I am an Australian national who has been living in Japan for the past six years. After I started working, my wife (Japanese national) and I took a trip to our city hall to get everything in order. According to her, the staff told her I would not need to pay any pension because I would not be living in Japan long enough to be eligible. I took her word for it at the time, but come this last month, I have received numerous letters from the Japan Pension Service saying I have 6 years worth of unpaid pension. I, of course, start freaking out as it’s never a good idea to owe the government money (in Australia, there’s usually interest that accumulates). My wife, however, is still nonchalant and adamantly believes the city hall staff.
After a bit of internet searching, it seems to me that everyone is required to pay pension unless you apply for exemption. I read about ‘the social security agreement’ between Japan and Australia, but I can’t understand what it exactly does or how to apply for it. If anyone has any information, I’d be very appreciative.
18 comments
I’d go apply for an exemption. My first year, I worked at an eikaiwa that avoided paying employee pension. The following year, I received a big bill for unpaid pensions fees.
I took the slip and my previous year’s tax statement and requested an exemption due to low wages. It took a few weeks, but I was approved with zero due.
I’m not sure how they’ll handle such a long overdue amount, but waiting longer certainly won’t help your case.
Why didnt you directly talk to the staff instead of letting her do the talking? At least you cant blame her.
Edit: Getting downvoted because im expecting an adult to handle their own stuff? Lol ok, guess its the norm for foreigners coming to Japan, for their japanese wifes to handle everything.
There is zero chance a office clerk told your wife that you don’t need to pay for pension. There was a huge misunderstanding. Probably what they meant to say is that you won’t be long enough here to retire and can choose a lump sum when leaving.
Normally when countries have a multilateral agreements for pension, it means that whatever you pay here, you can transfer there easily without a tax bu den. Not that you are going exempt of any payment.
6 years is a lot of time so your better chance is to consult a lawyer that knows the dots in the Australian law and see how you can make a payback plan, you can check the Japan finance subreddit too for similar cases
Anyway thanks for posting here so others don’t go the same route for 6 years!
Does your wife have a job? Does she have shakai hoken? If so you should have been a dependent on her insurance when you didn’t have income. After you started working then yes you should have either joined your workplaces insurance if they offer it, or the National one
You can treat periods in Japan as periods in Australia for state pension purposes when you go back there to retire, but unfortunately you do have to pay in Japan while you are here, is my layman’s understanding.
There’s an exemption clause that applies only to seconded workers, ie if you were sent here temporarily, but for that to apply you’d have to be paying in Australia while you are here. Again, layman’s comments.
To confirm the above ask an accountant, but that’s the gist of it.
I doubt the city hall told her it was OK to do nothing and ignore the pension payments
Next time talk to them directly yourself so you can actually ask questions to them directly
Where do you work? Usually, if you work in Japan, it is a must…
As an Australian living in Japan, you might be required to pay pension unless you are eligible for exemption. If I recall correctly, there is a social security agreement between Japan and Australia, to prevent dual coverage.
See [here](https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/agreement/mechanisms/mechanism01/leavejapan.html) for your reference:
And [here](https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/agreement/noteseach/notesaustralia.html#cmsa04):
Lastly, visit the city hall again to clarify your situation and avoid any headaches. Ask for an interpreter. I believe your wife has either misunderstood or not provided the right interpretation, but rather her own (wrong) assumptions.
Have you been working for 6 years without paying any kind of pension and no exemption? Whew boy.
You don’t have to pay it but if you really want to stay in Japan and get PR it’s good to start soon.
You won’t pay the 6 years but only 2 year and no interest.
Talk to your wife, do you two plan to live it out in Japan? If not don’t worry about it 👍🏽
I had a weird interaction where they just couldn’t figure out my pension number, so I hadn’t paid pension in 4 years, but wanted to.
Finally sorted it out after moving to a bigger city, but they said the maximum you can backpay is 2 years and 1 month’s worth.
You’ll have to pay two years of back payments about 40万円
100% sure either your wife is lying or the clerk is cuz there is absolute no way you don’t have to pay pension for that long 😂 I missed one payment when I was between jobs and they send like 3 letters 😂. Good luck my man. That’s a lot of cash.
Curious to know how you dealt with visa renewal over 6 years without having all your pension payments paperwork?
I had 2 years of pension cancelled (due to a foreign work contract) et received slips after. I was shown by the Pension Service a proof that it was cancelled and was told to ignore the slips FYI. You should ask them, they should have the proofs.
i didn’t pay into the pension for 9 years, after getting married i just popped into the city ward office and told them i never knew i had to pay into it and she just said i could pay back 2 years worth and that was that. I think i paid around 360,000yens worth? But even those payments were split up for me. The city ward office actually apologised to me for not being informed about paying into it.
The maximum you can back pay is the last 3 years. I started at Nova Eikawa 20 years ago and they told me not to join the pension. So I didn’t. Then Nova went bankrupt 3 years later. I joined a new company and a few years later (my 5th year of not paying pension) I inquired about joining the pension. I got on it and they asked me to back pay 3 years. I asked to back pay all of it but they said I couldn’t.
I didn’t end up back paying it and after 3 years the notices stopped.
>After I started working, my wife (Japanese national) and I took a trip to our city hall to get everything in order. According to her, the staff told her I would not need to pay any pension
Yea, if you’re enrolled in Shakai Hoken, paying Kosei Nenkin, with your employer then you don’t need to enroll in and pay Kokumin Nenkin. Because you’re already paying Kokumin Nenkin simultaneously with your Kosei Nenkin premiums.
Also if your wife earns <¥1.3 million per year then she can be your dependent spouse on your Shakai hoken. Meaning she does not need to pay Kokumin Nenkin or Kokumin Kenko Hoken either.
The periods you’re not enrolled in Shakai hoken you need to pay Kokumin nenkin though.
Edit: hang on have you been here 6 years and only just started working? If so then yes you missed 6 years or payments it would seem, so the bill is for you to pay the last Two years (+some late fees) make sure you include those two year bill on your tax return this year. And now you’re working you don’t need to pay national pension going forward