How to Read Your Japanese Salary Withholding Slip—and Know When to Use It

A Japanese salary withholding slip shows how much taxable salary an employer paid you, the employment-income amount calculated under tax rules, your recorded deductions, and the national income tax withheld for one calendar year.

The document is called a kyūyo shotoku no gensen chōshūhyō (給与所得の源泉徴収票), often shortened to gensen chōshūhyō. Keep every slip you receive. You may need it when changing jobs, filing a tax return, checking your year-end adjustment, or proving income.

This guide is mainly for employees in Japan, including foreign workers who have just received the form for the first time.

The essentials:

• Shiharai kingaku is your taxable gross salary from that employer—not your take-home pay.
• Gensen chōshū zeigaku is national income tax and special reconstruction income tax withheld—not resident tax.
• A blank field does not always mean zero; it can mean that the employer did not complete a year-end adjustment.
• If you worked for several employers, you may receive several slips and need to use all of them.

First, confirm that you have the right document

The salary withholding slip is different from a monthly payslip and from a retirement-income withholding slip.

Look near the top for:

• 給与所得の源泉徴収票 — kyūyo shotoku no gensen chōshūhyō, withholding slip for salary income
• 年分 — nenbun, the calendar year covered
• Your name and address
• The employer’s name and address at the bottom

The year is especially important. A slip marked 2025 covers salary whose payment became fixed during the 2025 calendar year; it is not simply a summary of your employer’s fiscal year.

Do not confuse it with:

• 給与明細 — kyūyo meisai, a monthly payslip
• 退職所得の源泉徴収票 — taishoku shotoku no gensen chōshūhyō, a separate slip for retirement income
• 住民税決定通知書 — jūminzei kettei tsūchisho, a resident-tax notice

The copy given to you should not display your My Number. The National Tax Agency (NTA) states that My Number is omitted from the recipient’s copy even where identifying information is required on a document submitted by the employer to the tax office.

The four figures most employees should read first

Four boxes explain most of the document, but they represent different stages of the tax calculation. Reading them from left to right prevents the most common misunderstanding: treating every amount as cash that was paid or deducted from your bank account.

1. 支払金額 — Shiharai kingaku (amount paid)

This is the total taxable salary and bonus attributed to that employer for the year. It is usually the closest figure on the form to “gross taxable pay.”

It may not equal the sum of all money deposited into your account because:

• income tax, social insurance, and other payroll deductions reduce take-home pay;
• certain non-taxable payments, such as qualifying commuting allowances, may be excluded;
• taxable allowances and some benefits can be included;
• the tax-year treatment depends on when the salary became payable, not only when cash reached your account.

If you had two employers, do not expect either slip to show your combined annual salary unless your current employer included the earlier job in its year-end adjustment.

2. 給与所得控除後の金額 — Kyūyo shotoku kōjo-go no kingaku (amount after the employment-income deduction)

This is not your take-home salary. It is your salary income after applying the statutory employment-income deduction.

Japan does not normally ask employees to subtract every ordinary work expense individually. Instead, the employment-income deduction is calculated under a formula based on gross salary. For example, the NTA explains that a person with ¥5,000,000 in gross salary for 2025 has an employment-income amount calculated under the applicable statutory table.

If the employer did not perform a year-end adjustment, this box may be blank.

3. 所得控除の額の合計額 — Shotoku kōjo no gaku no gōkeigaku (total income deductions)

This is the combined amount of deductions recorded in the year-end adjustment. Depending on your circumstances and the forms you submitted, it can reflect items such as:

• the basic exemption;
• spouse or dependent exemptions;
• social-insurance premium deductions;
• life-insurance or earthquake-insurance deductions;
• certain deductions connected with a disability, working-student status, widowhood, or being a single parent.

This box does not mean that the displayed amount was refunded to you. Deductions generally reduce the income used in the tax calculation; they do not reduce tax yen for yen.

4. 源泉徴収税額 — Gensen chōshū zeigaku (tax withheld at source)

This is the amount of national income tax and special income tax for reconstruction shown after the employer’s processing for the year.

It is not the total of all deductions taken from your salary. In particular, it does not include:

• resident tax (jūminzei);
• health-insurance premiums;
• employees’ pension contributions;
• employment-insurance premiums;
• company housing, union fees, or other workplace deductions.

Use monthly payslips and the resident-tax notice to check those amounts.

ここがポイント: The four main figures move from gross taxable salary to calculated employment income, recorded deductions, and withheld national tax. They are not four versions of your take-home pay.

How the year-end adjustment affects the slip

A completed year-end adjustment usually makes the slip a final summary for salary income handled by that employer, but it does not settle every possible tax issue.

The process is called nenmatsu chōsei (年末調整), or year-end adjustment. An employer compares the income tax withheld from monthly salary with the amount calculated for the year, using the employee declarations and supporting documents it has received.

For many employees with one job, this completes their national income-tax calculation. The NTA nevertheless lists situations in which a salary earner generally must file a final return, including certain cases involving:

• annual employment earnings above ¥20 million;
• income other than employment and retirement income exceeding ¥200,000 when salary comes from one source;
• salary from multiple sources combined with other income under the applicable filing test.

Other people may file to claim deductions or refunds that were not handled by payroll, such as qualifying medical-expense or donation deductions. Individual circumstances matter, so use the NTA’s current guidance or ask a tax office before deciding that no return is needed.

Signs that year-end adjustment may not have been completed

Check whether:

• the amount-after-employment-income-deduction box is blank;
• the total-income-deductions box is blank;
• the remarks field includes 年調未済 — nenchō misai, meaning year-end adjustment not completed;
• you left the employer during the year and did not meet a case eligible for adjustment at departure.

A blank or marked slip is still important. Give it to a new employer when requested or use it when preparing a final tax return.

Read the smaller boxes as a checklist

The detailed fields show what payroll actually recognized, so compare them with the declarations and evidence you submitted.

Dependants and spouse information

The form can show whether a qualifying spouse was recorded, the number of qualifying dependants, and information about dependants under 16. It may also list names in the lower section.

For relatives living outside Japan, special evidence rules apply. Depending on the relative’s age and circumstances, the NTA may require documents proving the relationship, remittances, student status, or other conditions. Foreign-language evidence may also need a Japanese translation.

Do not assume that listing a relative on an employer’s internal form automatically secured a tax exemption. Check the numbers and names on the final slip.

Social-insurance and private-insurance deductions

Look for:

• 社会保険料等の金額 — shakai hokenryō-tō no kingaku, social-insurance premiums and related amounts
• 生命保険料の控除額 — seimei hokenryō no kōjogaku, life-insurance premium deduction
• 地震保険料の控除額 — jishin hokenryō no kōjogaku, earthquake-insurance premium deduction

The social-insurance figure is a deduction used in the income-tax calculation. It should not be read as a complete explanation of your insurance coverage or future pension benefit.

Housing-loan deduction

Employees who qualify for the housing-loan tax credit may see fields beginning with 住宅借入金等特別控除 (jūtaku kariirekin-tō tokubetsu kōjo).

The first year of a housing-loan credit generally requires a final tax return. Later eligible years may be handled through payroll after the required documents are submitted. If the amount looks wrong, check the certificate and year-end-adjustment paperwork rather than trying to infer eligibility from the slip alone.

摘要 — Tekiyō (remarks)

The remarks box can contain information that does not fit elsewhere, including notes about a previous employer included in the year-end adjustment or certain special tax treatments.

If your current employer combined a former employer’s salary, look for information identifying that earlier payer and its amounts. This matters because adding both slips again on a tax return could duplicate income.

What to do after changing jobs

When you change employers during the same calendar year, give the new employer your earlier salary withholding slip promptly if it will perform your year-end adjustment.

The NTA says the new employer uses the earlier slip to confirm salary and withholding from the previous job. Without it, the new employer cannot include that earlier salary in its year-end adjustment.

A practical sequence is:

1. Ask the former employer when and how the slip will be delivered.
2. Check the year, your name, the employer, shiharai kingaku, and gensen chōshū zeigaku.
3. Keep a copy before submitting it to the new employer.
4. Confirm on the final slip whether the previous employment was included.
5. If it was not included, check whether you need to file a final tax return.

Employers must generally provide the slip to all recipients by January 31 of the following year. For a person who leaves during the year, the recipient deadline is generally within one month after departure.

This obligation also covers resident foreign employees. Electronic delivery is possible under specified conditions, and an employee who received it electronically may still request a paper copy.

Using the slip for a tax return

Use the figures exactly as printed, but first determine whether one slip already combines income from another employer.

Gather:

• every salary withholding slip for the relevant year;
• monthly payslips if you need to investigate a discrepancy;
• certificates for deductions not already handled by payroll;
• My Number and identity-verification documents required for filing;
• bank details if you expect a refund.

For salary information from 2023 onward, eligible data submitted by an employer may be imported into an e-Tax return through Mynaportal. Availability depends on how and when the employer submitted the data. The NTA instructs users to compare imported data with the slip received from the employer.

Never discard the paper or electronic slip merely because information appeared automatically in e-Tax.

Common mistakes—and the safer check

Most errors come from confusing tax categories or combining documents incorrectly.

• Mistake: Reading shiharai kingaku as net pay.
  Compare it with taxable gross pay, not bank deposits.

• Mistake: Treating withheld tax as all payroll deductions.
  Check payslips separately for resident tax and social insurance.

• Mistake: Adding a former employer’s slip twice.
  Inspect the final employer’s remarks and ask payroll whether earlier income was combined.

• Mistake: Assuming a blank deduction field proves ineligibility.
  It may mean year-end adjustment was not completed or the required declaration was not processed.

• Mistake: Comparing different tax years without checking rule changes.
  Tax thresholds, deductions, and form fields can change. Compare documents under the rules for each printed year.

• Mistake: Using the slip as universal proof of current income.
  It records a past calendar year. A landlord, bank, immigration office, or municipality may request newer payslips, a tax certificate, an employment certificate, or another specified document.

If the document is late, missing, or wrong

Contact the employer or its payroll provider first; the tax office does not simply create a replacement for an employer’s slip.

If you lost a slip that was already issued, request reissuance from the employer. The NTA’s non-issuance notification procedure is not a replacement service.

If no slip arrives after the legal delivery deadline:

1. Contact the employer in writing and keep a record of the request.
2. Confirm the address or employee portal used for delivery.
3. Keep copies of available payslips.
4. If the employer still does not issue it, consider filing a 源泉徴収票不交付の届出書 (gensen chōshūhyō fukōfu no todokedesho) with the tax office.

The NTA accepts that notification after the applicable deadline—generally one month after leaving or January 31 of the following year. Copies of preserved payslips can be attached.

If the slip contains an error, ask payroll for a corrected document. Do not alter the PDF or paper yourself.

Current points to watch in 2026

Use guidance for the year printed on the slip, because recent reforms changed the calculations even when the document still looks familiar.

As of August 2026:

• The 2025 tax reform revised the basic exemption, employment-income deduction, and dependant-income conditions, and created a special exemption for specified relatives. The changes generally apply from 2025 income.
• The NTA revised the salary withholding-slip format in connection with those changes.
• The 2026 withholding tables reflect changed amounts and methods for counting qualifying relatives.
• The NTA says the 2026 tax reform does not itself require another redesign of the 2026 salary withholding slip.
• From January 2027, a new deemed-submission arrangement changes part of employers’ filing process, but employers must still provide withholding slips to recipients.

These national rules apply across Japan. Payroll timing, electronic delivery, and the office that answers questions can differ by employer. Resident-tax certificates and procedures are handled locally, so confirm those with your municipality rather than treating the salary withholding slip as a complete resident-tax record.

A final five-minute check

Before storing or submitting the document, verify:

• the tax year, your name, and the employer;
• gross taxable salary and withheld national tax;
• whether year-end adjustment was completed;
• whether a previous employer was included;
• spouse, dependant, insurance, and housing-loan entries relevant to you;
• whether the organization requesting proof of income accepts this document.

Keep the original electronic file or paper in a safe place and retain a separate copy. If you had more than one employer, overseas dependants, side income, a mid-year move abroad, or deductions missing from payroll, the next practical step is not to guess from one box—it is to compare all slips and confirm the filing treatment with the NTA or your local tax office.

参照リンク

• National Tax Agency: Salary withholding slip forms
• National Tax Agency: 2025 instructions for statutory reports and salary withholding slips
• National Tax Agency: Scope, deadlines, and recipient delivery of salary withholding slips
• National Tax Agency: Wage earners who must file a final tax return
• National Tax Agency: Overview of the employment-income deduction
• National Tax Agency: Year-end adjustment eligibility
• National Tax Agency: Salary covered by year-end adjustment
• National Tax Agency: Exemptions for relatives living outside Japan
• National Tax Agency: Mynaportal import of salary withholding-slip data
• National Tax Agency: Notification when a withholding slip has not been issued
• National Tax Agency: 2025 reform of the basic exemption and related rules
• National Tax Agency: 2026 withholding tax tables
• National Tax Agency: 2026 tax reform Q&A