Before you leave Japan permanently, tell your municipality you are moving abroad, settle health-insurance and tax questions, and decide whether claiming a pension lump sum is worth permanently losing previous Japanese pension coverage. Do not start by simply cancelling your phone and flying out: pension, residence card, resident tax and income tax follow different procedures and dates.
You have two separate decisions: what must be finished before the flight and whether to claim a lump-sum pension withdrawal within two years after no longer having a Japanese address. The second decision is optional—and it can be financially worse for somebody who may return to work in Japan or qualify for pension totalization under a social security agreement.
An exit timeline you can actually use
| When | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 4–6 weeks before leaving | Tell employer, landlord, insurer and utility companies your final dates; obtain payslips, pension number and tax records | Payroll, rental restoration and pension history may be hard to retrieve from abroad |
| Before the date of moving abroad | File a moving-out notification (転出届 / tenshutsu-todoke) at your current city/ward office | This establishes departure from the municipal resident register; mere departure at the airport is not the same thing |
| Before cancelling medical cover | Ask the employer or municipality whether you have employees' insurance or National Health Insurance (NHI), when coverage ends and how unpaid/pending premiums are adjusted | A new premium notice can arrive after your last doctor's visit |
| Before departure | Ask the city about resident tax as of 1 January and ask the national tax office whether you must appoint a tax representative or file before departure | Moving out does not erase taxes already due |
| At the airport, on permanent departure | Follow Immigration's instruction to return your residence card if you are leaving without re-entry rights | Retaining an invalid card is not a way to preserve residence |
| After leaving, within the pension claim window | Compare future pension/totalization value against lump-sum withdrawal, then file only if genuinely eligible and it suits you | The payout can erase earlier Japanese pension coverage |
Japan's Immigration Services Agency instructs residents moving abroad to file a municipal moving-out notification before moving. Japan Pension Service requires that a lump-sum claimant no longer have an address in Japan. A change-of-address form sent to a bank is not a municipal departure notice.
The pension refund: do you meet the real conditions?
The official Japan Pension Service claim form and explanation give the principal conditions: you are not Japanese, you are no longer covered by Japan's public pension system, you have qualifying paid/enrolled periods of at least six months, you no longer have an address in Japan and you have never acquired the right to Japanese pension benefits such as old-age/disability benefits. You must file within two years of no longer having a Japanese address under the relevant claim-timing rule. A long stay with unpaid National Pension premiums does not automatically count as six qualifying paid months.
The ten-year limit matters. If you already have 120 qualifying months (ten years) for an old-age pension, you generally cannot claim this refund; the normal future pension route matters instead. This is an eligibility-period test, which may include periods counted under a relevant social security agreement, not always just months you paid directly in Japan.
The five-year cap is not a five-year refund guarantee. For qualifying coverage after the 2021 change, the formula considers at most 60 months, even where someone has 61–119 eligible months. Certain only-pre-March-2021 histories have a 36-month calculation cap. Claiming forfeits all Japanese pension periods before the claim, not merely the months used in the payout calculation.
Two people, very different choices:
- Case A — 30 months paid, unlikely to return: A non-Japanese worker leaving with 30 qualifying months may be eligible for a lump sum. Before filing, check whether a Japan–home-country pension totalization agreement means retaining those months could provide a later benefit. If not, the immediate refund might be useful; no fixed payout can be inferred merely from 30 months without reading the contribution record.
- Case B — 90 months and a possible return: Another worker has 90 qualifying months, no current ten-year entitlement and intends to return in a few years. The lump-sum amount may use only 60 months, while all 90 months before claiming cease to count toward their Japanese pension. Keeping the record could be considerably more valuable than the refund. This is an explicit warning in Japan Pension Service's document, not a speculative penalty.
Japan Pension Service's social security agreement explanation says eligible employment periods in some treaty countries can be totalized, but countries and treaty provisions differ. A treaty on avoiding double contributions is not automatically a pension totalization agreement. Verify your actual country's agreement and the current bilateral rules before irreversibly claiming.
Apply without losing paperwork or a tax refund
If the lump sum makes sense, get the current multilingual application from Japan Pension Service. The source checklist calls for passport-identity evidence, proof of no Japanese address where the municipality's moving-out record does not suffice, evidence of a bank account in the claimant's name (including bank/branch details) and your Basic Pension Number.
If mailing the form before actually leaving Japan, the official instructions say that Japan Pension Service must receive it after the recorded moving-out date so that the no-Japanese-address eligibility condition is met. Filing too early may fail; missing the two-year window can prevent a valid claim. Keep copies and track the application with the pension office, rather than trusting a paid agent's promised payout.
Tax is different for the two pension systems. The pension service's English official explanation says a nonresident receiving an Employees' Pension Insurance lump sum is generally paid after 20.42% tax withholding. A National Pension lump sum has no such withholding. A refund of withheld tax may be available through the specific elective retirement-income tax return; it is not automatic, and actual tax outcome depends on your facts.
For a possible Employees' Pension tax recovery, consider naming a tax agent resident in Japan and arrange the relevant documents through the local tax office. The pension payment notice may be needed for the tax filing. The National Tax Agency's departure rules separately explain when departing persons who still owe income-tax procedures must appoint a representative, file a pre-departure return or have one filed at the normal deadline. Do not assume the 20.42% tax withheld is your final personal liability or that the full amount always comes back.
Resident tax: your January 1 address changes the plan
Local resident tax (住民税 / jūminzei) is distinct from national income tax. Shinjuku Ward's official explanation says, generally, people registered in the municipality on January 1 can owe resident tax based on the previous year's taxable income, with notices usually later in the year. Moving abroad in February, April or October does not automatically cancel a tax already assessed for that year's January 1 status.
Example: You were a city resident on 1 January 2026 and leave Japan in October 2026. You may still owe your 2026 resident tax; ask payroll/ward whether the balance is withheld from the final salary, paid early, or handled by an appointed payer. The 2027 tax consequences of moving out before 1 January 2027 are a separate question depending on the actual residence/tax rules and any remaining circumstances—do not claim “no tax forever once you depart.”
If you must submit a national income-tax return after exit, the National Tax Agency distinguishes the tax-agent route (normal following-year filing) from the pre-departure quasi-final filing where no tax agent is appointed and a return is due. Do not confuse those filings with a municipality's resident-tax collection.
Medical coverage, utilities and residence card
Ask the municipality to close or adjust National Health Insurance coverage if you are an NHI member, and reconcile premiums, refunds or unpaid contributions; employer-provided health insurance has a different exit/termination process. Shinjuku Ward's insurance guidance expressly asks people returning abroad or moving out to settle premiums. Do not keep using a health card after the entitlement ends simply because it looks valid.
Return leased housing properly: give notice under your contract, document cleaning/normal wear, photograph meter readings, return keys and get a forwarding address/payment arrangement for deposits and utilities. Close or transfer mobile/Internet subscriptions and bank accounts in an order that still allows tax, salary, pension or deposit payments. Some banks may limit services after you cease Japanese residence; check their actual conditions, and arrange a reachable contact channel for pension paperwork.
Immigration Services Agency says a mid- or long-term resident who departs permanently without re-entry permission returns the residence card at the port on departure. Departing under a valid re-entry arrangement is a different case; the card must be returned if it later becomes invalid. Do not claim the moving-out notice alone invalidates every re-entry permission or that holding the card preserves residence indefinitely.
The last decision before you book your flight
If your pension history is short and you will not return, confirm eligible months and any relevant social-security agreement before applying for a lump sum; prepare the claim and tax-agent decision now, but follow the proper no-address timing. If you may return or totalize periods, price the lost pension years against the cash before doing anything irreversible.
Then obtain written confirmation of the municipality's moving-out and NHI balance, payroll and resident tax, any national tax representative, the apartment/utility settlement, and the residence-card procedure. Your final Japanese address and tax documents may be essential even after your flight. For help with new residence registration rather than departure, see Japan first-month registration, insurance and pension.