Act on the Collection, etc. of Insurance Premiums of Labor Insurance

• The government collects labor insurance premiums (労働保険料) to pay for labor insurance: the general premium (一般保険料), three classes of special enrollment premium (特別加入保険料), the stamp premium (印紙保険料) and the special payment premium (特例納付保険料). The general premium is the total wages the employer pays all the workers in the business — for some businesses, an amount worked out as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets — times a rate: the industrial accident insurance rate plus the employment insurance rate where both insurance relationships exist, or the rate of the one that exists. Wages (賃金) are anything the employer pays a worker in return for work, whatever it is called, including allowances and bonuses, but not payment in kind outside the range a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 11(2), Art. 11(3), Art. 12(1), Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets the industrial accident insurance rate (労災保険率), as a Cabinet Order (政令) provides, so that the insurance stays in balance, taking into account the past three years' rates of occupational, multiple-job and commuting accidents across all covered businesses and other matters. For a business that in each of three consecutive insurance years had 100 or more workers, or was a smaller one meeting the criteria the Act and a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order set, and whose insurance relationship is three or more years old at the end of them, the Minister may raise or lower that rate (less its part for accidents other than occupational ones) by a rate a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, within 40%, for the insurance year after next, where the benefits for the business's own occupational accidents over those three years come to more than 85%, or to 75% or less, of its premiums for them as the Act adjusts them. For an employer with no more workers than a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets that took the safety or health measures the Order sets and filed a declaration within six months from the start of the following insurance year, the range is 45%.(Art. 12(2), Art. 12(3), Art. 12-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The employment insurance rate (雇用保険率) is the sum of three parts the Act sets: 8 per 1,000 for unemployment and related benefits (10 per 1,000 in farming and forestry, livestock, sericulture and fishery businesses, construction, sake brewing and businesses a Cabinet Order sets, except farming, forestry, livestock, sericulture and fishery businesses the Minister designates as ones that do not close for a season or scale down); 5 per 1,000 for childcare leave benefits; and 3.5 per 1,000 for the employment stabilization and skills development programs (4.5 per 1,000 in construction). Depending on the state of the funds, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, after hearing the Labour Policy Council, change the first part for up to a year to between 4 and 12 per 1,000 (6 and 14 in the businesses with the higher rate), or set the second at 4 per 1,000; and when the employment stabilization fund passes the level the Act sets, the Minister must lower the third by 0.5 per 1,000 for a year, and may, after hearing the Council, lower it by a further 0.5. A part changed in this way takes the place of the figure the Act sets.(Art. 12(4), Art. 12(5), Art. 12(8), Art. 12(10), Art. 12(11)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Every insurance year (1 April to 31 March), the employer pays an estimated premium (概算保険料), worked out on the wages it expects to pay that year (or, where a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order provides, on the previous year's wages), with a declaration, within 40 days from 1 June — or within 50 days of the insurance relationship beginning, if it begins during the year — and if the expected wages (or special enrollment amounts) rise and meet conditions a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, it pays the difference, with a declaration, within 30 days of that day. Within 40 days from 1 June of the following year — or within 50 days of the relationship ending, if it ends during the year — it files a declaration of the final premium (確定保険料) on the wages it actually paid and pays any shortfall with it; an overpayment is credited to the next year's premiums or other money due, or refunded. A business with a set end (有期事業) instead pays within 20 days of the relationship beginning, and declares and settles within 50 days of it ending.(Art. 2(4), Art. 15(1), Art. 15(2), Art. 16(1), Art. 19(1), Art. 19(2), Art. 19(3), Art. 19(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• For each insured day worker (日雇労働被保険者), the employer pays the stamp premium (印紙保険料) each time it pays them wages, by fixing employment insurance stamps (雇用保険印紙) in the worker's insured day worker's book (日雇労働被保険者手帳) and cancelling them, or with a premium meter of a kind the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare has designated, installed with the Minister's approval, which the Minister may withdraw if the employer breaks this Act, the Employment Insurance Act or the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Orders under them. The Act sets it at 176 yen a day where the daily wage is 11,300 yen or more, 146 yen where it is 8,200 yen or more but under 11,300 yen, and 96 yen where it is under 8,200 yen; the Minister changes these amounts when the part of the employment insurance rate for unemployment benefits, or the day workers' benefit amounts, are changed. The employer must have the worker hand over the book while employing them, give it back on request, and keep a book of its stamp payments, reporting them to the government by the end of the following month.(Art. 22(1), Art. 22(2), Art. 22(4), Art. 23(1), Art. 23(2), Art. 23(3), Art. 23(4), Art. 23(6), Art. 24(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2025

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 26 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Support for Children and Child-rearing, etc.

  子ども・子育て支援法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 47 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 26 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Support for Children and Child-rearing, etc.

  子ども・子育て支援法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 47 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 12 June 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Support for Children and Child-rearing, etc.

  子ども・子育て支援法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 47 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 May 2024

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 26 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 31 March 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 20 amendments already in force

• In a farming or forestry business, or a livestock, sericulture or fishery business not employing seafarers, that a Cabinet Order makes voluntary for employment insurance for the time being (雇用保険暫定任意適用事業), which the Employment Insurance Act provides for — never one run by the State, a prefecture, a municipality or a similar body, nor what that Act calls a corporate employer's business, limited to offices (法人である事業主の事業（事務所に限る。）) — the employment insurance relationship arises only on the day the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare approves the employer's application, which needs the consent of at least half of its workers. Besides the business ending, the relationship ends on the day after the Minister approves an application to end it, which needs the consent of at least three quarters of the workers. A covered business that comes to fall into this class is treated as approved from the next day, and a voluntary business that becomes a covered one is treated as starting on that day, so its employment insurance relationship arises then.(Art. 4(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(4), Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(2), Employment Insurance Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer that never filed the notice of its employment insurance relationship, though the relationship existed, and employed someone whose becoming insured it never notified, and whose share of the premium documents show was deducted from wages more than two years before their insured status was confirmed (the people Article 22(5) of the Employment Insurance Act describes, other than one who knew of the missing notice), may pay a special payment premium (特例納付保険料) for that person's employment insurance premiums it did not pay and can no longer be made to pay because the two-year limit has passed, worked out as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets plus an amount it adds; a successor to the business may too. The Minister must urge the employer to pay it, unless unavoidable circumstances prevent this. Once the employer offers in writing, the government fixes the amount and a deadline, and the employer must pay by then.(Art. 26(1), Art. 26(2), Art. 26(3), Art. 26(4), Art. 26(5), Art. 41(1), Employment Insurance Act Art. 22(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• On the employer's application, the government may let it pay its estimated premiums in installments (延納), as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets.(Art. 18(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Two or more small businesses with a set end run at the same time by the same employer, meeting the size and other criteria a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, count as one business. On the employer's application and the Minister's approval, two or more continuing businesses of the same employer that meet the Order's criteria may be put under one insurance relationship: all their workers count as employed in the one business the Minister designates, and the others' relationships end.(Art. 7(1), Art. 9(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Businesses run by prefectures and municipalities, and others a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, count as separate businesses for each of the two insurances. For businesses run by the State and those businesses, a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order may make different rules on which workers are covered and, for some of them, on paying the general premium.(Art. 39(1), Art. 39(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Chapters 2 and 3 of the Administrative Procedure Act (行政手続法) — on decisions about applications and on adverse decisions — do not apply to decisions made under this Act, except the approval of a labor insurance administrative affairs association and its withdrawal.(Art. 37(1), Art. 33(2), Art. 33(4), Administrative Procedure Act Chapter 2, Administrative Procedure Act Chapter 3) (the provisions it rests on)

• Where an employer does not file its declaration of the estimated or the final premium, or the government finds it wrong, the government determines the premium and notifies the employer, who must pay any shortfall within 15 days of the notice (for the final premium, except in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets). Where the government has determined the final premium in this way, it also collects a surcharge (追徴金) of 10% of the amount to be paid, rounded down to the 1,000 yen — unless a natural disaster or another unavoidable reason is why it is owed, and none where that amount is under 1,000 yen.(Art. 15(3), Art. 15(4), Art. 19(4), Art. 19(5), Art. 21(1), Art. 21(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an employer fails to pay a stamp premium, the government determines the amount and notifies the employer. Where the employer failed to pay without a justifiable reason, the government also collects a surcharge (追徴金) of 25% of the amount determined, rounded down to the 1,000 yen, unless the unpaid premium is under 1,000 yen.(Art. 25(1), Art. 25(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where premiums or other money due under the Act are not paid, the government must demand payment by a written demand (督促状) with a deadline at least 10 days after the day it is sent. If they are still not paid by that deadline, the government takes delinquency measures (滞納処分) in the same way as for unpaid national tax. Money due under the Act is collected in the way national tax is, unless the Act provides otherwise, and its statutory lien (先取特権) ranks next after national and local taxes.(Art. 27(1), Art. 27(2), Art. 27(3), Art. 30(1), Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Once it has demanded payment, the government collects a late-payment charge (延滞金) on the premium at 14.6% a year — 7.3% for the first two months after the due date — from the day after the due date to the day before payment in full or seizure of property. There is none on a premium under 1,000 yen, or where everything is paid by the deadline in the demand, the charge is under 100 yen, there is an unavoidable reason for not paying, or in the other cases the Act lists. For the time being, in a year when the special base rate for delinquency tax (延滞税特例基準割合), which the Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation (租税特別措置法) defines, is under 7.3%, the 14.6% becomes that rate plus 7.3%, and the 7.3% becomes that rate plus 1%, but no more than 7.3%.(Art. 28(1), Art. 28(5), Suppl. Prov. Art. 12(1), Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation Art. 94(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The government's right to collect premiums and other money due under the Act, and the right to a refund of them, lapse two years after they could first be exercised. The government's notice of collection, or its demand for payment, renews the period.(Art. 41(1), Art. 41(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An administrative agency may order the employer of a business that has or had an insurance relationship, or a labor insurance administrative affairs association (労働保険事務組合) or former one, to report, submit documents or appear, as a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets; and where it finds it necessary, it may have its officials enter their offices, question the people concerned and inspect their books and documents, electronic records included. An inspecting official must carry identification and show it when asked, and the power to inspect is not given for criminal investigation.(Art. 42(1), Art. 43(1), Art. 43(2), Art. 43(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer that fails to fix and cancel stamps for an insured day worker, to keep or fill in the stamp-premium book or to report on it, or that does not obey an order to report or submit documents, answers falsely or refuses or obstructs an inspection, faces imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 300,000 yen (Article 46); so do the representative and staff of an organization approved under Article 35(1) of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act who commit the report or inspection offences, and the representative and staff of a labor insurance administrative affairs association who fail to keep or fill in its books, or commit the report or inspection offences (Article 47). Where a corporation's representative, or a corporation's or individual's agent or staff, commits any of these offences in its business, the offender is punished and the corporation or individual is fined as well (Article 48).This is the rule until 31 March 2027.(Art. 46(1), Art. 47(1), Art. 48(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an employer fails to fix and cancel stamps for an insured day worker, to keep or fill in the stamp-premium book or to report on it, or does not obey an order to report or submit documents, answers falsely or refuses or obstructs an inspection, the person who committed the violation faces imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 300,000 yen (Article 46); so do the representative and staff of an approved organization (承認団体) under Article 35(3) of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act who commit the report or inspection offences, and the representative and staff of a labor insurance administrative affairs association who fail to keep or fill in its books, or commit the report or inspection offences (Article 47). Where a corporation's representative, or a corporation's or individual's agent or staff, commits any of these offences in its business, the corporation or individual — the employer included — is fined as well (Article 48).This is the rule from 1 April 2027.(Art. 46(1), Art. 47(1), Art. 48(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In a business where employment insurance is still voluntary (雇用保険暫定任意適用事業), the employer must not dismiss or otherwise treat a worker unfavorably because the worker wanted the insurance relationship set up, and must apply for it when half or more of its workers want it. An employer that breaks either rule faces imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 300,000 yen, and where the offender acted for a corporation or person, that corporation or person is fined as well.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 6(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 7(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 7(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, a separate Act, the government may collect all or part of the cost of benefits it pays from the employer, up to the value of the accident compensation the Labor Standards Act would require, where the accident happened while the employer, intentionally or through gross negligence, had not filed the notice of its industrial accident insurance relationship (apart from the time after the government determined its premium), or while it had not paid its general premium past the deadline in a written demand. The same holds for an occupational accident the employer caused intentionally or through gross negligence.(Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act Art. 31(1), Art. 4-2(1), Art. 15(3), Art. 27(2)) (the provisions it rests on)