Hello everyone!
Yesterday I got my first health insurance slip of the year and it suddenly got wayy more expensive, from 1,500 yen a month to 6,400! I googled a bit and it’s probably because I didn’t do a tax return (I’m a student with no income) so as suggested I went to the city office but there they told me they can’t help and I should call health insurance? That really doesn’t seem right and my Japanese is barely conversational so a phone call is like my death sentence. Does anyone have any Tipps or dealt with something similar before? Thanks in advance!!
5 comments
You can contact your university for help. But I got into this exact situation last year, the tax office should have also sent you a form to your mailbox to file your tax, you can just fill it in as 0 income and send it to them, wait 1-2 months and they will send the corrected bills to your address.
Same thing happened with me a few years ago.
I went to city hall and explained the situation, and they just told me to pay the slip that was due this month, and after I did my tax they would send me another slip with the correct amount minus the one I paid for.
Go to the health insurance desk at your city hall and explain your situation. Ask if there are any exemptions to which you’re eligible.
If you’re over 20, head over to your local pension office and ask if there are any exemptions to which you’re eligible.
You must ask for exemptions to be eligible, as they are not automatically given. Moreover, while health insurance exemptions can be done retroactively, pension exemptions cannot, so make sure to get your pension situation sorted out before making any unnecessary payments.
Oh, and start learning Japanese.
Happens a lot with foreign students, no need to fret. You have to go to your city hall’s tax place and say you want to declare you have no income. They give you a form for that right there.
You can try to explain there that the reason you want to do that is to correct your insurance premium. Should make things smoother.
I wish mine was that cheap lol