Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act

• A disability basic pension paid because the holder was first seen by a doctor for the condition before 20 (Article 30-4 of the Act) is stopped by half (half of the amount before any addition for children) when the holder's income for the previous year exceeds 3,858,000 yen, and wholly when it exceeds 4,918,000 yen, the stop running from October to the following September. Each limit rises by 380,000 yen for each spouse or dependent the holder has for income tax — 480,000 yen for a spouse sharing the livelihood aged 70 or over or an elderly dependent (老人扶養親族), 630,000 yen for a specified dependent (特定扶養親族) or a dependent under 19 — and a dependent aged 30 to 69 counts only if eligible for the dependent deduction (控除対象扶養親族). Income is counted as for prefectural inhabitant tax (道府県民税), less amounts the Order lists, such as the deductions for medical expenses and social insurance premiums and set amounts for a widow, a single parent, a working student or a person with a disability — though nothing is taken off for a person with a disability, the holder included, who holds a pension of this kind that is not wholly stopped.(Art. 5-4(1), Art. 5-4(2), Art. 6(1), Art. 6-2(1), Art. 6-2(2), Art. 6-2(2)(ii), National Pension Act Art. 30-4(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A category 1 insured person (第1号被保険者) can apply to have the whole premium (保険料) waived when their income for the previous year (for premiums of January to a month a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order (厚生労働省令) sets, the year before that) is no more than 350,000 yen for themselves and for each dependent, plus 320,000 yen — or, for a person with a disability, a widow or a single parent as the Local Tax Act (地方税法) defines them, no more than 1,350,000 yen. Three-quarters, half or a quarter of it can be waived when that income is no more than 880,000, 1,280,000 or 1,680,000 yen, plus 380,000 yen for each dependent (480,000 yen for a spouse sharing the livelihood aged 70 or over or an elderly dependent, 630,000 yen for a specified dependent or a dependent under 19), and under the Act the waivers are also open on other grounds, such as the person or another member of their household receiving public assistance (生活保護法) other than livelihood assistance of a kind that Ministry's Order names, or a disaster or another reason it names that makes paying very hard. None of these waivers covers months as a student; under the Act the head of household (世帯主) and the spouse must each meet one of the conditions too; and under this Order income is counted as for municipal inhabitant tax (市町村民税), a dependent aged 30 to 69 counting only if eligible for the dependent deduction.(Art. 6-7(1), Art. 6-7-2(1), Art. 6-8(1), Art. 6-8-2(1), Art. 6-9(1), Art. 6-9-2(1), Art. 6-10(1), Art. 6-11(1), Art. 6-12(1), National Pension Act Art. 90(1), National Pension Act Art. 90(1)(i), National Pension Act Art. 90(1)(ii), National Pension Act Art. 90(1)(iv), National Pension Act Art. 90-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 90-2(2), National Pension Act Art. 90-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under the student payment special provision (学生納付特例) a student can apply to have the premium for their months as a student waived when their income for the previous year (for premiums of January to a month a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order (厚生労働省令) sets, the year before that) is no more than 1,280,000 yen plus 380,000 yen for each dependent (480,000 yen for a spouse sharing the livelihood aged 70 or over or an elderly dependent, 630,000 yen for a specified dependent or a dependent under 19). Under the Act it is also open on other grounds, such as being a person with a disability, a widow or a single parent with income of no more than 1,350,000 yen, the student or another member of their household receiving public assistance other than livelihood assistance, or a disaster or another reason that Ministry's Order names that makes paying very hard. The Order counts as students those at a high school, a secondary school, the upper division of a special needs school, a junior high school teaching at night or other special hours, a university or graduate school, a junior college, a college of technology, a specialized training college (専修学校), a miscellaneous school (各種学校) on a course of one year or more, and other schools a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names.(Art. 6-6(1), Art. 6-9(1), Art. 6-7-2(1), Art. 6-8(1), National Pension Act Art. 90-3(1), National Pension Act Art. 90-3(1)(ii), National Pension Act Art. 90(1), National Pension Act Art. 90(1)(i)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An old-age basic pension (老齢基礎年金) claimed early is reduced by 0.4% for each month from the month of the claim to the month before the one in which the person reaches 65; one deferred is increased by 0.7% for each month from the month of entitlement to the month before the deferral is requested, counting at most 120 months. The additional pension (付加年金) is reduced or increased at the same rate. The early-claim rate applies to people who had not reached 60 on 31 March 2022, and the deferral rate to people who had not reached 70 that day or who, entitled only after 65, had been entitled for less than five years.(Art. 12(1), Art. 12(2), Art. 4-5(1), Art. 4-5(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2), National Pension Act Art. 28(4), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The lump-sum withdrawal payment (脱退一時金) is half the monthly premium for the fiscal year of the person's last contribution month, multiplied by a number this Order sets from their months of contributions (partly waived months counting at a fraction): 6 for 6 to 11 months, rising by 6 for each further six months, up to 60 for 60 months or more.(Art. 14-3-2(1), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-3-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A category 1 insured person may pay premiums in advance (前納) for periods the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, in units of six months or a year or all at once, at a discount worked out at 4% a year compound, and the Minister publishes the amount due; advance premiums are refunded, on request, for the months not yet passed when the person loses insured status or becomes a category 2 or category 3 insured person, and for months later waived. A waived premium paid back (追納) for a month in fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2023 carries an addition: the premium times a rate set for each fiscal year, from 0.036 for fiscal 2016 down to 0.015 for fiscal 2023 (no addition for a March 2024 month paid back in April 2026), the amount due again published by the Minister.(Art. 7(1), Art. 8(1), Art. 8(2), Art. 9(1), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), National Pension Act Art. 93(1), National Pension Act Art. 94(3)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2026

  The text on this site

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 226 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2026

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Partial Enforcement of the 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の一部の施行に伴う関係政令の整備に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 153 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 75 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement, etc. of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the National Pension Act, etc., and Other Matters, to Strengthen the Functions of the Pension System in Light of Socioeconomic Changes

  社会経済の変化を踏まえた年金制度の機能強化のための国民年金法等の一部を改正する等の法律の施行に伴う関係政令の整備等に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 43 of 2026The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 355 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the School Education Act

  学校教育法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係政令の整備に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 258 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2025

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 253 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 106 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2025

  Cabinet Order on the Arrangement of Related Cabinet Orders upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Private Schools Act

  私立学校法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係政令の整備に関する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 209 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2024

  Cabinet Order Partially Amending the Order for Enforcement of the National Pension Act, etc.

  国民年金法施行令等の一部を改正する政令

  Cabinet Order No. 127 of 2024The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 40 amendments already in force

• A disability basic pension for someone first seen by a doctor before 20 is stopped while the holder can receive another pension the Order lists — such as a pension under the Public Officers Pension Act, the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (労働者災害補償保険法) or the Act on Relief of War Victims and Survivors (戦傷病者戦没者遺族等援護法) — unless that pension is itself wholly stopped for a reason other than compensation under the Labour Standards Act (労働基準法). Where the disability basic pension is 758,000 yen a year or more and larger than the other pension, the part above the other pension is still paid. Where both are under 758,000 yen nothing is stopped, except the part of the disability basic pension by which the two together exceed 758,000 yen.(Art. 4-8(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 5-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(2), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(3), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(4), National Pension Act Art. 36(1), National Pension Act Art. 41(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Neither that stop nor the 758,000-yen rule applies where the other pension is an increased pension (増加恩給) or the family pension (扶助料) of Article 75(1)(ii) of the Public Officers Pension Act, or one of the other pensions the Order lists — for former military or war service, or for disability or death in official duty — paid for a disability or death to the people the Order names. For an increased pension or an injury pension paid together with an ordinary pension (普通恩給), those people are only the ones whose rank when injured or taken ill was captain (大尉) or equivalent or below; for the family pensions, only the survivors of someone of that rank.(Art. 5-3(1), Art. 5-3(2), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under the Act, a holder whose home, household goods or other property — or that of a spouse or dependent sharing the livelihood — has lost about half or more of its value in an earthquake, storm, flood, fire or similar disaster, not counting what insurance or compensation made good, is not stopped on account of income of the year or two years before the damage, from the month of the damage to September of the following year; the pension is stopped back to the month of the damage if the holder's income for the year of the damage exceeds the limit. The Order names the other property as fields, residential land and buildings used to maintain the main livelihood, and other property the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare sets.(Art. 6-3(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-4(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-4(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under the Act, a disability basic pension for someone first seen by a doctor before 20 is also stopped while the holder has no address in Japan, and, in cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order (厚生労働省令) sets, while they are held in a penal institution, a workhouse or a similar facility or placed in a juvenile training school or a similar facility.(National Pension Act Art. 36-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(1)(ii), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(1)(iii), National Pension Act Art. 36-2(1)(iv)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A category 1 insured person who holds a disability basic pension, or one of the disability pensions the Order lists — such as a disability employees' pension (障害厚生年金) for a condition within this Order's grades, or a disability pension of the former schemes — owes no premium, by operation of the Act, from the month before they become entitled until the month in which they cease to qualify, except premiums already paid; they may instead give notice that they will pay for any of those months. The Act waives premiums in the same way while the person receives livelihood assistance (生活扶助) under the Public Assistance Act or other help a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, or lives in a facility that Order names. The disability waiver does not cover a holder who has gone three years without being in a disability grade of the Employees' Pension Insurance Act (厚生年金保険法) and is not in one now, nor a holder of a former scheme's pension who has gone three years in the same way without that scheme's degree of disability.(Art. 6-5(1), Art. 6-5(2), National Pension Act Art. 89(1), National Pension Act Art. 89(1)(i), National Pension Act Art. 89(1)(ii), National Pension Act Art. 89(1)(iii), National Pension Act Art. 89(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A person who could not make, or was late in making, one of the procedures the Order lists — such as applying to pay the additional premium (付加保険料), applying for a premium exemption, the student payment special provision or a payment postponement, or applying for voluntary membership — because of a specified reason (特定事由), meaning that work due under the Act, the Act before its amendment by Act No. 34 of 1985 (旧法) or the orders under them was not done or was done in a grossly improper way, can tell the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare so. Once the Minister approves, the Act treats the person, from the day of the statement, as having the periods the procedure would have given them. The statement is filed with the Japan Pension Service.(Art. 14-14(1), Art. 14-15(1), Art. 14-16(1), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-7(1), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-7(2), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-7(3), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-7(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A person who has notified a time-barred inconsistent period (時効消滅不整合期間) — months from April 1986, up to a cut-off Act No. 63 of 2013 set, recorded as category 3 paid months (other than months counted as paid only under the late-notification rules the Order lists) but later corrected to category 1 after the right to collect their premiums had lapsed — has those months treated, from the day of the notification, as months waived under the student payment special provision. Such a person cannot make retroactive payments under Article 94 of the Act at all.(Art. 14-6(1), Art. 14-7-2(2), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-2(1), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-4-2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The mayor of the municipality (市町村長) receives and checks the claims and applications the Order lists — among them claims for an old-age basic pension of someone with only category 1 periods, for a disability or survivors' basic pension arising from category 1 periods where no Employees' Pension Insurance pension is due for the same cause, for a widow's pension (寡婦年金) or a lump-sum death payment (死亡一時金), and applications for premium exemptions, the student payment special provision, the additional premium and voluntary membership. It is the mayor of the place where the person lives — for a category 1 insured person with no address in Japan, of a place the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare determines, and for a benefit holder with none, of their last address in Japan. This is statutory entrusted work of the first kind (第一号法定受託事務) under the Local Autonomy Act (地方自治法), a separate Act, and for it the Act's provisions on the Minister apply to the mayor.(Art. 1-2(1), Art. 1-2(1)(i), Art. 1-2(1)(iii), Art. 1-2(1)(vii), Art. 1-2(1)(ix), Art. 2(1), Art. 18(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A mutual aid association (共済組合) — or the federation it belongs to — or the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan (日本私立学校振興・共済事業団) receives and checks the claim for an old-age basic pension of someone whose employees' pension periods are all as a member of one such scheme, and for a survivors' basic pension on that person's death; for a disability basic pension whose first visit to a doctor fell while the person was a member, it also examines the degree of the disability. The Order lets these bodies pay those of such basic pensions that a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names, with funds the Government gives them. The Minister of Finance (財務大臣) may, where it is needed for the proper execution of the national budget, have their handling of those funds audited on site by officials of the ministry that oversees them, with that minister's consent, or, where it is especially needed, audit it directly.(Art. 1(1)(i), Art. 1(1)(ii), Art. 1(1)(iii), Art. 2(2), Art. 15(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Japan Pension Service (日本年金機構) receives the application to pay back waived premiums, on the National Pension premium retroactive payment application form (国民年金保険料追納申込書), and the applications and statements the Order sends to it for special premiums (特定保険料) and for a specified reason (特定事由). It collects premiums itself where a person who has received a demand asks to pay at a pension office (年金事務所), where its collection staff visit and the person asks to pay them, where money is taken in a disposition for arrears, and in other cases a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, and it must give the payer a receipt.(Art. 11(1), Art. 14-10(1), Art. 14-14(1), Art. 14-22(1), Art. 11-13(1), Art. 11-16(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where a person liable to pay is behind with premiums for at least the number of months a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order sets, may be hiding property to escape a disposition for arrears (滞納処分), had income for the previous year (from January to a month that Order sets, the year before that) at or above an amount that Order sets, and shows no sincere intention to pay despite dispositions, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may, where it is needed for effective collection, hand the dispositions for arrears over to the Minister of Finance — all of them except those the Order keeps back — and the Minister of Finance passes them to the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency (国税庁長官). The Commissioner passes them all to the Director-General of the regional taxation bureau (国税局長) for the person's place of residence, who may pass them on to the head of the district tax office (税務署長).(Art. 11-10(1), Art. 11-11(1), Art. 11-12(1), Art. 11-12(2), National Pension Act Art. 109-5(1), National Pension Act Art. 109-5(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A request by an insured or formerly insured person to correct their record in the National Pension register (国民年金原簿), which the Act has the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare decide, is decided under this Order by the Director-General of the Regional Bureau of Health and Welfare (地方厚生局長) for the area of the Japan Pension Service office that received it, and in turn by the head of the branch bureau (地方厚生支局長) for that area. The Minister and the Director-General may still decide it themselves.(Art. 11-12-2(1), Art. 11-12-2(2), National Pension Act Art. 14-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 14-4(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• A decision on the lump-sum withdrawal payment can be challenged by a request for review to the Social Insurance Examination Committee (社会保険審査会), as the Act provides. With the wording this Order substitutes, a court action to cancel the decision can be brought only after the Committee has decided on that request.(Art. 14-4(1), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-3-2(5), National Pension Act Suppl. Prov. Art. 9-3-2(6), National Pension Act Art. 101-2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Under the Act and the wording this Order substitutes, no one other than the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Japan Pension Service, a municipal mayor, or the Japan Health Insurance Association (全国健康保険協会), the mutual aid associations and others a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Order names may ask another person to tell them that person's or anyone else's basic pension number (基礎年金番号), ask for it from someone who applies for or makes a sale, lease, employment or other contract with them in their business, or, as a business, build a database of others' numbers meant to be passed on — except in cases that Ministry's Order sets where the number is especially needed for the government-managed pension work. Where someone breaks the rule on contracts or on databases and is likely to do so again, the Minister may recommend that they stop and, if they do not follow it, order them to, and may ask for reports and have their offices inspected. Breaking the order is punished by imprisonment (拘禁刑) for up to one year or a fine (罰金) of up to 500,000 yen, and refusing a report or an inspection by a fine of up to 300,000 yen; the company or employer they act for is fined too.(Art. 11-6-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 108-4(1), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-38(1), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-38(2), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-38(3), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-38(4), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-38(5), Residential Basic Book Act Art. 30-39(1), National Pension Act Art. 111-2(1), National Pension Act Art. 113-2(1)(iv), National Pension Act Art. 113-3(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• This Order sets no penalty of its own. Under the Act, receiving a benefit by deception or other wrongful means is punished by imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 1,000,000 yen, unless the Penal Code (刑法) provides for it.(National Pension Act Art. 111(1)) (the provisions it rests on)