I’ve met a few people in Japan over the years who are dependents of their spouses, and they’re always very careful to not earn more than the limit that allows them to be a dependent.
But as far as I can tell, the only benefit to being a dependent is the tax deduction their spouse gets. I feel like in many cases, just working a few more hours will make up for losing that deduction.
Are there other benefits to being a dependent?
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Doesnt the limit also apply to being on the spouse’s health insurance? I can’t remember.
It was on the news the other day they it the 100万 wall something (or was it 130万), an annual income threshold for taxes but also pension, health insurance… so for a couple the benefit is probably why work full time when the system makes it so that the total balance won’t be better than part time for me and my partner is seishain anyway
Also if there are kids and one of the spouse has a nice healthcare at work the premiums can get expensive if the other side has significant enough income.
And of course into the mix you put the submissive and ancient “cultural” aspects…
If you’re talking about the tax/financial benefits, there’s a gap from 1.03 million yen and 1.3 million yen where the dependent spouse needs to start paying residence tax and their own social insurance, and that combined with the increased residence tax means the household income actually drops. Once the spouse exceeds 1.3 million, the household income starts to rise slightly. Realistically, needs to exceed 1.6 million to be worth the additional work, though.
This was more pronounced before they revised the laws in 2016, and a lot of people aren’t aware that the laws changed.
In addition to tax deductions, a dependent doesn’t have to pay insurance etc. Once they make enough that they can’t be a dependent, the tax deductions available to the other spouse disappear, and unless they’re a permanent employee (less common among women returning to work, which is the usual case we’re talking about here), they’ll have to pay insurance etc.
It all just encourages the other spouse not to work too much, which I think is an unwritten public policy.
Once you add in the health, pension and any other insurance benefits, any perks the full time worker might get from their company, and the added childcare, your income would drop. Most people put the cutoff at around 1.6 mil without the childcare calculation. But more realistically, you also have to consider that this person is already probably responsible for 100% of household and childcare work, so while moving from 10 hours to 15 a week would be desirable, moving from 10 hours to 20 or 30 is exhausting with little benefit. This system is one of the main reasons women can’t get out of the cycle of low pay and companies can keep paying minimum wage to highly educated experienced workers as long as they are “housewives”
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when i had my wife with dependent status, from my company I received 60k in terms of housing rent support + 20k dependent support + tax benefits now my wife started to work and all that befenits just vanished from my salary…. She is earning 8M year but my personal income just reduced around 100k per month…
Keep in mind, not everyone works for the money alone.
Some people want to go to work to get out of the house, have social interactions with coworkers, work on something they get value out of, etc. and they don’t want to make a career out of it. For them, being a part time worker makes the most sense and fulfills their needs without taking away from everything else they want/need to do.
For my wife, she wanted to work somewhere where she can provide back to those who need assistance and took a job with a local NPO that allows her to do this. The job gives her a good sense of accomplishment, but doesn’t have to be the central focus of her life. By being part time, she has a lot of flexibility in her schedule but can still be an important member of their team.
If she went over that line where she was no longer a dependent, it just isn’t worth it for the new paperwork, letting my job know so they can remove her, and, as others stated, she would then need to start paying her own social insurance/residence tax, etc…. it is just more bother than it is worth since she never started working for the money to begin with.
It’s less paperwork in total, and frees you from the obligation to remain employed to maintain your visa. If you have enough income or hours to disqualify you from the dependent visa, I would consider that to be a good problem to have. You should get your own visa.
The huge benefit of being a dependent spouse is if you are a dependent spouse of employee’s pension, then you are exempted from paying the monthly national pension contributions while you will be eligible to receive the Old-age Basic Pension after being in such status for a while. (*1)
*1 Old-age Basic Pension If you have paid the National Pension contributions for at least 10 years and satisfy the conditions, the following amount is paid when you become 65 years old. *1 ★Benefit amounts : ¥795,000 (annual amounts in Fiscal Year 2023 for those who have paid contributions for 40 years)
I am wondering if any other country gives such a benefit to a dependent spouse. And also curious about how the genderless society that has not yet reached Japan impacts the above system since most of the social system has been built for male dominant society here.
There is no benefit to a dependent spouse visa besides that it’s better than not having a visa. You’re limited to the same kinds and hours of jobs as a student.
Edit: not sure about dependent status for taxes. I’m talking about the visa granted to foreign spouses of other foreigners. The visa you get for marrying a Japanese citizen is far superior.