid pension premiums for six months or longer, and if they file an application within two years. |
● Complete the Designated Procedures in the Following Cases
You need to file an application to enroll in the system, receive pension benefits, and complete other procedures. Please do not forget to file these applications and other notifications.
● When you turn 20 years of age (excluding category 2 and 3 insured persons): File an enrollment application for National Pension system with the City Office.
Note: If you have a permanent resident permit and are about to reach 20 years of age, you will receive a letter of notification with information on enrollment procedures from the Shinagawa Pension Office.
● If you are employed by a company with an employee pension system, or the company is a mutual benefit society member: Complete the enrollment procedures at your company.
● If you marry and become a dependent spouse of a category 2 insured person, such as a company employee: Your spouse must complete the procedures at the place of his/her employment to add you.
● If you are no longer a category 3 insured person (dependent spouse): If you do not enroll in an employee pension, please complete the designated procedures at the City Office.
● If you leave a company that has an employee pension system (or is a mutual benefit society member) before you reach 60 years of age: Please complete the designated procedures at the City Office.
● If you move overseas (excluding category 2 and 3 insured persons): If you file a notification that you are moving out of the country into your resident record, you will automatically lose eligibility for the National Pension.
● If you move into the city from overseas (excluding category 2 and 3 insured persons): Please complete the designated procedures at the City Office.
● To request the elderly pension benefit: Those who completed the entire term as category 1 insured persons should go to the City Office; all others should apply at the Pension Office. (Those enrolled in a mutual benefit society should apply at the mutual benefit society office.)
● When a pension recipient dies: For those who received a pension benefit from the National Pension or an employee pension system please inquire at the Pension Office; for those who received a mutual-aid pension please speak with the particular mutual benefit society office.
● Please Ask for Advice
●If you are having difficulty paying your pension premiums, there are exemptions and grace period systems you can use, depending on your income status.
●For those whose pension premium payment period or enrollment period is less than 25 years or who cannot fulfill other pension benefit requirements, it may be possible to extend enrollment in the National Pension even after reaching 60 years of age.
Late Payment System Debuts
A system allowing retroactive payment of pension premiums dating back over the last ten years has been initiated. The payment acceptance period is for three years, starting from October 2012. By taking advantage of this late payment system, you may be able to increase your future pension benefit amount, or secure the right to receive a pension.
Inquiries:
Japan Pension Service’s National Pension premiums hotline, Tel: 0570-011-050
Shinagawa Pension Office, Tel: 3494-7831 |
