Hello
I’m going through the list of things to do before leaving Japan, and am confused about how I can get a pension refund after leaving Japan if I’m required to close my local bank accounts before leaving Japan. Does the pension system support international wire transfers?
Thank you!
8 comments
My understanding was that the pension refund is ONLY sent by international wire transfer. Is that not correct?
The pension lump sum goes to your home bank account. You can read about the whole process (in English!) here: https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/japanese-system/withdrawalpayment/payment.html
If you have questions, they also have English support: https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/index.html
You don’t get the pension refund into a Japanese account. It gets sent to an account in your home country.
As others have said it goes into your home country bank account.
If you’ve been paying into Kosei Nenkin, then you will only get 79.58% of the calculation back. The other 20.42% will be withheld as non-resident tax.
For that 20.42% you need an income tax representative, which said income tax representative obviously needs a Japanese bank account as the 20.42% can only be paid to a Japanese bank account/Japan tax resident.
In fact, as this [Japan Pension Service FAQ](https://www.nenkin.go.jp/faq/jukyu/sonota-kyufu/dattai-ichiji/2021040103.html) and this other [JPS page](https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/jukyu/tetsuduki/sonota-kyufu/20140710.html) (see the third row of the table under No.2) explain, it is possible for the pension lump sum to be paid into a Japanese bank account. [edit: exept for Japan Post and some net banks]. The requirement in this case is that the account must be registered under the katakana version of your name and the total number of characters involved be no more than 25, including spaces and *dakuten*/*han-dakuten*.
Of course, whether you’re actually able to keep your katakana-registered bank account open after you leave is a separate issue. But if you can — and if receiving the money in yen into that account is really more convenient (doesn’t sound like it would be for OP) — the possibility exists, though I don’t know what, if anything, would be done about withholding.
I went to the pension office to ask about this when I left Japan and they said it wasn’t a problem to keep open my Japanese bank account and have it paid into that. Literally everything I’d read on the internet was wrong as I’ve found before.
RTFM
You don’t have to close your account. Link it to transferwise and send your funds to your home country account after you receive the payment. Then have someone as a your tax representative to apply for the tax they would owe you. Again, no need to close your account, but remember that at some point your bank might freeze your funds if they discover you live in Japan anymore.