How to Claim the Japan Pension Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment (脱退一時金) Yourself in 2026: Eligibility, Amount and a Field-by-Field Form Guide

While you work in Japan, you pay into the public pension (年金, nenkin). If you leave Japan before reaching 10 years of coverage, you can claim back part of what you paid. This is the lump-sum withdrawal payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin). Many people call it the "first nenkin refund".

This guide shows how to claim it yourself, without paying an agency:

• Eligibility and the deadline.
• How to estimate the amount.
• Documents to prepare before and after leaving Japan.
• A field-by-field guide with a highlighted sample of the claim form.
• Where to send it and what happens next.

🔁 After the lump-sum payment, don't forget the second refund: the 20.42% tax withheld from it. See the tax refund guide and the tax refund form filler.

⚠️ All names, addresses, banks and account numbers in the images and sample file are fake. They only show how to fill in the form.

1. Who can claim it?

You can claim it if all four apply:

1. You are not a Japanese national.
2. You paid into the Employees' Pension (厚生年金) or the National Pension (国民年金) for at least 6 months.
3. You no longer have an address in Japan: you filed a moving-out notice (転出届) and left.
4. You have never been entitled to a pension (including disability allowance).

Deadline: within 2 years of the day you stopped having an address in Japan. After that, the right is lost.

⚠️ Think before you claim

• If your total coverage (including periods in countries with a pension agreement with Japan) is 10 years or more, you cannot claim. You will receive a Japanese pension in old age instead.
• Claiming erases all your coverage periods before the claim. If you come back to work in Japan, you start from zero.
• The amount is calculated on at most 60 months (5 years). Coverage above 60 months is lost if you claim once. If you stay in Japan several times (e.g. Technical Intern Training, then Specified Skilled Worker), claim after each stay.
• If you leave with a re-entry permit (再入国許可 or みなし再入国), you must still file the moving-out notice. Otherwise you are treated as a National Pension member and cannot claim yet.

📌 The 2025 pension reform law (年金制度改正法) has passed. It raises the cap from 5 to 8 years and stops claims while a re-entry permit is valid. However, the start date has not been set. The current Japan Pension Service form (updated October 2026) still says 60 months. Check the official page before you claim.

2. Estimate the amount

Employees' Pension (厚生年金, through a company)

Amount = average standard remuneration (平均標準報酬額) × payment rate (支給率)

• 平均標準報酬額: your average monthly standard pay, including bonuses. It is shown on your ねんきん定期便 (annual pension statement) or ねんきんネット. For a rough estimate, divide your total pay (salary plus bonuses) by the number of months.
• 支給率 by months of coverage (last month April 2021 or later):

• The Employees' Pension amount has 20.42% income tax withheld. You can claim that tax back. See the tax refund guide.

Example (fake numbers): average standard remuneration ¥300,000, 30 months of coverage.

National Pension (国民年金, paid yourself, e.g. students)

A fixed amount by months, with no tax withheld. For a last paid month between April 2026 and March 2027:

Other years differ slightly. See the table in the claim form (page 6).

3. Before you leave Japan

• File the moving-out notice (転出届) at your city office with your planned departure date. This is the most important step. With it, you do not need to send proof that you left Japan (住民票の除票).
• Keep your pension book (年金手帳) or Basic Pension Number Notification (基礎年金番号通知書). Many companies keep the pension book for their employees, or you may never have received one: ask your company (or your supervising organization or dispatch agency) for it before you quit, or at least ask for your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号).
• If you receive Employees' Pension money: ask someone in Japan to be your tax agent (納税管理人) for the tax refund. You can also appoint them after leaving. See the tax refund guide.
• Photograph your residence card (both sides) and passport. After you depart, also photograph the page with the departure stamp.

💡 You can mail the claim while still in Japan, but it must arrive after the moving-out date on your notice. The safest way is to send it after you get home.

4. Documents to attach

If any of these four is missing, the claim is returned:

1. Passport copy: the pages with your name, date of birth, nationality, signature and status of residence (Japanese landing stamp or visa).
2. Proof you no longer live in Japan (copy of 住民票の除票). Not needed if you filed the moving-out notice before leaving. Still needed if you were covered before July 2012.
3. Bank document showing the bank name, branch name, branch address, account number and your name as account holder. Usually an account confirmation letter in English issued by your bank.
4. Copy of a document showing your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号通知書 or 年金手帳).

📘 Japan stopped issuing pension books (年金手帳) on April 1, 2022. People who join the pension system from that date only receive a 基礎年金番号通知書 (Basic Pension Number Notification, a single sheet), mailed to their own address, or to their employer if it cannot be delivered. Existing pension books are still valid. So if you came to Japan in 2022 or later and "never got a pension book", that is normal: look for this notification instead.

About the receiving account:

• An account in your home country is usually easiest. The currency depends on the country (e.g. euro for most EU countries, US dollars for countries not listed, such as Vietnam).
• A SWIFT (BIC) code is required. Without it the money cannot be sent.
• A Japanese bank account also works, but the account name must be registered in katakana. Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) cannot receive this payment.

5. Download the original forms (Japan Pension Service)

Highlighted sample (fake data): 3-page PDF

Every language version has the same layout. In the Vietnamese file used below:

• Pages 1–14 explain the rules.
• Pages 15–17 are the pages you fill in and send.
• Page 20 is an address label for the envelope.

Rules:

• Write in clear Latin capital letters, only inside the bold frames.
• Items 1 to 7 are all required, or the claim is returned.
• Leave the 「日本年金機構記入欄」 boxes (office use) blank.

Colors in the samples: 🟩 green = fill in · 🟨 yellow = sign by hand. Click an image to open it full size.

6. Field-by-field guide

Page 15: items 1–4

Page 16: items 5 and 6

📝 Write down your Basic Pension Number before sending. You need it to check on your claim.

Page 17: item 7, coverage history

One row per employer:

If you don't remember the exact dates, write them as accurately as you can. The Japan Pension Service checks them against its records.

7. Send the claim

The envelope contains:

1. Pages 15, 16 and 17 of the form (signed).
2. Passport copy.
3. Bank account confirmation.
4. Copy of 基礎年金番号通知書 or 年金手帳.
5. (If needed) copy of 住民票の除票.

Address (also on page 20 as a cut-out label):

AIR MAIL
Japan Pension Service (Foreign Business Group)
3-5-24, Takaido-Nishi, Suginami-Ku,
Tokyo 168-8505 JAPAN

• Send it by EMS or another tracked service.
• Online: you can also apply through e-Gov. Search for 「電子申請用送付書（年金給付用）」, choose 「脱退一時金請求書」 and attach PDF or JPEG files of the form and documents.
• Keep copies of everything you send.

8. After you send it

1. When the claim is approved, the money is paid into your account and the 脱退一時金支給決定通知書 (Notice of Entitlement) is mailed to you. It usually takes a few months.
2. If you received Employees' Pension money, keep the original notice. You need it for the 20.42% tax refund. The form filler creates that return for you.
3. To check on your claim, call +81-3-6700-1165 (Japanese only) with your Basic Pension Number.

9. FAQ

I lost my 年金手帳 or 基礎年金番号通知書. There are several ways to find your Basic Pension Number (基礎年金番号):

• Ask your former company (HR or general affairs, 総務) or your supervising organization or dispatch agency. The company paid your Employees' Pension, so it always has this number, and many still keep employees' pension books. Ask them to send a photo of the book or a document showing the number.
• Check マイナポータル (log in with your My Number card) or ねんきんネット, if you can still log in.
• Check other Japan Pension Service documents, such as a National Pension payment slip (納付書). Note: the ねんきん定期便 (annual statement) does not show the Basic Pension Number, only an inquiry number (照会番号).
• Call the Japan Pension Service.

Attach a copy of a document showing the number, and write it in item 6.

I forgot to file the moving-out notice. Attach a copy of 住民票の除票 (certificate of removal from the resident register). Someone in Japan can request it at your former city office (usually with a letter of authorization), or you can request it by mail.

I paid both Employees' Pension and National Pension. Send one claim. List all periods in item 7. Both parts are calculated together.

Related

• How to get the 20.42% tax back yourself: the second refund, with highlighted samples.
• Tax refund form filler: enter your details and download the tax return filled in.

Sources

• Japan Pension Service – 脱退一時金の制度
• Japan Pension Service – 脱退一時金の手続き
• Japan Pension Service – Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments
• Japan Pension Service – switch from 年金手帳 to 基礎年金番号通知書
• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare – 年金制度改正法の概要