The Three Year-End Forms Your Employer Hands You, Decoded

Quick Answer: Three forms, but not three forms about one year. Two of them settle the year that is ending. The third is the next year's form, and asks you to describe a household you do not have yet. Get that distinction wrong and you file a correct answer to the wrong question.

Some time in November a colleague drops an envelope on your desk. Inside are three Japanese forms, a deadline that is usually about four days away, and no explanation. Most people copy last year's answers, sign, and hand it back.

That works, mostly. It stops working in the years when something has changed — and 2026 is emphatically one of those years, because the thresholds on two of these forms moved for the second time in two years.

This is educational information, not tax advice. Your position depends on your income, family and residence status — confirm with the NTA or a qualified tax professional (税理士).

What are the three forms actually called?

They have long names. The long names are the only reliable way to tell them apart, because two of them begin identically.

1. 給与所得者の扶養控除等（異動）申告書 Declaration of dependents etc. for salary earners. This establishes who is in your household for tax purposes — dependants, a spouse, disability status, single-parent status, working-student status.

2. 給与所得者の基礎控除申告書 兼 給与所得者の配偶者控除等申告書 兼 給与所得者の特定親族特別控除申告書 兼 所得金額調整控除申告書 Four declarations printed on one sheet, which is why it is usually just called the basic deduction form. It carries the basic deduction, the spouse deductions, the dependant-relative special deduction, and the income adjustment deduction.

3. 給与所得者の保険料控除申告書 Insurance premium deduction declaration. Four deductions again: life insurance, earthquake insurance, social insurance you paid yourself, and 小規模企業共済等掛金 — which is where iDeCo goes.

Form 1 asks who you support. Form 2 asks what you earned. Form 3 asks what you paid. That is the whole logic of the packet.

Why is one of the three about a different year?

This is the part almost nobody is told, and it causes most of the confusion.

Forms 2 and 3 can only be completed once the year's income is known, so the ones you fill in during November 2026 are the 令和8年分 (2026) editions. They settle the year that is ending.

Form 1 is different. Its deadline is the day before the first salary payment of the year it covers — the NTA's wording is 「その年の最初に給与の支払を受ける日の前日（中途就職の場合には、就職後最初の給与の支払を受ける日の前日）までに提出してください」. So the 扶養控除等申告書 in your November envelope is the 令和9年分 (2027) edition. It is a forecast, not a record.

Employers collect it early because it is convenient to gather everything at once, and the NTA supports this deliberately: the official 令和8年分 year-end adjustment handbook prints the worked example for the 令和9年分 form inside it.

Two consequences follow, and they matter:

Which numbers actually changed for 2026?

The 令和8年度税制改正 raised the income ceilings again. It commenced on 1 December 2026 and applies to income tax from the 2026 tax year onward: 「これらの改正は、原則として、令和８年12月１日に施行され、令和８年分以後の所得税について適用されます」.

Salary-only equivalents in brackets:

Who 2025 (令和7年分) 2026 (令和8年分)
Dependant / same-household spouse ¥580,000 or less (salary ¥1,230,000) ¥620,000 or less (salary ¥1,360,000)
Spouse special deduction over ¥580,000 to ¥1,330,000 (salary ¥1,230,000–¥2,015,999) over ¥620,000 to ¥1,330,000 (salary ¥1,360,000–¥2,070,000)
Working student ¥850,000 or less (salary ¥1,500,000) ¥890,000 or less (salary ¥1,630,000)
Employment income deduction floor ¥650,000 ¥740,000 (2026–27 only)

The basic deduction was also raised and is tiered by total income. For 2026 it is ¥1,040,000 where total income is ¥4,890,000 or less, ¥670,000 from there to ¥6,550,000, and ¥620,000 up to ¥23,500,000. Above ¥23,500,000 nothing changed. That is the arithmetic behind the line the reform was sold on — ¥1,040,000 of basic deduction plus a ¥740,000 employment income floor puts the income-tax-free point at ¥1,780,000, and the Ministry of Finance says so in as many words.

Both are temporary, covering 2026 and 2027 only. From 2028 the permanent figures are lower: a ¥690,000 employment income floor, and a basic deduction of ¥990,000 where total income is ¥1,320,000 or less and ¥620,000 for everyone above that. Worth knowing before you build a multi-year plan on this year's numbers.

Is the 103万円の壁 still a thing?

Not at that number — and possibly not where you think the wall is at all.

For tax purposes, the figure that decides whether your spouse counts as your dependant is now ¥1,360,000 of salary for the 2026 tax year. It was ¥1,230,000 for 2025 and ¥1,030,000 before that. Any advice still quoting ¥1,030,000 predates both reforms.

There is also no cliff there. Cross ¥1,360,000 and the 配偶者控除 gives way to the 配偶者特別控除, which tapers smoothly out to ¥2,070,000 of salary. The household does not fall off an edge; the deduction shrinks.

But the tax threshold is usually not the binding one. A separate set of social insurance rules decides whether your spouse remains a dependant on your health insurance and pension — and this reform did not touch them. Those thresholds sit lower than the tax figures, and crossing one means your spouse starts paying their own premiums, which typically costs far more than the tax deduction being protected. Before anyone increases their hours on the strength of the numbers above, check the social insurance position separately; whether a dependent spouse builds a pension sets out how that side works.

What does the insurance form cover — and what changed?

Form 3 is the one people most often under-complete, because it requires certificates that arrive separately by post in October and are easy to lose.

It covers four things: life insurance, earthquake insurance, social insurance premiums you paid directly (a spouse's National Pension, or your own back-payments from before you joined the company), and 小規模企業共済等掛金控除, which is where iDeCo contributions go. Filing iDeCo under life insurance is the commonest error on this form; miss the line entirely and you have simply donated the deduction.

One change worth catching: where you have a dependant under the age of 23, the ceiling for the general (new) life insurance premium deduction is ¥60,000 rather than ¥40,000. This was created by the 2025 reform for the 2026 tax year and extended by the 2026 reform through 2027. Note the limit of the benefit — the combined cap across all three insurance categories remains ¥120,000, so if you were already at the cap it changes nothing for you.

For what this packet settles and what it cannot, start with the year-end adjustment versus the tax return. Medical expenses, Furusato Nozei across more than five municipalities, and a first-year housing loan all fall outside these three forms no matter how carefully you complete them.

What if your dependants live outside Japan?

This is where foreign employees are most often caught, and the rules are stricter than most people expect.

A relative living abroad aged 16 to under 30, or 70 and over can be claimed on the normal terms. A relative aged 30 to under 70 is excluded unless one of three exceptions applies: they are studying abroad having given up Japanese residence, they have a disability, or you sent them ¥380,000 or more during the year for living or education costs.

Four categories of document sit behind this — 親族関係書類 (proof of relationship), 送金関係書類 (proof of remittance), 留学ビザ等書類 (student visa documents), and 38万円送金書類 (proof of the ¥380,000) — and what must be attached differs between filing form 1 and the year-end adjustment itself.

Two practical notes. Remittances need a paper trail per relative: a single lump sum to one sibling who distributes it locally does not evidence support of the others. And form 1 requires My Number (個人番号) for you and for each declared relative. The fuller treatment is in claiming overseas dependents on Japan taxes.

What if you transfer out of Japan before December?

A narrow trap, but it lands squarely on this audience.

Because the 2026 changes only commenced on 1 December 2026, a year-end adjustment performed before that date necessarily applies the old, smaller deductions. The NTA identifies who this catches: people who became non-resident mid-year through an overseas transfer, people who died in service, and people on leave who had not returned by year-end — where the final 2026 salary was received as a resident on or before 30 November 2026 and a year-end adjustment was run at that point.

If that is you, the difference is recoverable but not automatic, and the route depends on what you have already filed. Someone who filed a 準確定申告 before leaving uses a 更正の請求 (a request for correction); someone who has not filed yet simply files from 1 December onward. Either way the corrective window is a fixed one — 1 December 2026 to 1 December 2031 — not a rolling period from your filing date.

An ordinary mid-year resignation is a different case: there is usually no year-end adjustment at all, and you file a return in the normal way. If you are leaving Japan around this time, pair this with what happens to your pension when you leave — the two decisions land in the same few weeks and their deadlines are not the same.

How do I check this against my own payslip?

Every figure above is a deduction, and deductions only mean something against actual income. Run your salary through the Japan salary tax calculator to see which basic deduction tier you fall in, then read your December payslip against your first Japanese payslip, decoded — the year-end adjustment usually appears there as a single refund line rather than an itemised explanation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of the three forms is about next year?

The 扶養控除等申告書 (form 1). Its deadline is the day before the first salary payment of the year it covers, so the copy handed out in November 2026 is the 2027 edition. Describe your household as you expect it to be next year, including changes that have not happened yet.

My employer handed back the form I filed in January. Do I need to redo it?

Not the entries themselves — the NTA confirms that what you declared on the 2026 form does not change because of the reform. You are being asked to check for 異動, meaning anything that has changed since January. One caution: the explanatory notes printed on the back of that form may predate the 2026 amendments, so do not treat them as the current thresholds.

Where does iDeCo go on these forms?

On form 3, the 保険料控除申告書, under 小規模企業共済等掛金控除 — not under life insurance, which is the commonest misfiling. You need the annual contribution certificate that arrives by post around October. Without it your employer cannot apply the deduction and you would have to claim it on a tax return instead.

Is the 103万円の壁 still a thing?

Not at that number. For 2026 the tax threshold is ¥1,360,000 of salary, having been ¥1,230,000 for 2025 and ¥1,030,000 before that. But the social insurance thresholds that decide whether a spouse stays a dependant for health insurance and pension were not changed by this reform, sit lower, and are usually the constraint that actually matters.

What happens if I just don't submit them?

Your employer must still withhold, but without form 1 you are taxed on the higher 乙欄 column and no year-end adjustment is performed. You would then file your own return to recover the difference. Nothing is permanently lost — a refund claim can be filed for five years from 1 January of the following year — but you finance the government's cash flow in the meantime.

PlanTogetherFI is for educational planning only. It is not tax, financial or legal advice. Thresholds, deduction amounts and commencement dates depend on the tax year and on your circumstances, and several figures above are temporary measures limited to the 2026 and 2027 tax years — confirm your own position with the NTA or a qualified Japanese tax professional (税理士).

Sources and further reading

Rules reflect the position as of September 2026. Several figures above are temporary measures for the 2026 and 2027 tax years, and the 2026 changes commence on 1 December 2026 — confirm current amounts with the NTA before acting.