Money & Tax
Filing a Tax Return確定申告·kakutei shinkokuMost employees never file. But if you had big medical bills, two employers, or side income, filing gets you money back.
Not verified yet
Drafted from general knowledge. Amounts, thresholds and deadlines change and vary by insurer and municipality — confirm with the office named here before you rely on it.
Why it matters
If you have one employer they handle your tax through the year-end adjustment and you file nothing. But several common situations mean you should file, and in most of them the tax office owes you rather than the other way round. Large medical expenses in a year are deductible. So are some insurance premiums and donations. People who worked two jobs, or arrived partway through a year, are very often owed a refund and never claim it because they assume filing is only for the self-employed.
- Deadline
- Filing period runs mid-February to mid-March for the previous year
- Cost
- Free
- Time
- 1–3 hours; longer if it is your first
What to bring
- Withholding statement源泉徴収票·gensen chōshūhyō
From every employer you had that year. Ask for it when you leave a job — chasing an old employer in February is grim.
- My Numberマイナンバー·mai nambā
- Medical receipts医療費の領収書·iryōhi no ryōshūsho
If claiming the medical expense deduction
- Your bank details振込先口座·furikomisaki kōza
For the refund.
How it goes
- 1
Work out whether you actually need to file
You generally should if you had more than one employer, side income above the threshold, left a job partway through the year and were not adjusted, or want to claim a deduction your employer could not handle. If none of those apply and you have one job, your year-end adjustment has already done it.
- 2
The medical expense deduction is the one people miss
If your household’s medical spending for the year was substantial, the excess above the threshold reduces your taxable income. This stacks with the high-cost medical benefit — that caps what you pay, this reduces the tax on what you did pay. Keep every receipt, for the whole household, all year.
- 3
File online or at the tax office
The e-Tax system works from home, or the tax office runs walk-in help during the filing season. The walk-in sessions get extremely busy in March; going in February is a different experience entirely.
Say this
確定申告をしたいのですが。
Kakutei shinkoku o shitai no desu ga.
I would like to file a tax return.
- 4
Remember it feeds your residence tax
What you file here determines next year’s residence tax bill as well as your income tax. A deduction claimed now reduces both.