Can’t afford National Health Insurance tax? Apply for mitigation or reduction of tax measures

No matter of nationalities, all residents who reside in Japan must enroll in public health insurance system. Other than people who have enrolled in Employee’s Health Insurance through employer, the rest of residents enroll in National Health Insurance. Insurance tax of National Health Insurance is calculated based on previous year’s income. For people who has a significant income drop, payment of insurance tax can be huge burden. Financial difficulty is the most common cause of delay of insurance tax payment, however, long-term delay of insurance tax payment is penalized by many forms such as suspension of benefit. In such a case, visit your local municipal office for consultation. You may be eligible for mitigation or reduction of National Health Insurance tax measures.

About mitigation or reduction of tax measures for National Health Insurance

There are two types of tax relief measures for people having financial difficulties. Firstly, there is a tax reduction applied by Japanese government when tax payer’s in come in previous year drops to the decided amount or below. Secondly, each local government has their own tax reduction measures. While the governmental tax reduction measures scales as 20%, 50% and 70% according to household income, municipal relief measures are individually decided by each household’s situation. Also, applicants must pass assessments to have municipal insurance tax relief measures. After filing an application at a municipal office, the office staff will visit applicant’s home to investigate whether they truly require tax relief to approve a mitigation or reduction of National Health Insurance tax measures.

Who is eligible?

You must meet the eligibility criteria set by each local government to be entitled to mitigation or reduction of tax measures for National Health Insurance. The followings are examples of such criteria. Other than the below situations, your application may be approved if your local government decided that you are eligible to an insurance tax relief. Inquire your local municipal office for details.

Household that lost their home or had significant damages due to natural disasters or other cause
Household that are receiving welfare benefit or equivalent private financial supports
Household that currently has a financial difficulty due to decrease of expected household income because of injury or illeness by certain proportion decided by local government, and their expected household income of current year is lower than the designated amount
Household that currently has a financial difficulty due to increase of expected expense because of education, injury or illeness by certain proportion decided by local government, and their expected household income of current year is lower than the designated amount
Household that has a member who are not able to receive National Health Insurance benefit because he/she is under the custody of penal institution or other authority for one month or longer

Required documents

It is important to inquire your local municipal office what to bring to apply for mitigation or reduction of tax measures for National Health insurance, as National Health insurance is run by local municipalities. Required documents differs depending on your residential address. Also, you may be required to submit additional documents to prove your situation. The followings are examples of documents you may need for an application.

National Health Insurance card
Statement of medical institute
Proof of your income of the past 3months (e.g. salary statement, pension payment notice, certificate of the insured of employment insurance)
Latest bank statement or proof of your asset
Proof of monthly rent amount

To apply for mitigation or reduction of tax measures for National Health Insurance, you need to visit your local municipal office to submit all the required documents.

Application period

Application for mitigation or reduction for National Health Insurance must be made 8days prior to the payment due date. Overdue application is hardly approved unless there is an unavoidable reason. It is important to consult a municipal office staff about you situation immediately if any issue occurred and you have become unable to pay insurance tax.

Early action is important

Insurance tax for National Health Insurance is quite high beyond everyone’s expectation. Payment of National Health Insurance tax can be a huge burden for a household whose income has significantly propped in current year, as the insurance tax is calculated based on previous year’s income. Though, it is very important to pay National Health Insurance tax without delay to avoid full-payment of medical costs all the time. Also, long term delay of tax payment is subject to penalties such as a seizure of personal assets. If you have any financial difficulty and are unable to pay insurance tax, consult your local municipal office staff immediately.