Japan Diet Members' Tax-Free Money: ¥12M Allowance, JR Pass

Diet members' money and how it is taxed: overview

Based on the National Tax Agency's "2025 income tax and special reconstruction income tax returns: taxation of politicians' personal income" (January 2026), the Act on Salaries, Travel Expenses and Allowances of Diet Members (the "Salaries Act"), the Act on the Grant of Legislative Research Expenses, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission's "Political funds and tax".

What is taxed: salary and term-end allowance, together over ¥20 million a year

The Salaries Act sets the salary at ¥1.294 million a month, or ¥15.528 million a year[e-Gov Laws]. The term-end allowance is paid in June and December; in June 2026 an ordinary member received about ¥3.19 million[Nikkei]. With the December payment added, the total is over ¥20 million a year.

The National Tax Agency asks members to report the salary, including the term-end allowance, as employment income[National Tax Agency]. Tax is calculated after the employment income deduction, as for employees, so there is no special treatment here.

The term-end allowance has been frozen at its current level by the amended Salaries Act passed on 29 May 2026. The freeze lasts until July 2028 or the month of the next dissolution of the House of Representatives[Nikkei].

The former bunsho tsushinhi: ¥1 million a month, ¥12 million a year, tax-free

The research, public relations and accommodation allowance is paid at ¥1 million a month per member for activities such as research on national affairs, public relations, exchanges with the public and accommodation. Article 9(2) of the Salaries Act states that "no taxes or other public charges may be imposed" on it[e-Gov Laws]. The National Tax Agency also says "there is no need to report it."

Until July 2025, members did not have to report how the money was spent or return what was left over. A legal amendment in December 2024 introduced the following rules from the payment of 1 August 2025[House of Representatives].

1. Report: report a year's spending to the Speaker (or President) by 31 May of the following year. For each item over ¥10,000, state the payee, purpose, amount and date, and attach a copy of the receipt.
2. Publish: the Speaker (or President) publishes the reports online by 30 November. They stay online for 3 years.
3. Return: any unspent amount is returned to the state within 20 days of publication.

The first publication covers August to December 2025 and will appear on the websites of both houses by 30 November 2026. Copies of receipts will not be posted online; they are disclosed only to people who file a disclosure request. That is the same treatment as political funds reports, but having to file a request just to check how ¥1 million a month of public money is spent still feels one step short to me.

Permitted uses include staff costs, office costs and networking costs, as well as donations (fund transfers) to the fund management organization the member heads. In that case, the report must also show what the organization paid for with that money[House of Representatives].

Converted to a company employee's salary: about ¥47.9 million a year before tax

The taxable salary and term-end allowance come to ¥21.908 million a year (the term-end allowance was ¥3.19 million in both December 2025 and June 2026[Kyodo News][Nikkei]). After tax and social insurance, about ¥14.25 million is left; adding the tax-free ¥12 million of the former bunsho tsushinhi gives about ¥26.25 million. A company employee would need a gross salary of about ¥47.9 million to take home the same amount (this site's estimate).

To raise take-home pay by ¥12 million, the employee needs about ¥25.6 million more in gross pay. Taxable income above ¥40 million is taxed at 45% (about 46% including the special reconstruction income tax), resident tax adds 10%, and at this income the basic deduction disappears. The tax-free ¥12 million is worth more than twice as much in an employee's salary.

Assumptions: income tax and resident tax for 2026 income, no dependants and no other deductions. The member's social insurance is the National Pension (¥17,920 a month) plus the National Health Insurance cap of ¥1.13 million (ages 40–64) if enrolled in it; with a mutual aid association or other plan, the result is about ¥47.5 million, almost the same. The employee is assumed to be aged 40–64, covered by Kyokai Kenpo Tokyo at FY2026 rates, with no bonus. JR passes and air tickets (benefits in kind) and legislative research expenses (paid to parliamentary groups) are not included. The former bunsho tsushinhi is meant for office costs and other parliamentary activities, and unused amounts must be returned from the August 2025 payment, so counting all of it as take-home pay gives an upper-bound figure.

JR passes, air tickets and the Diet miscellaneous allowance are also tax-free; the state pays the publicly funded secretaries

Members receive a special pass for free travel on JR railways and buses, domestic air tickets, or both. Article 11 of the Salaries Act applies the tax-free provision for the former bunsho tsushinhi to these, so they are not taxed[e-Gov Laws]. The same applies to the Diet miscellaneous allowance (up to ¥6,000 a day) that officers such as the Speaker, Vice-Speaker and committee chairs receive while the Diet is in session.

The salaries of the 3 secretaries (the policy secretary and the first and second secretaries) are paid by the state directly to the secretaries. They are not the member's income, but in return the member cannot count them as expenses when calculating political funds income[National Tax Agency].

Legislative research expenses: ¥650,000 a month to the parliamentary group, with no rule to report how it is spent

Legislative research expenses are paid to parliamentary groups at ¥650,000 a month per member, for research related to members' legislative work. The law states that they "shall not be paid to members," so they are not a member's personal income[e-Gov Laws].

This law has no rules on reporting or publishing how the money is spent, or on returning what is left over. A political group with just 1 member also counts as a parliamentary group, so even a single member can receive the money. While the former bunsho tsushinhi became subject to reporting, publication and return in 2025, legislative research expenses remain untouched.

Political funds are miscellaneous income, but there is no obligation to keep books

Political funds that a member receives personally from a party or support group are miscellaneous income. The member subtracts the cost of political activities from a year's political funds income, and any remainder is taxed together with other income[National Tax Agency]. A loss cannot be offset against employment income such as the salary.

The calculation is the same "income minus expenses" as for a sole proprietor. Yet the National Tax Agency's leaflet says that political funds income is not among the types of income that must be recorded and kept in books, and that "there are no such obligations." Sole proprietors must keep their books for 7 years (how long to keep books and receipts), so I was surprised that the same calculation is treated so differently.

Donations received in connection with an election campaign are tax-free if they are reported in the election campaign expense report. The legal basis is Article 9(1)(xix) of the Income Tax Act for donations from corporations, and Article 21-3(1)(vi) of the Inheritance Tax Act for donations from individuals[Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission].

Money received by a political organization, rather than the member personally, is not taxed in the first place. Political organizations pay no corporation tax except on profit-making business, and donations they receive are subject to neither corporation tax nor gift tax. Political fund-raising parties are also normally not treated as profit-making business[Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission]. How the political party subsidies paid by the state to parties work is explained in political party subsidies: whose taxes, and how much.

A political organization's funds can pass to a successor without inheritance tax

A politician's personal savings and real estate are subject to inheritance tax just like anyone else's. The National Tax Agency told the Japan Fact-check Center that, "whether or not the person is a politician," a return and payment are required if the estate exceeds the basic exemption[Japan Fact-check Center].

However, money gathered in a political organization is not the politician's personal property. By changing the organization's representative to a family member, or moving funds between political organizations, it can be passed on without paying inheritance tax or gift tax. In 2022, more than ¥200 million in the political organization of a former prime minister who had died passed tax-free to his wife, drawing criticism. In December 2024, five opposition parties submitted a bill to the House of Representatives to ban the inheritance of political funds, but it has not been passed[Japan Fact-check Center].

Policy activity funds were abolished in January 2026; corporate and group donations go back under debate on 13 November

Policy activity funds, which parties handed to senior members personally without having to disclose how they were used, were abolished by the December 2024 amendment to the Political Funds Control Act. Payments in which a political organization hands money outright to its officers or staff are now banned, effective 1 January 2026[Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications].

Deliberations on reforming corporate and group donations resume on 13 November in the House of Representatives Special Committee on Political Reform[TV Asahi network (ANN)]. The proposals fall broadly into three groups[House of Councillors].

If you make a political donation, you can get an income tax deduction or credit

If you donate to a political party or a Diet member's political organization, you can claim a deduction in your tax return. For donations to a political party or a political fund-raising organization, you can choose either an income deduction or a tax credit[Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission].

To claim it, you need the "document for the donation (tax) deduction" issued by the political organization and certified by an election administration commission or the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications. Party dues, membership fees and fund-raising party tickets do not qualify. You can compare it with the 40% tax credit for donations to certified NPOs in the tax credit for donations to certified NPOs.

Summary

• The salary and term-end allowance are taxed as employment income and together exceed ¥20 million a year.
• The former bunsho tsushinhi (¥1 million a month), JR passes and air tickets, and the Diet miscellaneous allowance are tax-free under the Salaries Act. Reporting, publication and return of the former bunsho tsushinhi became mandatory from August 2025, with the first publication due by 30 November 2026.
• A company employee would need a gross salary of about ¥47.9 million a year for the same take-home pay (an estimate that counts all of the former bunsho tsushinhi as take-home pay).
• Legislative research expenses (¥650,000 a month per member) are paid to parliamentary groups, with no rule requiring them to report how the money is spent.
• Political funds received by a member personally are miscellaneous income, but there is no obligation to keep books, and a political organization's funds can be passed on without inheritance tax.

References (sources)

• National Tax Agency: 2025 income tax and special reconstruction income tax returns, taxation of politicians' personal income (January 2026, in Japanese)
• e-Gov Laws: Act on Salaries, Travel Expenses and Allowances of Diet Members (Articles 1, 9, 10 and 11, in Japanese)
• e-Gov Laws: Act on the Grant of Legislative Research Expenses to Parliamentary Groups in the Diet (in Japanese)
• House of Representatives: Overview of the rules on reporting and publishing the use of the research, public relations and accommodation allowance and returning the balance (in Japanese)
• Tokyo Metropolitan Election Administration Commission: Political funds and tax (political funds guide, in Japanese)
• Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: Outline of the bill amending the Political Funds Control Act (ban on policy activity funds, in Japanese)
• House of Councillors Standing Committee Research Office: Diet debate on reviewing the political funds system (September 2026, in Japanese)
• Japan Fact-check Center: Do only politicians pay zero inheritance tax? Returns and payment apply to everyone, but tax avoidance is criticized (26 March 2026, in Japanese)
• Nikkei: Diet members' bonuses frozen out of consideration for people's livelihoods; amended law passed at House of Councillors plenary session (29 May 2026, in Japanese)
• Kyodo News: Winter bonus of ¥740,000 for national public servants (10 December 2025; Diet members ¥3.19 million, in Japanese)
• TV Asahi network (ANN): Ruling and opposition parties agree to debate tighter rules on corporate and group donations before seat reductions (10 November 2026, in Japanese)

This article is general information based on laws, National Tax Agency materials and news reports as of 11 November 2026. Tax treatment may change with reforms. For individual tax returns, ask a tax office or a licensed tax accountant.