Japan Pension: Lump Sum Withdrawer Payments

I worked in Japan for two years and I paid taxes and from the salary, pension was deducted as well. Since I am back to Malaysia, I wanted to claim back the money deducted for the pension earlier. So, I applied for it and got back 80% of the total amount, 20% was taken out by the Japanese government as tax. To get back the 20%, one needs to have a friend or acquaintance in Japan who is willing to go to the local tax office to settle the procedures. 

*Local tax office - the tax office in the city 市 / district 区 where you paid resident tax before. So, let's say I stayed in Kumamoto Shi before and I have a friend in Hokkaido, he or she will have to go all the way south from Hokkaido to Kumamoto Shi to settle all the paperworks for me. So, unless the amount is very big, normally people will just let go of the 20%. It is just not worth the trouble. 

Anyway, it is not complicated at all to get back the 80% of the pension. Just follow the rules and all will be OK. After going back to the home country, one can go to the homepage of Japan Pension Service and downloaded the form for lump sum withdrawer payments, just print out the page 11, page 12 and page 13. The rest of the document is just explanation.

For page 11, fill up item 1 to item 5. To me, all the items are very important. I highlighted to fill up in Capital Letters because initially I forgot about it and filled up in small letters after getting the stamps of the bank. I had to go back to the bank to get another stamp after I filled up in the correct Capital Letters.

page 11 of the form for lump sum withdrawer for Japan pension

For page 12, please read carefully the upper half, it stated all the requirements. For the bank verification, I got both bank stamp and document which show my bank account details. (Although in the list, it stated "instead"). Well, I wanted to be prepared for any possibilities! Initially, the bank officer declined to give me both because she said that the requirement is only either bank stamp or document. However, I insisted and got it! The bank charged me RM20 for all these. However, the same bank (another branch) my colleague went to gave him all that for free. Mmmmmmm. 

*Luckily the bank near my place is the branch I opened my account, my out of state colleague has to go back to his hometown to get the bank verification because only the account opening branch is "certified" to issue the related documents. 

page 12 of the form for lump sum withdrawer for Japan pension

Next, fill up the company name, company address and period of working on the lower half of page 12.

page 12 of the form for lump sum withdrawer for Japan pension

Lastly, checked for all the necessary items before sending it out. 

1. Photocopy of passport page showing date of final departure from Japan
2. Photocopy of passport page showing name, date of birth, nationality, signature and resident status
3. Application form (the page 11 and page 12)
4. Please make sure there is a bank stamp verification on page 11 bank details, if not available, please get document from your bank that shows your bank name, name of bank branch office, branch office's address, account number and show that the applicant if the account holder. (I gave them both)
5. Pension Handbook (the little blue book)

* Please make sure to refer everything back to the Japan Pension Service website for accuracy.  This is just a simple explanation based on my own experience. 

If all the documents are ready, put them into an envelope of appropriate size. For the address, please turn to page 13, the bottom part is the address of Japan Pension Service. Just cut and paste. 

After everything is ready, just go to your nearest post office to send it. I send this with registered mail. I got my 80% back after waiting for around 6 months. My friend from Tokyo got it after 3 months. Initially, I was worried that I might filled up something wrong on the form and I even got a friend in Japan to call the pension office, but they told her that it's normal to wait for 5 to 6 months. Well, I got mine after 6 months. Finally!

*update 20th Feb 2016 - update the link for the form of lump sum withdrawer payments.