え い ご ばん

Vol. 1 FY 2024

English / 英語版

Sendai Multicultural Center News
Learn How to Read Payment Slips

8Emi is a foreign resident working in Sendai.
She came to the Multicultural Center to consult about the payment slipthat she receives from her employer every month.
Emi
I don’t really understandwhat is being deducted from my salary.
Can you tell me more about that?

き ゅ う よ めいさいしょかぶしきがいしゃ

きんたい

勤怠

しきゅう

支給

こうじょ

控除

ごうけい合計し きゅう び

給与明細書

株式会社〇〇〇〇Staff Y

The calculation of salary is something thateven many Japanese people don’t really
understand, so it is only natural that foreign
residents also have trouble understanding it.
Let’s begin by going through the basics.
ねん

がつにち

支給日：２０２４年８月 ２５日

しゅっきんにっすう

ろうどうじかんけっきんにっすう

ゆうきゅうしょうかにっすう

ゆうきゅうざんにっすう

出 勤 日数労 働 時間欠勤日数

有 給 消化日 数

有 給 残 日数

19112

0315

き ほんきゅうじゅうたくてあて

ふ よ う てあて

つうきんてあてざんぎょうてあて

そうしきゅうがく①基 本 給② 住 宅 手当③扶養手当

④通 勤 手当⑤残 業 手 当⑥総 支 給 額\180,000\26,100\16,500\8,220\14,375\245,195

けんこうほけんこうせいねんきんほけん

かいごほけんこ よ う ほけん

しょとくぜいじゅうみんぜい

そうこうじょがく⑦健 康 保険⑧ 厚 生 年 金 保険

⑨介護保険

⑩雇用保険

⑪所 得 税⑫住 民 税⑬総控除 額\12,012\21,960\1,920\1,471\3,430\11,150\51,943

そうしきゅうがく

そうこうじょがく

さしひきしきゅうがく⑥総 支 給 額⑬総控除 額⑭差 引 支 給 額\245,195\51,943\193,252

This is an example of what a payment slip might look like.
Deductions and allowances will differ depending on the employer/ type of contract.

Payment: Money that employers pay to workers① Base pay: Base monthly salary② Housing allowance: Rent subsidy provided by theemployer③ Dependent allowance: Subsidy paid to individuals
with dependents (Spouse, children, parents, etc.)
What are dependents?: People whose livelihood areprovided for by someone else
④ Commuter allowance: Transportation subsidy for
individuals who bus, train, or drive to work. Also
known as commuting fee, transportation fee, andcommuter pass fee⑤ Overtime allowance: Money that workers receivefrom working past their predetermined work hours.

⑥ Gross payment: ①+②+③+④+⑤

Deductions: Money that is deducted from one’s salary⑦ Health insurance: Medical insurance that company
workers enroll in, which covers the expense oftreatment when one is injured or ill⑧ Welfare pension insurance: Pension of company
workers, in preparation for when they are nolonger able to work after retirement⑨ Nursing care*1 insurance: Nursing insurance that
individuals between the age of 40 to 64 enroll in*1What is nursing care?: Care provided for elderly and/or ill
individuals, such as feeding, toilet assistance, and bathing

Continued on next page ➡

Publications in Six Languages
In addition to English, we also have publications in Japanese / にほんご, Chinese / 中文, Korean /한국어, Vietnamese / Tiếng Việt, and Nepali / नेपाली. They can also be viewed on our website, orfound at the Sendai Multicultural Center.

Continued from previous page
⑩ Unemployment insurance: Insurance for when one
becomes unemployed⑪ Income tax: Tax paid to the central government
which is deducted from one’s income (Salary, etc.)⑫ Inhabitant tax*2: Tax paid to the Japanesemunicipality (Prefecture, city, ward, etc.) where one
lived in on January 1 of a year.
⑬ Overall deduction: Total amount of money deductedfrom one’s salary⑭ Net payment: ⑥ minus ⑬※Reference materials
・Overview of the Public Pension System(Easy Japanese / English)
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/japanese-system/overview/index.html

・Public Pension System You Need to Know
(6 languages)
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/learn/shitteokitai_gaikoku.html

・Employees’ Pension Insuranceand Employees’ Health Insurance (15 languages)
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/service/pamphlet/kaigai/konen-kenpo.html

Foreign residents between the ages of 20 to 60 must enroll in a Japanese Pension scheme.
Employees’ pension has been deducted in the example payment slip, but individuals who are not company workers must enroll in
the National Pension scheme and pay their premiums.
Moreover, foreign residents such as those that have paid more than 6 months’ worth of pension premiums and returned to theirhome country without receiving pension payments are entitled to receive lump-sum withdrawal payments.
Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments (Easy Japanese/English)
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/international/japanese-system/withdrawalpayment/index.html*2The amount of inhabitant tax depends on one’s income in the past year.
In many cases, one’s inhabitant tax is determined in around June. How much one must pay differ across municipalities.
If one’s annual income is below a certain threshold, they are exempt from inhabitant tax payments.
※ The amount of income tax is determined at the end of December each year. Income tax deducted from one’s
monthly salary based on a rough calculation. At the end of December, once the correct amount of income tax has
been determined, those who overpaid their income tax will receive a payback of the exceeding amount (tax return),whereas those who underpaid will have an additional amount deducted from their salary (additional collection). This
process is called year-end adjustment. The system of income tax being deducted from one’s monthly salary is called
withholding tax.
Company workers and public servants have their income tax automatically deducted from their salary, but selfemployed individuals are required to notify the tax office of the amount of tax they are to pay upon calculating theirincome between January 1 to December 31 (Final tax return).
Taxes (Sendai Multicultural Center News FY2021 Vol. 4) (6 languages)
https://int.sentia-sendai.jp/upload/publication/160/english2021vol.4.pdf※ Income tax for 2024 and inhabitant tax for FY2024 are subjected to a flat-amount cut,meaning that the amount of money deducted from one’s salary is less than usual, and the amount of net
payment might increase.
For detail, refer to the official website of the National Tax Agency (Japanese/English)
https://www.nta.go.jp/users/gensen/teigakugenzei/pamphlet.htm

My insurance premiums and taxes are more expensivethan my friend who is on the same salary as me. Why is that the case?
The payment amounts of insurance premium and tax are calculated using various items,including the number of dependents and one’s income from the previous year.
Therefore, the amounts deducted vary from person to person.
On a side note, international students studying during theday that are working part-time jobs cannot enroll in ⑦
health insurance, ⑧ welfare pension insurance, and ⑩
unemployment insurance. Students must enroll in National
Pension and National Health Insurance by themselves, andthe method of calculation for ⑪ income tax also differs
depending on the number of years one has lived in Japan andtheir nationality.

Make sure to checkthe content of your payment slip
every time you receive one!

Notices: SenTIA Community-based Japanese Education Portal Site
and Give Away
【 Introduction of the SenTIA Communitybased Japanese Education Portal Site】
If you would like to study Japanese in Sendai, pleaserefer to this website!
On this portal site, you can find information aboutcommunity-based Japanese language classes, theSenTIA Japanese Language Volunteer Programme,
and Japanese education for children with roots abroad.
The website is available in Japanese, English, Chineseand Korean (Nepali and Vietnamese coming soon).

【Give Away】
Are you interested in old books, magazines, andnewspapers? Books that were part of the Multicultural
Center Library collection of which the period ofretention has passed, and foreign newspapers andmagazines can be picked up for free. Pick up isavailable during the opening hours of the Multicultural
Center. Please drop by and see if there are any
materials you might be interested in bringing home!

Please utilize it to find opportunities that suits yourJapanese learning needs!

Location: Lobby of the Sendai Multicultural Center
Time: Every day from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (ExcludingYear End and New Year’s holiday, and one to two days
per month on which the Multicultural Center is closed)

https://int.sentia-sendai.jp/nihongo-en/※Please bring your own bag if you need one as we will
not be able to provide you with a bag※No commercial use is allowed. Resale is prohibited.

Advisor Corner “Getting paid in Japan”
Thoughts and experiences from advisors on this issue’s theme
The first time I saw a physical payslip was here in Japan.
I started working in Japan straight after finishingcollege back home in Ireland, and so I had neverworked full-time before this. However, for my parttime jobs until now I’ve always used the online service“Revenue.ie” in place of physical payslips.
In Ireland, using your personal identification number,anyone can sign into Revenue.ie, which displays yourpay alongside all adjustments. This being the norm tome, it felt like time travel the first time I received apaper payslip.
However, I soon realized that these slips were magic.
Hear me out.
Firstly, I was sure that I didn’t get reimbursed forcommuting expenses. Don’t ask me why, but for thefirst while I took the subway with great trepidation,
thinking it was coming from my own pocket. It was
only later, when I cracked the code of my payslip, thatI noticed the words “additional compensation –commuting allowance” written out clearly.
Fast forward to the end of December, when a newmember joined the party of numbers on my payslip –“end-of-year adjustment return” – nestled between
the familiar “compensation” and “insurance”. Initially,

I was worried this mysterious number was anotherdeduction, but looking closer, I saw it was contributing
generously to the final sum.
And so, while Japanese payslips are sometimes
confusing, they are also full of surprises.
These surprises are their magic – a magic that not only
pays for your subway tickets, but also gifts you a spotof pocket money for the New Year.
(Advisor E)

Each advisor writes in the “Advisor Corner”
each issue in all language versions.
The Japanese translation for each is on ourblog. Please have a look.

Sendai Multicultural Center
せんだい た ぶ ん か きょうせい

仙台多文化 共 生 センター
Opening Hours

Daily 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Closed during the New Year’s holidays and1 to 2 days per month for maintenance)
Address
Sendai International Center Conference Bldg. 1F, Aobayama,Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0856
TEL(022) 265 - 2471
FAX(022) 265 - 2472
Emailtabunka@sentia-sendai.jp
URL
https://int.sentia-sendai.jp/e/exchange/◼

◼

Advice in foreign languages
We are able to give advice in many languages for daily-life troubles or problems.
Please call the Interpretation Support Hotline on (022) 224-1919.
Languages available: English, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Nepali, Tagalog, Thai,Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Indonesian, Italian, French, German, Malay, Khmer,Burmese, Mongolian, Sinhala, Hindi, Bengali, and Ukrainian
Other Services
We have lecture rooms, a children’s playroom, a bulletin board, and book rental. We
also have spaces for interaction and information on citizen activities.

Specialist Consultations for Foreign Residents
We periodically hold specialist consultations with lawyers, administrative scriveners and so on.
If there are matters that are affecting your life in Sendai, please feel free to have a consultation.
Consultations are confidential, and are limited to 30 minutes per person.
Consultations are held from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
You can check the consultation dates on our website.
https://int.sentia-sendai.jp/e/exchange/consultation.html
LawyerLabour Bureau

Immigration Bureau

Tax Accountant

Editing and Publishing: Sendai Tourism, Convention and International Association (SenTIA), International
Relations Department
The Sendai Multicultural Center is commissioned by the City of Sendai and managed by SenTIA
Published August 2024