Resident tax installments: which receipts prove on-time payment
2026-10-04
For permanent residence, ISA wants to see that each 住民税 (resident tax) installment in your window was paid by its deadline. A municipal 納税証明書 (tax payment certificate) shows how much you owed and paid, not when, so for any period when the tax was not deducted from your salary ISA asks for bank-book copies, receipts or printed online-banking history. The deadline that counts is the one printed on your own 納税通知書 (tax notice), moved to the next business day if it falls on a weekend, a holiday or 29 December–3 January.
Two ways 住民税 is collected
- 特別徴収 (special collection): your employer deducts the tax from 12 monthly salaries, June to May, and pays it to the city by the 10th of the following month (地方税法 第321条の5). You have no deadline of your own. ISA's page says that if your whole window was under 特別徴収, you submit the certificates only, without payment proofs.
- 普通徴収 (ordinary collection): the city sends you a 納税通知書 and you pay the installments yourself. This is what the payment proofs are for.
Four installments, on dates your city sets
地方税法 第320条 places the installments 「六月、八月、十月及び一月中において、当該市町村の条例で定める。但し、特別の事情がある場合においては、これと異なる納期を定めることができる。」: in June, August, October and January, on dates fixed by city ordinance, with different dates allowed in special circumstances. A tax no larger than the flat per-capita amount (均等割) is due in a single June installment.
Real calendars differ:
| City | 2026 tax year (令和8年度), 普通徴収 |
|---|---|
| Osaka, Yokohama, Nagoya and most large cities we track | 30 June, 31 August, 2 November 2026, 1 February 2027 |
| Matsudo | 30 June, 31 August, 2 November, 28 December 2026 |
| Hiroshima | June, August, October and December (city due-date table) |
Use the dates printed on your own notice. A notice sent later in the year, after a job change or a revised assessment, carries its own dates.
When a deadline falls on a closed day
地方税法 第20条の5第2項 moves a deadline that falls on a holiday under 民法 第142条 (Sundays, national holidays) or on a day set by cabinet order to the next day. The cabinet order (地方税法施行令 第6条の18第2項) names Saturdays and 29, 30 and 31 December. 1–3 January are treated as holidays as well; Hiroshima's tax page, for example, lists 「祝日、休日、土曜日、日曜日又は12月29日から1月3日」.
Worked example: in 2026 the October installment would fall on 31 October, a Saturday, so the deadline becomes Monday 2 November 2026. That is the date Osaka, Yokohama and Matsudo print for the 3rd installment. A payment on Monday 2 November is on time; a convenience-store payment on Tuesday 3 November (文化の日, a national holiday) is one day late. Likewise, 31 January 2027 is a Sunday, so the 4th installment in those cities is due on Monday 1 February 2027.
The job-change trap
Special collection stops when the employer stops paying you. 地方税法 第321条の5第2項 decides what happens to the rest of that year's tax:
- You leave between 1 January and 30 April: the remaining amount is deducted in one go from the last salary or retirement allowance paid to you by 31 May, if that payment is large enough.
- You leave between 1 June and 31 December: the remaining amount becomes 普通徴収 and the city bills you, unless you asked the employer to deduct it in one go.
Under 第321条の7 the city collects the remainder on its remaining installment dates, or at once if none are left. In practice, follow the dates on the notice you receive.
Example: you leave a job on 30 September 2026 and did not ask for a lump-sum deduction. The employer deducts up to the September amount, and the amounts for October 2026 to May 2027 arrive on a 納税通知書 in your name. Those installments are 普通徴収: pay them by the printed dates and keep the receipts, because this is exactly the kind of period ISA asks you to prove.
What proves an on-time payment
For any period in the window that was not under 特別徴収, ISA's application pages ask for 「住民税を適正な時期に納めていることを証明する資料（通帳の写し、領収証書等）」 and explain that they are needed 「遅延納付（納付期限後の納付）がないことを証明するために」. A copy of a Web通帳 (online passbook) screen showing the transaction history is accepted if it is printed in a form that cannot be edited; Excel files are not.
| How you paid | What shows the date | What to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Bank or post-office counter | 領収日付印 (receipt date stamp) on the 領収証書 stub | The stamped stub |
| Convenience store | The store's stamp on the 領収証書 and the register receipt | Both; Matsudo City asks residents to take both |
| 口座振替 (direct debit) | The debit line in your passbook or Web通帳 | A copy of the page or a printed history |
| Smartphone app (PayPay and others) | No 領収証書 is issued (Osaka, Fukuoka); the app's payment history | A printout showing date, amount, city and installment |
| Online banking or Pay-easy | The transaction history | A printed, non-editable history |
ISA's list does not name app screens, so print the app history in a way that keeps the date, amount, city and installment readable. If a direct debit fails for lack of funds, any later payment is after the deadline.
Why a 納税証明書 alone may not prove timeliness
City certificates describe amounts. Yokohama says its certificate covers 「納税義務の確定した納付すべき額、納付済額、未納額等」; Sendai, 「納付（納入）すべき額として決定した額・納付済額（納入済額）・未納額」. Osaka's published sample shows, for each year and tax, the assessed amount, the amount paid, the unpaid amount and the amount not yet due, with no payment dates. A certificate showing ¥0 unpaid tells ISA you paid in full; it does not show that each installment was paid on time.
Certificates come from the city where you lived on 1 January of that tax year (地方税法 第318条). If you have moved since, see requesting tax certificates by mail.
Your window
| Route | 住民税 window |
|---|---|
| Work statuses, 家族滞在, 定住者 | 5 years |
| Spouses of Japanese nationals or (special) permanent residents; highly skilled 70+ | 3 years |
| Highly skilled 80+, J-Skip, children of Japanese nationals or (special) permanent residents | 1 year |
ISA has not published how long a late installment matters. Our audit uses a cautious reading, not an ISA rule: an installment due 2 November 2026 and paid on 10 November 2026 stays in view until the later date, 10 November, is older than the window. Our "clean from" date is therefore 11 November 2031 with a 5-year window, 11 November 2029 with 3 years, and 11 November 2027 with 1 year. Question 2 of the self-check sheet asks about exactly this; see the 7 self-check questions. For pension months, see late pension payments.
The free check reads one document, such as a 納税通知書 or a stamped receipt, and counts the payments and deadlines it finds.