Japan income tax 2026: rates from 5% to 45%, and three statuses that have no 183-day test

Japan does not count days the way most tax residence rules do. The National Tax Agency (NTA) sorts people by two Japanese terms: jusho, a domicile, and kyosho, a residence. Anyone with a domicile, or with a residence held continuously for one year or more, is a resident. Everyone else is a non-resident. Inside the residents, a foreign national who has had a domicile or residence in Japan for five years or less in the past ten is a non-permanent resident, a separate tier with a narrower tax base. So there is no threshold of days to stay under, and the 183 figure you may have heard is something else: it comes from tax treaties, and it deals with exempting salary for short visits. The questions to ask instead are where your domicile lies, whether your stay has lasted a year, and how long you have been here over the past decade. Together they decide whether Japan taxes your whole income, part of it, or only what comes from Japan.

The seven brackets, and the subtraction that goes with them

The NTA gives the tax as taxable income times the rate, minus a fixed amount. This table comes from its answer No. 2260, stated in Japanese and current to 1 April 2026.

For taxable income of JP¥7,000,000, that gives JP¥7,000,000 x 23% minus JP¥636,000, or JP¥974,000. On top comes the special income tax for reconstruction, generally 2.1% of the income tax. The NTA's guide runs it from 2013 through 2037. Its No. 2260 page adds that the fiscal 2026 tax reform lowers this rate from 2027, extends its period and creates a new defense special income tax, with the combined rate staying the same. We read no more detail on that, so check before filing for 2027. We did not read municipal inhabitant tax, which is a separate matter.

What each status pays tax on

The remittance sum for a non-permanent resident

The guide's own example shows why "remitted" is not simply what you sent. Take income of 750 other than foreign source, of which 250 is paid abroad, and foreign source income of 250, of which 100 is paid abroad. The person remits 260 to Japan. Of the 350 paid abroad, the 250 that is not foreign source counts first, so only the remaining 10 counts as remitted foreign income and is taxed. In other words, the amount remitted is what exceeds the non-foreign-source income paid abroad that year.

Five years in ten: a sum that runs back a decade

This status is measured over an aggregate period, not a single stay, so earlier periods of domicile or residence in the decade add up. Once past five years in the last ten, you move to the full worldwide base, and nothing in the guide we read sets a date notice for that. Keep your dates of domicile or residence, because the sum runs back ten years.

Leaving for a while, and what keeps you resident

The note in the guide is more useful than any threshold. If a person with a residence in Japan leaves intending to be absent temporarily and to return, they are treated as residing in Japan during the absence. The intention is presumed if, during that time, a spouse or relatives stay in the household in Japan, a home or a hotel room is kept for use on return, or personal belongings for daily use are kept in Japan for that return.

Non-residents: 20.42% and the end of the matter, usually

Non-residents owe tax on Japan-source income, such as salary for work done in Japan, Japanese real estate income and some domestic interest and dividends. For salary, the NTA's leaflet of October 2025 gives a flat 20.42%, and when that is withheld the procedure is generally complete, with no final return and no year-end adjustment. Many investment incomes without a permanent establishment are also taken at source at 20.42%, and some interest and deposit income at 15.315%. Someone with a permanent establishment in Japan is taxed on combined income at progressive rates and must file. A resident has it differently: withholding adjusts for dependants and social insurance, and most employees are settled by the employer's year-end adjustment rather than a return.

Where 183 days really appears

The treaty rule for visitors. The same leaflet says salary for work done in Japan can be exempt if the treaty's conditions are met, and these in most cases include a stay of 183 days or less in the taxable year or any 12 consecutive months. It fails if the days go over, if the employer paying the salary is a resident of Japan, or if your home country has no treaty. You claim it with an Application Form for Income Tax Convention, through your employer, and the refund form exists if tax was already withheld. For dates, a final return is filed in the window from 16 February to 15 March of the following year, on income from 1 January to 31 December.

The other country in your file

Moving to Japan does not resolve the rules at home, whether that is the UK test or US taxation, and two residences go to the tie-breaker in any treaty. Compare with the rest of the country table. Long stays are exactly where a decade of dates gets lost, and the Taxlag app keeps them for you, with the counter above free to use.