National Pension Act

The national treasury bears, each fiscal year, the amounts listed below, in order to cover the expenses required for the National Pension program (excluding the expenses prescribed in the following paragraph).

The amount equivalent to one-half of the amount obtained by multiplying the amount obtained by deducting, from the total amount of expenses required for the basic pension benefit (meaning the old-age basic pension, the disability basic pension, and the survivors' basic pension; the same applies below) for the relevant fiscal year (excluding the amounts listed in the following item and item (iii); hereinafter referred to as the "amount subject to premium and contribution calculation"), the amount calculated based on the numbers of months prescribed in Article 27, items (iii), (v) and (vii), by the rate obtained by deducting, from 1, the sum of the rates calculated, for each government and implementing body, as specified by Cabinet Order under Article 94-3, paragraph (1);

The total of the amounts obtained by multiplying the amount of expenses required for the old-age basic pension benefit (limited to one whose amount is calculated under the proviso to Article 27) relating to a person having a premium exemption period for the relevant fiscal year, by the number obtained by dividing the number listed in (a) by the number listed in (b);

The number obtained by adding together the numbers listed below:

The number obtained by multiplying the number of months of the relevant one-quarter premium exemption period (limited to the number of months obtained by deducting the relevant number of months of premium-paid periods from 480) by one-eighth;

The number obtained by multiplying the relevant number of months of half premium exemption periods (limited to the number of months obtained by deducting, from 480, the total of the relevant number of months of premium-paid periods and the number of months of the relevant one-quarter premium exemption period) by one-quarter;

The number obtained by multiplying the number of months of the relevant three-quarter premium exemption period (limited to the number of months obtained by deducting, from 480, the total of the relevant number of months of premium-paid periods, the number of months of the relevant one-quarter premium exemption period, and the relevant number of months of half premium exemption periods) by three-eighths;

The number obtained by multiplying the number of months of the relevant full premium exemption period (excluding one relating to a premium not required to be paid under Article 90-3, paragraph (1)) (limited to the number of months obtained by deducting, from 480, the total of the relevant number of months of premium-paid periods, the number of months of the relevant one-quarter premium exemption period, the relevant number of months of half premium exemption periods, and the number of months of the relevant three-quarter premium exemption period) by one-half.

The number obtained by adding together the numbers of months listed in the items of Article 27.

The amount equivalent to 20 percent of the expenses required for the disability basic pension benefit under Article 30-4 for the relevant fiscal year.

The national treasury bears, each fiscal year, within the scope of the budget, the expenses required for the execution of the affairs of the National Pension program.

The government grants to municipalities (including special wards; the same applies below), as specified by Cabinet Order, the expenses necessary for the processing of affairs carried out by mayors of municipalities under this Act or a Cabinet Order based on this Act.

The government collects premiums in order to cover the expenses required for the National Pension program.

Premiums are to be collected for each month that forms the basis for calculating the insured period.

The premium revision rate under the preceding paragraph for fiscal year 2005 is 1.

The premium revision rate under paragraph (3) is revised each fiscal year based on the rate obtained by multiplying the premium revision rate for the fiscal year preceding the relevant fiscal year by the rate listed below, and applies to the premium for the month falling in the relevant fiscal year.

The ratio of the price index for the year two years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year, to the price index for the year three years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year;

The rate that is the cube root of the rate obtained by dividing the rate listed in (a) by the rate listed in (b).

The ratio of the average standardized amount of remuneration for insureds relating to insured persons of Employees' Pension Insurance for the fiscal year that contains April 1 of the year three years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year, to the average standardized amount of remuneration for insureds relating to insured persons of Employees' Pension Insurance for the fiscal year that contains April 1 of the year six years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year;

The ratio of the price index for the year three years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year, to the price index for the year six years before the year that contains the first day of the relevant fiscal year.

Measures for revision of the premium revision rate under the preceding paragraph are specified by Cabinet Order.

A category 1 insured person (excluding a person who is not required to pay a premium under Article 89, paragraph (1), Article 90, paragraph (1), or Article 90-3, paragraph (1), a person who is not required to pay part of the amount of a premium under Article 90-2, paragraphs (1) through (3), and a member of a National Pension Fund) may, by notifying the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, become a person who pays a premium of 400 yen, in addition to the premium in the amount specified in paragraph (3) of the preceding Article, for each month on and after the month that contains the day on which that notification was made.

Payment of a premium under the preceding paragraph may be made only for a month in which the premium in the amount specified in paragraph (3) of the preceding Article was paid (excluding a month in which the premium is deemed to have been paid under Article 94, paragraph (4)), or for each month in the period relating to a premium not required to be paid under Article 88-2 or Article 88-3, paragraph (1) or (2).

A person who has become a person who pays a premium under paragraph (1) may, at any time, by notifying the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, cease to be a person who pays a premium under paragraph (1), with respect to the premium for each month on and after the month preceding the month that contains the day on which that notification was made (excluding a premium already paid, and a premium prepaid under Article 93, paragraph (1) (excluding one relating to each month on and after the month that contains the day on which the person became a member of a National Pension Fund)).

When a person who has become a person who pays a premium under paragraph (1) becomes a member of a National Pension Fund, that person is deemed to have made the request under the preceding paragraph on the day on which the person became a member.

An insured person must pay premiums.

The head of household bears a joint and several obligation to pay the premiums of an insured person belonging to that household.

One of a pair of spouses bears a joint and several obligation to pay the premium of the other, who is an insured person.

An insured person is not required to pay the premium for the period from the month preceding the month that contains the expected date of childbirth (in a case specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the date of childbirth; referred to as the "expected date of childbirth" in paragraph (1) of the following Article, Article 106, paragraph (1), and Article 108, paragraph (2)) (hereinafter in this Article referred to as the "month of expected childbirth") (in the case of a multiple pregnancy, the third month before the month of expected childbirth) to the second month following the month of expected childbirth.

Where an insured person to whom the provisions of the preceding Article applied raises a child in connection with the childbirth referred to in that Article, the insured person is not required to pay the premium for the period from the month containing the day on which three months have passed from the expected date of childbirth until the month preceding the month containing the day on which twelve months have passed from the expected date of childbirth (or, if, by the day preceding that day, the child has died or an event specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as an event on account of which the insured person has come to no longer raise the child has arisen, the day following the day on which that event arose) (excluding a period during which the provisions of that Article apply in connection with a child other than that child).

An insured person (excluding an insured person prescribed in the preceding paragraph) is not required to pay the premium for the period from the month containing the day on which that person came to raise that person's child (including a child for whom the insured person has requested a family court, under Article 817-2, paragraph (1) of the Civil Code (Act No. 89 of 1896), for the formation of the special adoption relationship prescribed in that paragraph between that child and the insured person (limited to a case where the domestic relations case pertaining to that request is pending in a court) and whom the insured person actually takes care of, a child entrusted, under Article 27, paragraph (1) (limited to the part pertaining to item (iii)) of the Child Welfare Act (Act No. 164 of 1947), to an insured person who is a foster parent for adoption prescribed in Article 6-4, item (ii) of that Act, and a person entrusted, as specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, to an insured person specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as a person equivalent to these insured persons; hereinafter the same applies in this paragraph, Article 106, paragraph (1), and Article 108, paragraph (2)) until the month preceding the month containing the day following the day on which that child reaches one year of age (or, if, by the day preceding the day on which the child reaches one year of age, the child has died or an event specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as an event on account of which the insured person has come to no longer raise the child has arisen, the day on which that event arose) (excluding a period during which the provisions of the preceding Article apply in connection with a child other than that child).

The amount equivalent to the premiums that are not required to be paid under the preceding two paragraphs is to be, as specified by Cabinet Order, made up for by the child and child-rearing support contribution collected by the government under the Act on Support for Children and Child-rearing (Act No. 65 of 2012).