This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version is authoritative; figures follow Japanese tax law.
Resident tax withholding does not restart by itself at your new employer. To keep it going, your former employer has to pass a "notification of change for an employment income earner" (給与所得者異動届出書) to the new one, and the request has to be made by the 10th of the month after the month your pay stopped. Withholding starts again from the month after the municipality's revised notice arrives. The remaining balance is divided over the months from that following month to May of the next year, so the later it restarts, the bigger each instalment. On an unpaid balance of ¥160,000, eight instalments from October come to ¥20,000 a month; six from December come to about ¥26,670.
The short answer: three ways to restart, and doing nothing means it never does
After a job change, your resident tax settles into one of the following three routes. You get to choose only if you left the former employer between 1 June and 31 December.
| Route | Who does what | Deadline | When withholding restarts | Each instalment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) Lump-sum collection at the former employer | The whole balance is taken from the final pay or the retirement allowance | Tell the employer before you leave | Never (nothing is withheld until May of the next year) | The whole balance at once |
| (2) Ordinary collection (payment slips) | You pay the slips that arrive at home yourself | — | Never | Balance ÷ the number of payment periods still to come |
| (3) Continuation at the new employer | The former employer writes the new employer on the notification of change and sends it; the new employer files it with the municipality | The 10th of the month after your pay stopped | From the month after the revised notice arrives, through May of the next year | Balance ÷ the months from the month after the notice to May of the next year |
Sources: Local Tax Act, Article 321-4(5) (the request and its deadline), Article 321-5 (how the balance is split, and lump-sum collection), Article 321-7 (transfer to ordinary collection)[Local Tax Act]
Withholding does not carry on automatically because of how the law is drafted. Special collection applies to a person "who received employment income during the previous year and who is receiving employment income as of 1 April of that fiscal year"[Local Tax Act, Article 321-3(1)]. Someone who joins part-way through the fiscal year does not meet that condition as it stands. That is why you and your employer have to ask for it to continue.
The deadline is the 10th of the month after your pay stopped
The continuation procedure has a hard deadline: the 10th of the month following the month that contains the day you stopped receiving pay from the former employer. Make the request through your new employer within that window and the municipality designates the new employer as the special collection agent[Local Tax Act, Article 321-4(5)]. If you left on 30 September, the deadline is 10 October. Only for a departure during April is the deadline 30 April.
- Before you leave, tell the former employer that you want to continue at the new one. Osaka City asks you to contact the payroll staff at the new employer in advance, and then to write the new employer's address, name and contact details on the notification[Osaka City].
- The former employer fills in the notification of change and sends it to the new employer. It states the annual tax amount and the month up to which tax has been collected, and the collection box for the unpaid part is marked "special collection continues"[Saitama City].
- The new employer adds the starting month and files it with the municipality. Yokohama City requires it to arrive "by the 10th of the month following the month in which the change occurred"[Yokohama City].
- The revised notice arrives, and withholding restarts from the following month's pay. If the handover leaves no gap, the monthly amount stays exactly what it was at the former employer.
As of August 2026 Yokohama City is warning that it is taking longer than usual to go from receiving the paperwork to sending out the notice. In other words, paperwork that arrives by the 10th may still miss the notice issued in the first days of the following month[Yokohama City]. The earlier you move, the better your chance of avoiding the bigger instalment.
A month's delay makes each instalment about 1.3 times bigger
The law decides how the balance is split. In a normal year, where the notice arrives by 31 May, it is one twelfth of the annual tax from June through May of the next year. Where the notice comes later than that, the balance is divided over the months from the month after that notice through May of the next year[Local Tax Act, Article 321-5(1)]. The later it is, the fewer months are left, so each payment automatically gets heavier.
- Monthly amount ¥240,000 ÷ 12 = ¥20,000. Four instalments from June to September have already collected ¥80,000
- The balance is ¥160,000 (the eight months from the October instalment through the May instalment of the next year)
- (1) Lump-sum collection: ¥160,000 out of the September pay. With the September instalment, ¥180,000 is taken
- (2) Ordinary collection: the payment periods still to come are October and January, two in all. ¥160,000 ÷ 2 = ¥80,000 each
- (3) Continuation made it in time for October: eight instalments of ¥20,000 from October through May of the next year
- (3) The notice slipped to November: six instalments from December. ¥160,000 ÷ 6 = about ¥26,670 each
This is this site's own calculation applying the split set out in Article 321-5(1) of the Local Tax Act. Municipalities round the odd amounts differently, so follow the revised notice you actually receive.
If the procedure slips by a month, each instalment rises from ¥20,000 to about ¥26,670. Pay on time and the annual total is unchanged. Even so, the months where your take-home pay drops are bunched together, and that is felt at home.
Six reasons nothing is withheld at the new employer, and what to do
If there is no resident tax line on your payslip, one of the following applies. The remedy depends on the cause, so work out which one it is first.
| Reason | What is going on | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The notification of change was never filed | The former employer did not file it, or did not write in the new employer | Ask the former employer whether it was filed |
| You did not ask for continuation | The balance moved to ordinary collection and payment slips arrive at home | Take the slips to the new employer and ask for a switch |
| The request passed the 10th of the following month | No designation for that fiscal year, so ordinary collection stands | Use the switch application to move back part-way through |
| The municipality cannot process it in time | The paperwork has arrived but the notice has not gone out yet | Wait for the payslips of the coming months |
| You joined part-way through the fiscal year | You were not receiving pay on 1 April, so you fall outside the rule | Ask the municipality whether a switch is possible |
| You are not taxed at all | No income last year, or within the exempt range | Nothing to do |
Sources: Local Tax Act, Articles 321-3(1), 321-4(5) and 321-7; Yokohama City, "Filing a notification of change or a switch request for special collection of municipal inhabitant tax"[Yokohama City]
The last reason is why nothing is withheld in your first year out of school. Resident tax is charged on the previous year's income, so in the year you start working there is no income to tax. For how it begins in June of the second year, see resident tax in your second year out of school. The narrow set of exceptions where a company may use ordinary collection is set out in special collection versus ordinary collection.
When a payment slip arrives, show it to the new employer before you pay
Where the tax has moved to ordinary collection, the payment periods are June, August, October and January, four a year[Local Tax Act, Article 320]. To move back to withholding later, ask the new employer to file an "application to switch to special collection". Musashino City says the starting month is "in principle the month after next following the month the switch application is filed"[Musashino City]. Ask in October and it starts with the December pay, and you pay the periods in between yourself.
Do this and you will be in time
- Show any payment slip to the payroll staff at the new employer before you pay it
- When you ask for a switch, attach a slip whose due date has not passed
- If you have already paid part of it, hand over a copy of the receipt too
- Pay the periods that fall before the switch takes effect yourself, on time
Do not do this
- Ask for a switch after the due date has passed (what has passed cannot be moved back)
- Pay the whole lot without telling the company (nothing is left to switch)
- Leave it alone assuming "the company will withhold it sooner or later"
- Tell only the new employer and not the former one
Amounts whose due date has passed, and amounts for earlier fiscal years, cannot be switched to special collection. The Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation and Musashino City both say the same thing[Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation]. To prevent double payment, Musashino City asks employers to tell the employee not to pay while the switch is pending[Musashino City].
Leaving it alone costs money as well. From 1 January of Reiwa 8 (2026) the delinquency charge is 2.8% a year for the first month after the due date and rises to 9.1% a year beyond one month[Nakagawa City]. Through Reiwa 7 the rates were 2.4% and 8.7%[Osaka City]. Pay ¥160,000 three months late and the delinquency charge is about ¥2,800 (this site's own calculation).
The year-end adjustment, and the second bill that arrives the following June
If you change jobs within the year and are still there at the end of it, your income tax is settled by the new employer's year-end adjustment[NTA No. 2665]. Give the new employer the withholding tax statement that comes from the former one. What to do if it does not arrive in time is set out in the year-end adjustment in the year you change jobs.
There is also a new fiscal year's tax that starts the following June. The resident tax on the income earned in the year you changed jobs is withheld from the new employer's pay in twelve instalments from June of the next year. People who chose lump-sum collection feel it most: their take-home pay seems to drop sharply that June. How the treatment of the balance changes with the month you leave is set out in a quick-reference table in the month you leave changes your resident tax bill.
The whole set of procedures from leaving to joining, health insurance and pension included, is collected in tax and paperwork when you change or leave a job.
FAQ (changing jobs and resident tax)
No resident tax is being withheld from my new employer's pay. Is it safe to leave it?
It is not. The part not withheld moves to ordinary collection and you pay it yourself with payment slips. Past the due date a delinquency charge is added, and that portion can no longer be moved back to withholding. Start by asking the former employer whether the notification of change was filed.
I missed the deadline for the continuation request. Can I still get back to withholding?
Yes. If the new employer files an "application to switch to special collection", the amounts whose due dates have not yet arrived can be switched to withholding. The start is in principle the month after next following the application, and amounts already past their due date are excluded.
If the paperwork is late, does the total I pay go up?
Pay on time and the total is unchanged. What goes up is the size of each instalment. The balance is divided over the months from the month after the notice through May of the next year, so the later the restart, the heavier each payment. Only a delinquency charge increases the total.
A payment slip arrived at home. May I just pay it?
Show it to the payroll staff at your new employer before you pay. A switch application normally has to be accompanied by a slip whose due date has not passed, and paying first risks paying twice. If the new employer is not going to switch, paying on time is perfectly fine.
Sources
- Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950), e-Gov law search—Articles 320, 321-3, 321-4(5), 321-5 and 321-7
- Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Taxation, procedures for special collection—amounts past their due date cannot be switched
- Musashino City, switching from ordinary collection to special collection—the start is in principle the month after next following the application
- Yokohama City, filing a notification of change or a switch request for special collection of municipal inhabitant tax—the continuation deadline, and processing delays
- Osaka City, when someone leaves or transfers (filing the notification of change for an employment income earner)—advance contact and writing in the new employer
- Saitama City, continuing special collection at a new employer after re-employment—what the notification must state
- Nakagawa City, delinquency charge rates on municipal taxes—2.8% and 9.1% a year in Reiwa 8
- Osaka City, delinquency charges on municipal taxes—how the special standard rate has moved
- National Tax Agency No. 2665, who is covered by the year-end adjustment—people who start work part-way through the year
The worked examples in this article are this site's own calculations, applying the split set out in the Local Tax Act together with the municipal guidance. Rounding differs between municipalities, so check the actual amounts against the notice and the payment slips you receive.
