Japan Pension Lump-Sum 5 Years Calculator: What 3, 5 and 10 Years Pay

Five years is the most the Japan pension lump-sum will ever pay for. Work 3 years and you get about 60% of that. Work 8 years and you get the same as 5. Reach 10 years and you cannot claim at all. This page is a plain 5 years calculator for the Japan pension lump-sum: the formula, worked examples, and what changes at 3, 5 and 10 years. To get your own number, use our pension refund estimator.

How much does the Japan pension lump-sum pay after 5 years?

For Employees’ Pension (kosei nenkin), 5 years pays about 5.5 times your average standard monthly pay, so ¥250,000 a month works out to about ¥1,375,000 before tax. For National Pension (kokumin nenkin), 5 years pays a fixed ¥537,600 for claims from April 2026 to March 2027, according to the Japan Pension Service claim form.

Most workers on a company contract paid Employees’ Pension. If you were a student or self-employed, you likely paid National Pension. Some people paid both at different times, and each part is worked out separately.

How is the lump-sum calculated?

For Employees’ Pension, the amount is your average standard remuneration multiplied by a payment rate that rises with the months you paid in. The rate is 5.5 for 60 months or more, set out in the payment rate table on the official claim form.

Average standard remuneration is not your take-home pay. It is the standard monthly salary band your employer reported, plus your standard bonus amounts, divided by the months you were insured. So bonuses do count. The payment rate comes from the pension premium rate, which is 18.3% in the Japan Pension Service payment guide, halved to your share, and then scaled by your months.

National Pension is simpler. It pays a fixed amount per band of months, with no link to your salary.

What does 3 years pay compared with 5?

Three years (36 to 41 months) uses a payment rate of 3.3, so you get 3.3 times your average monthly pay instead of 5.5. That is about 60% of the 5-year amount, according to the same official table.

Here is what that means for three levels of pay, before tax:

These are estimates using the payment rates for a last month of April 2021 or later. Your real amount depends on your exact pay history. Put your own months and pay into the 5 years calculator to see yours.

Why does 8 years still pay the same as 5?

The lump-sum only counts up to 60 months, so every month after your fifth year adds nothing to the payment. The claim form says the amount is calculated “limited with the maximum number of 60 months“.

So someone who worked 8 years and someone who worked 5 years on the same pay get the same amount. The extra three years do not disappear from your record, though. They still count toward the 10-year line below.

What was the 3-year limit before April 2021?

If your last pension month was March 2021 or earlier, only 36 months are counted, not 60. The official claim form applies the 60-month limit only when your last month is April 2021 or later.

This is why older guides and calculators say “3 years”. If your last month was that long ago, your 2-year window to claim has almost certainly closed, so for nearly everyone reading this today, 5 years is the number that applies.

What happens when you reach 10 years?

At 120 months (10 years) of pension eligibility, you can no longer claim the lump-sum, because you now qualify for Japan’s old-age pension instead. The claim form also counts time in your home country’s pension if it has an agreement with Japan, so you can hit 10 years sooner than you think.

If you might want a Japanese old-age pension later, this line matters. If you are getting close, read why claiming too soon can cost you more before you decide.

Can you claim after 5 years, come back to Japan, and claim again?

Yes. When you claim the lump-sum, all your earlier Japanese pension periods are cancelled, so your count goes back to zero. If you return to Japan and work again, you start a new count and can claim again when you leave, as long as you meet the conditions each time.

The recipient of the Lump-sum Withdrawal Payment will forfeit all periods of Japanese pension coverage before claiming.

Japan Pension Service claim form

In our work, this is the thing most people do not know. You can only ever be paid for 5 years at a time, even if you paid in for longer. But you can claim after 5 years, go home, come back to Japan to work, and do the same again, without ever reaching the 10-year line, because your pension starts again from zero after each claim.

There is a trade-off. Each claim wipes your record, so you never build toward a Japanese old-age pension. And each claim has its own rules: you must leave Japan, cancel your resident address, and claim within 2 years.

How much comes off for tax, and can you get it back?

For Employees’ Pension, 20.42% is withheld as income tax before the money reaches you, so ¥1,375,000 arrives as about ¥1,094,225. National Pension payments have no tax withheld.

The withheld part, about ¥280,775 in that example, can be claimed back by filing a tax return through a tax agent in Japan. We explain how in what the 20.42% actually is.

How do you work out your own number?

Find your average standard remuneration and your total months, then use our pension refund estimator. It applies the official payment rates and shows the 20.42% tax held back.

If you do not know your average standard remuneration, your pension record shows it. Or send us a photo of your pension book and tell us roughly how much you earned and for how many months. We will give you a real estimate, for free.

Not sure whether to claim now or wait? Send us your pension book and your dates. We will tell you what 3, 5 or 10 years would mean for you, and what it costs if you want us to file it for you. Start a free check, or see how we file a Japan pension refund.

Written by the Nenkin Kantan team. Our founder spent six years translating for foreign workers in Japan and helping them through tax and Nenkin procedures. About us.