How to get 課税証明書 and 納税証明書 by mail for Japan PR
2026-10-04
For permanent residence (永住許可), ISA asks for a 課税証明書 (resident-tax assessment certificate) and a 納税証明書 (resident-tax payment certificate) for the latest five fiscal years on the work route — fewer on other routes — plus a 納税証明書（その3） from the tax office for national taxes. Each 住民税 (resident tax) certificate comes from the city where you were registered on 1 January of that fiscal year, so if you moved you write to more than one city. All of them can be requested by mail, and the national-tax certificate can also be requested online.
Which certificates ISA asks for
ISA's document lists (提出書類一覧表) set the number of years by route:
| Route | 課税証明書 and 納税証明書 |
|---|---|
| Work statuses, 家族滞在 (dependant), 定住者 | latest 5 years |
| Spouse of a Japanese national or permanent resident | latest 3 years |
| Highly skilled professional, 70+ points | latest 3 years |
| Highly skilled professional 80+ points, J-Skip | latest 1 year |
| Child of a Japanese national or permanent resident | latest 1 year |
Four rules from ISA's procedure pages matter here:
- One certificate per year is enough if it shows both the year's total income and whether the tax was paid.
- If the city cannot issue every year (for example, because you arrived recently), submit the years it can issue and ask the regional immigration bureau about the rest.
- For any period when your 住民税 was not deducted from your salary (特別徴収), ISA also wants proof that each installment was paid on time: bank-book copies or 領収証書 (receipts). See resident tax installments and receipts.
- Every certificate issued in Japan must be no more than three months old when you file (「発行日から３か月以内」).
Which city issues which year
A 住民税 certificate for a 年度 (fiscal year, April to March) comes from the municipality where you were registered on 1 January of that year. Shinjuku's page gives the example: the 令和8年度 (FY2026) certificate comes from wherever you lived on 1 January 2026, and it shows your 2025 income.
A new 年度 becomes available around June. Shinjuku started issuing 令和8年度 certificates on 10 June 2026, or on 15 May 2026 for people whose 住民税 is fully deducted from their salary. Until then, your "latest five years" end one year earlier.
Example. Li plans to file on the work route on Monday 15 February 2027. Her latest five years are 令和4年度 to 令和8年度 (FY2022–FY2026). She lived in Osaka until March 2024 and has lived in Shinjuku since then. She was registered in Osaka on 1 January 2022, 2023 and 2024, so Osaka City issues FY2022–FY2024, and Shinjuku issues FY2025 and FY2026. To stay within ISA's three-month limit, all of them should be issued on or after 15 November 2026.
What a mail request (郵送請求) needs
Each city publishes its own instructions on its mail-request page, and that page is where you get its form. A typical request contains:
- The city's own request form. It asks for your name, address, date of birth and a daytime phone number, plus the fiscal years, the type of certificate, how many copies you need and what they are for. Use the form of the city that issues the certificate. We don't publish filled-in examples.
- A copy of your ID, such as your residence card. If you use a My Number card, copy only the front. Shibuya and Sapporo say this explicitly, because the number is on the back.
- The fee, paid with 定額小為替 (postal money orders). You buy them at a post office or Japan Post Bank counter. Each money order costs ¥200 on top of its face value, whatever the denomination. There are 12 denominations from ¥50 to ¥1,000, and each is valid for six months. City pages such as Nagoya's and Shibuya's ask for the exact amount and say not to write anything on the money order. Since each one costs ¥200, buy as few as you can that add up to the exact fee.
- A stamped return envelope addressed to yourself. Some cities, such as Shibuya, send certificates only to your own current address.
Fees differ by city:
| City | Fee for a mailed certificate |
|---|---|
| Shinjuku | ¥300 each |
| Osaka | ¥300 per fiscal year |
| Nagoya | ¥400 (from 1 October 2026) |
| Shibuya | ¥200 (¥300 at the counter) |
Some cities also take requests online. Yokohama does this with a smartphone and a My Number card, and Osaka through its online application system.
How long it takes
Each city states its own timing, and they differ. Shinjuku issues and posts the certificate on the day your request arrives or the next business day. Osaka's central mail office takes about a week from receipt to dispatch, plus two to three days at the start of the fiscal year. Shibuya says delivery can take 10 days to two weeks from the day you post your request. A request without the money order or the return envelope is not processed.
If you have only just paid, the city may not have recorded the payment yet; Shibuya says it takes about two weeks. Shinjuku, Shibuya and Nagoya ask you to enclose the receipt (or a copy) when you need a 納税証明書 that shows a recent payment.
納税証明書（その3） for national taxes
The その3 certificate proves that you have no unpaid national tax on the date it is issued, so you don't specify a period. ISA wants it to cover five taxes:
- withholding income tax
- self-assessed income tax
- consumption tax
- inheritance tax
- gift tax
The first two include the special reconstruction income tax, and consumption tax includes local consumption tax. The 税務署 (tax office) for your current address issues it, and several taxes normally fit on one sheet.
| How you request it | What you need | Fee per sheet |
|---|---|---|
| e-Tax online, receive a PDF | My Number card, and a smartphone or computer that can read it | ¥370 |
| e-Tax online, pick up at the tax office | e-Tax login; at pickup, your ID and My Number card | ¥370 |
| By mail | NTA request form, revenue stamps (収入印紙), a stamped return envelope, and copies of your ID and of a document that confirms your My Number | ¥400 |
The NTA's leaflet for permanent-residence applicants says to print the PDF certificate and submit it to the immigration office. You can print it at a convenience store and download it again for 90 days. The NTA request, online or by mail, asks for your My Number; that is the tax office's own requirement. If you paid a national tax at a convenience store, the NTA says a certificate showing it as paid can be issued about three weeks later.
Cover your My Number everywhere else
Cover your My Number on anything you copy for a city or for ISA. ISA asks for the 住民票 (residence record) to be issued without it, and for basic-pension and health-insurance numbers to be blacked out on copies.
How our report helps
The paid report's missing-certificates list names each year you still need and the city that issues it, and links to that city's own mail-request page. This covers 55 cities with large foreign populations; for any other city it gives general instructions. The free check reads one of your documents and shows how many payments it found and how many need a closer look.
For the whole document list and what changes in 2027, see Japan PR requirements in 2026. For the national-tax question on ISA's form, see the self-check sheet's 7 questions.