Child Allowance in Japan: How Much and When It Is Paid

The short answer: monthly and yearly amounts by family pattern

Once the ages and the number of children are fixed, the amount is fixed too. Your income is irrelevant.

Note: these are this site's calculations, applying family patterns to the Children and Families Agency's payment table (yearly = monthly x 12).

The underlying payment amounts are as follows. Only the third child onwards gets ¥30,000 a month regardless of age.

"Through high-school age" means up to the first 31 March after the child turns 18[Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance]. The income cap was abolished from the October 2024 payment month[Children and Families Agency, Outline of the Child Allowance]. If your household never applied because your income was high, check with your municipality now.

When it arrives: six times a year in even-numbered months, two months at a time

Payments are made six times a year, in February, April, June, August, October and December. Nothing arrives in the other months. Each payment covers the two months up to the previous month[Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance].

Note: the amounts are this site's calculation, ¥25,000 a month x 2 months.

The 15-day rule: miss it after a birth or a move and that month is gone for good

The Child Allowance pays nothing unless you apply. It is a separate procedure from registering a birth. As a rule, payment starts from the month after the month you apply. There is relief when the birth or the move falls near the end of a month: apply within 15 days of the day after the event and you are paid from the month of the event, even if the application itself slips into the following month[Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance].

Months lost to a late application cannot be recovered afterwards. The Agency states plainly that "if the application is late, as a rule you cannot receive the allowance for the months you were late".

Note: this site applied the 15-day rule to specific dates as an illustration. The determination is made by your municipality.

If you give birth at your parents' home, you still apply to the municipality where you are registered as resident, not the town hall near your parents. When you move, you likewise apply to the new municipality within 15 days of the day after the move. For the wider picture around childbirth, see money you can receive for childbirth and childcare.

Counting the third child: one form is worth ¥240,000 a year

Whether a child is "the third child" is not counted from the number of children currently receiving the allowance. You count from the oldest down, including older children up to the end of the fiscal year in which they turn 22[Children and Families Agency, Outline of the Child Allowance].

A child counts if they are past the end of the fiscal year in which they turned 18 but not yet past the end of the fiscal year in which they turn 22, and a parent or similar carer bears the cost of their living. They do not have to be a university student. Even a child who is working counts, as long as a parent covers their living costs. However, they are not included in the count unless you file the "confirmation of care-equivalent responsibility and financial support" (監護相当・生計費の負担についての確認書) with your municipality[Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance].

Note: this site's calculation for three siblings aged 20, 17 and 9.

The gap is ¥240,000 a year (¥20,000 a month x 12 months). That is how much a single sheet of paper moves. If you have an older child who has not yet passed the end of the fiscal year in which they turn 22, check today whether the confirmation has been filed.

For finer cases such as twins, remarried families, or a child living in a care facility, check the treatment with your municipal counter.

The annual status report, and the moments when payments stop

The annual status report (現況届) filed every June became unnecessary as a rule from the June 2022 allowance month[Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance]. Note the words "as a rule". The following people must still file it.

• People living apart from a spouse while divorce negotiations are under way
• People receiving the allowance in a municipality different from their residence record because of domestic violence or similar
• Recipients whose eligible child has no family register, institutional recipients, corporate guardians of minors, and anyone notified by their municipality

Beyond that, a municipality may require the report from everyone at its own discretion. Yokohama in fact states that "the status report must be filed every June"[City of Yokohama, Child Allowance overview]. If you assume "I heard it is no longer needed" and skip it, payments from the June allowance month onwards stop. Always open the envelopes you receive.

Three moments when notification is easy to forget

1. You became a public employee, left public service, or changed workplace. Public employees are paid by their employer. When the switch happens, notify both your municipality and your employer within 15 days of the following day. This is the moment when the allowance is most likely to fall through the gap.
2. An older child moved out to live near their school. A change of address for an older sibling included in the count also requires notification. Forget it and the third-child addition goes wrong.
3. The recipient's pension scheme changed, or marriage or divorce added or removed a spouse raising the child with you. The recipient of the allowance may change as well.

Fiscal 2026: what you receive is flat, what you pay has gone up

Nothing about the Child Allowance itself changed in fiscal 2026. The amounts and the payment months are as they were after the expansion of October 2024. What moved is the paying side. From the April 2026 premium month (deducted from May pay), collection of the Child and Childcare Support Levy began. The levy rate is 0.23%, collected together with health insurance premiums[Children and Families Agency, Supporting children and child-raising households].

Note: the 0.23% rate and the equal split between employer and employee follow Children and Families Agency material; the amounts are this site's calculation.

People without children pay it too. The sums are small, but it is worth holding on to the fact that this is a year in which what you receive did not rise while what you pay did. The mechanism is covered in detail in the Child and Childcare Support Levy and its effect on your pay.

The dependent deduction for high-school-age children stays at ¥380,000

You may see the claim that "the dependent deduction is being cut in exchange for extending the Child Allowance to high-school age". That is not what happened. A child aged 16 or over and under 19 is an ordinary dependent relative eligible for the deduction, and the deduction remains ¥380,000 (law in force as of 1 April 2026)[National Tax Agency, No. 1180 Dependent deduction]. The FY2026 Tax Reform Outline (cabinet decision of 26 December 2025) does not contain such a reduction either[Ministry of Finance, FY2026 Tax Reform Outline]. For the whole picture on the dependent deduction see the complete guide to the dependent deduction, and for a list of benefits available to families with children see the nationwide round-up of childcare support.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

• Under age 3, it is ¥15,000 a month; from age 3 through high-school age, ¥10,000 a month; from the third child onward, ¥30,000 a month. There is no income cap.
• Payment comes 6 times a year in even-numbered months, with the preceding 2 months' amount paid together; the exact date is set by the municipality.
• Without applying, you receive nothing. If more than 15 days pass after the day following birth or moving in, that month's payment is not retroactively paid.
• An older sibling up to the end of the fiscal year they turn 22 counts toward the child count if a confirmation form is submitted, which can change the household's annual amount by up to ¥240,000.
• There is no change to the benefit itself in fiscal 2026. From the April 2026 payment, collection of the 0.23% child and childcare support levy began.

Sources

• Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance - amounts, payment months, the 15-day rule, public employees, the status report
• Children and Families Agency, Outline of the Child Allowance - before and after the October 2024 expansion, abolition of the income cap
• Children and Families Agency, Supporting children and child-raising households (February 2026) - the 0.23% Child and Childcare Support Levy
• National Tax Agency, No. 1180 Dependent deduction - ¥380,000 for an ordinary dependent relative
• Ministry of Finance, FY2026 Tax Reform Outline - confirmation that no cut to the dependent deduction is included
• City of Yokohama, Child Allowance overview - an example of payment dates and status report practice
• City of Nagoya, Child Allowance - a real example of payment dates

Note: the calculations in this article apply the payment table, counting method and levy rate published by the Children and Families Agency; they are not the Agency's own worked examples. Payment dates and status report practice differ by municipality. Take individual questions to your municipal counter.