This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version is authoritative; figures follow Japanese tax law.
Not every company employee gets a year-end tax adjustment. You are outside it if your salary tops 20 million yen, you have not filed the dependents declaration form (扶養控除等申告書) and are taxed under Column B, you left your job partway through the year, the salary comes from a second job you hold alongside your main one, or the money is contract work rather than salary. Being outside it does not mean your tax is left unsettled. In most cases you settle it yourself by filing a tax return the following year, and you get a refund if too much was withheld. Drawing on the National Tax Agency's Taxanswer pages and its guide to the 2026 year-end adjustment, this article walks five branches to decide whether you are covered, explains what to do if you are not, covers the 1.36 million yen line for part-timers who resign, and flags the one thing that only matters in 2026 for people whose last salary came on or before 30 November.
The short answer: a table for deciding whether you are covered
| Your situation | Year-end adjustment | What happens, what to do |
|---|---|---|
| Worked at the same company all year and filed the dependents declaration form | Covered | The company settles your tax in December |
| Joined partway through the year and stayed to year-end (you had a previous employer) | Covered | Hand in the withholding slip from the previous job and that salary is settled too. If you cannot, file a tax return |
| Total salary above 20 million yen | Not covered | You must file a tax return |
| You have not filed the dependents declaration form (withheld under Column B) | Not covered | At your main job, file it after all. At a second workplace you stay under Column B and settle by filing a tax return |
| You receive salary from two or more places | Only the main employer covers you | If the secondary salary tops 200,000 yen you must file. Even at 200,000 yen or less, filing usually brings a refund |
| You left your job partway through the year and do not start a new one within the year | Not covered (with exceptions) | Claim it back with a refund claim, any time from January for five years |
| You left partway through the year but after receiving the December salary, or you left because of death or disability, or you are a part-timer with 1.36 million yen or less for the year | Covered at the time you leave | The company settles your tax when you leave |
| Contract work or freelance fees (not salary) | Not covered | File a tax return (if 10.21% was withheld, it usually turns into a refund) |
| You became a non-resident on an overseas posting | Covered at departure | Settled on the salary paid up to departure |
| You received a deferral or refund of withholding under the Disaster Tax Relief Act | Not covered | File a tax return |
| Day labourer (Column C) | Not covered | Settle by filing a tax return |
The National Tax Agency defines the people covered as those who have filed the "Application for (Change in) Exemption for Dependents of Employment Income Earner" by the day the year-end adjustment is carried out. That means people employed all year and people who joined partway through and stayed to year-end, less those whose total salary tops 20 million yen and those who received a deferral or refund under the Disaster Tax Relief Act[NTA No.2665].
The most common reason for being left out: no dependents declaration form (Column B)
The dependents declaration form is the door into the year-end adjustment. Without it your company withholds under Column B of the withholding table. Column B takes considerably more than Column A (over 20,000 yen more on a monthly salary of 300,000 yen), and it comes with no year-end adjustment. If you simply forgot to file it at your main employer, filing it by the day the year-end adjustment is carried out puts you back inside.
If you work in two or more places, you can file the form at only one of them: the company paying your main salary. The second workplace stays on Column B and does no year-end adjustment, so you must file a tax return once that salary tops 200,000 yen a year. At 200,000 yen or less there is no obligation to file for income tax, but filing still brings back the extra that Column B withheld. How side-job filing works is set out in tax returns for side jobs, and the case where only a resident tax declaration is needed in resident tax declarations for people who do not file a tax return.
If you left partway through the year: normally not covered, but four exceptions are settled on departure
Of the people who leave partway through the year, the National Tax Agency treats only the following as covered by a year-end adjustment at the time they leave. Everyone else is outside it[NTA No.2665].
- People who left because of death
- People who left because of a severe physical or mental disability (excluding those expected to take another job and receive salary within the year)
- People who left after receiving the salary payable in December
- Part-timers and the like who left with total salary for the year of 1.36 million yen or less (excluding those expected to receive salary from another company later that year)
The line in point 4 is the 740,000 yen employment income deduction plus the 620,000 yen figure used to test the basic deduction. It was 1.23 million yen for 2025 and 1.03 million yen for 2024 and earlier. Other mid-year leavers receive a withholding slip when they go and then take one of two routes: hand it to the new company if they start another job within the year and be covered there, or make a refund claim from January onwards if they do not. Anyone who crossed into the new year still out of work is almost certain to have a refund waiting (refund claims for people who quit mid-year and stayed out of work). Resident tax after leaving works on a separate mechanism; see how the month you leave changes your resident tax bill.
If you took a job partway through the year and had filed the dependents declaration form at your previous employer, the new company includes that earlier salary in its year-end adjustment. When the previous withholding slip cannot be confirmed, no year-end adjustment is possible and you settle by filing a tax return[NTA No.2668]. New graduates who finish school in March and start work in April get the full amount of the deductions, not a share prorated by the months in which they had income[NTA No.2674].
Above 20 million yen, contract work, non-residents: people who file a tax return as a matter of course
- Total salary above 20 million yen: the company does no year-end adjustment and simply hands you a withholding slip. You calculate every deduction yourself in the February to March filing season. The basic deduction is 620,000 yen if your total income is 23.5 million yen or less.
- Contract work and freelance fees: this is not salary in the first place, so it falls outside the year-end adjustment. Where 10.21% was withheld, filing a tax return after deducting expenses and allowances almost always produces a refund (the 10.21% withholding on contract work).
- An overseas posting partway through the year (non-resident): the company carries out the year-end adjustment at the time you leave the country. If there is no domestic work after departure, no tax return is needed. Foreign employees who are residents are treated exactly like Japanese employees (tax returns and year-end adjustment for foreign residents).
- People granted a deferral or refund under the Disaster Tax Relief Act: because their income tax is reduced or waived, they drop out of the year-end adjustment and settle by filing a tax return (the casualty loss deduction and the Disaster Tax Relief Act).
A 2026-only catch: if your last salary came on or before 30 November, the new deductions are not in your year-end adjustment
The 1.04 million yen basic deduction and 740,000 yen employment income deduction from the FY2026 tax reform take effect on 1 December 2026. The National Tax Agency states plainly that where the last salary for 2026 was paid on or before 30 November 2026, the year-end adjustment does not apply the revised deductions, and that a tax return is needed to receive them[NTA, FY2026 tax reform Q&A]. This catches people who had a year-end adjustment on departure before December, such as those who left through death or became non-residents by November. On a salary of 5 million yen the gap is about 28,000 yen, so claim it back next year with a tax return or a request for correction. For a sense of the amounts, see when and how much your year-end adjustment refund comes to.
Frequently asked questions
My company will not do a year-end adjustment for me. Is that illegal?
Carrying out the year-end adjustment for covered employees who have filed the dependents declaration form is the company's duty. But people who have not filed the form, and people with salary above 20 million yen, are outside it, so first check whether you are covered at all. Even where you are covered and it is not done, filing your own tax return settles the tax correctly.
If I leave in December, do I get a year-end adjustment?
If you leave after receiving the salary paid in December, you are covered at the time you leave. If you leave before the December pay date and the December salary is paid after your departure, you may fall outside it, so check the order of your leaving date and the pay date with your company.
I am on maternity or childcare leave and my December salary is zero. Is a year-end adjustment still done?
As long as you are still on the payroll, you are covered. The adjustment is done on the salary you received that year, whether one month's worth or several, and the income tax withheld often comes back. In a year with no salary payments at all there is no salary to adjust, so there is nothing to settle.
Summary
- People excluded from year-end adjustment include those with annual income over ¥20 million, those who did not submit a dependent deduction declaration form (Column B/otsu-ran), and those who left their job partway through the year.
- Salary from a side job is withheld under Column B and is not reconciled through year-end adjustment; if it exceeds ¥200,000 a year, a final tax return is required.
- For mid-year retirees, final settlement is done at the time of leaving only in four exceptional cases: death while employed, retirement after receiving December's salary, and part-time workers with annual income of ¥1.36 million or less.
- Those who did not find a new job can recover a refund by filing a claim for refund within five years starting the following January.
- In 2026, people who received their last salary payment before November 30 will not have the revised deduction applied automatically, and will need to settle it via a final tax return.
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References (sources)
This article is based on the materials below. For an individual decision, check with your employer's payroll staff or your tax office.
Note: this article is general information. The figures are on the 2026 basis and differ by tax year.