Between 2025 and 2026, five things that affect Japanese take-home pay changed at once: the employment income deduction, the basic deduction, the employment insurance rate, the long-term care insurance rate, and a new child-care support levy. Some say take-home pay went up; others say the new levy eats it. We computed the actual difference for every listed company, using the average annual pay and average age each one discloses in its annual securities report.
For each company we put its disclosed average pay and average age into both the 2025 rules and the 2026 rules, and took the difference.
| Average annual pay | Companies | Change (median) | vs before |
|---|---|---|---|
| ¥0.0m–¥4.0m | 64 | +19,823 yen | +0.67% |
| ¥4.0m–¥5.0m | 380 | +19,812 yen | +0.58% |
| ¥5.0m–¥6.0m | 869 | +19,420 yen | +0.46% |
| ¥6.0m–¥8.0m | 1,664 | +29,264 yen | +0.52% |
| ¥8.0m–¥10.0m | 559 | +19,240 yen | +0.30% |
| ¥10.0m– | 244 | +21,425 yen | +0.26% |
Take-home pay rose at every company. The size of the rise barely depends on the pay band: 19,240–29,264 yen, or 0.26–0.67%.
The bands are not monotonic because the basic deduction is now tiered. The increase differs by total income bracket (950,000 yen up to 1.32m of total income, 880,000 up to 3.36m, 680,000 up to 4.89m, 630,000 up to 6.55m, 580,000 up to 23.5m), and the marginal income tax rate then applies on top. Which tier you land in decides how much you gain, so the gain does not simply grow with pay.
The table above uses each company's disclosed average pay. Put in your own annual pay, age and number of dependants to see the before-and-after and which change moved what.
| Change | In your case |
|---|
Same assumptions as "What this calculation assumes" below. For the take-home figure itself, use the take-home calculator.
We applied the changes one at a time, in order, and measured what each one moved (median across all companies). The effect depends on age, so both 35 and 45 are shown.
| Change | At age 35 | At age 45 |
|---|---|---|
| Employment income deduction floor: 550,000 → 650,000 yen | +0 yen | +0 yen |
| Basic deduction: flat 480,000 → tiered 580,000–950,000 yen | +20,420 yen | +20,420 yen |
| Employment insurance: 0.55% → 0.5% | +2,476 yen | +2,491 yen |
| Long-term care insurance: 1.6% → 1.62% (age 40+) | +0 yen | -476 yen |
| Child-care support levy: 0.23% (new) | -5,670 yen | -5,695 yen |
| Health insurance default: 10.0% → 9.9% | +2,478 yen | +2,490 yen |
| Total | +19,703 yen | +19,230 yen |
The employment income deduction change — 550,000 yen to 650,000 — contributes zero. The higher floor only applies below 1.9 million yen of annual pay; above that the deduction is unchanged from the old rules. Among listed companies, 0 have an average annual pay that low. Japanese coverage usually names the basic deduction and the employment income deduction together, but for an ordinary salaried employee only the basic deduction is doing the work.
The child-care support levy pushes the other way. It is 0.23% of standard monthly remuneration and standard bonus, split evenly with the employer, so the employee pays roughly 0.1% of gross — more in absolute terms at higher pay. The basic deduction increase still outweighs it, so the total is positive.
The long-term care insurance change (1.6% to 1.62%) only applies from age 40. That is why the 35-year-old column shows zero.
Bonus is 19% of annual pay, no dependants, health insurance at 10.0% before and 9.9% after (the median across the 47 prefectural rates of the national health insurance association for FY2026 is 9.88%), and not a first year of employment. Standard monthly remuneration is approximated by its cap rather than the official grade table. Actual take-home pay varies by insurer, municipality and personal deductions, so treat these as an indication of the size of the change, not as your own figure. To try your own numbers, use the take-home calculator.
Sources: annual securities reports (EDINET, Financial Services Agency of Japan). Rules from the National Tax Agency, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Japan Health Insurance Association. Aggregation is ours and is not an official position of any government body.
Related: how gross becomes net · lifetime take-home ranking · the 2026 tax and levy changes · all research. Japanese edition with the full method: 令和8年度の改定と手取り.