Workers’ family members may become dependents under the health insurance system by satisfying certain criteria. Particularly important among the requirements is annual income. From April 2026, the rules regarding dependents’ income have been partially revised, as reviewed in this article.
[1] Certification from April 1, 2026
If salary is a family member’s sole income, the amount of salary indicated in the Notice of Working Conditions or similar documents will be used in examining whether the person is entitled to the health insurance as a dependent. Overtime wages or other allowances whose amounts are not fixed at the time of signing will not be included in the annual income, unless the amounts are clearly indicated in the employment contract.
[2] Treatment of cases where income may fluctuate
Companies and workers agree on scheduled working days or hours when signing a contract, but in some cases, working days or hours are not fixed at the time of signing. For example, actual working days or hours may change for employees who work on weekly or monthly shifts. If it is difficult to determine a family member’s annual income, because of employment contract, salary statements or taxation/non-taxation certificate can be used, as done in the past. This measure is also applied to part-time workers whose contract term is less than a year.
[3] Treatment of overtime pay
Even if family members have been certified as dependents on the assumption that there will be no extra wages, their annual pay may exceed the threshold, because of overtime or other allowances. In such cases, their dependent status will be changed at the point they become no longer satisfy the criteria. Meanwhile, if there was a mistake in the annual income used for the dependent certification, the status will be cancelled retrospectively from the point of certification.
Even if a dependent’s pay increases for a short period, they may retain the status by submitting a document by their employer to confirm the pay increase is only temporarily, in line with the government’s “Annual Income Barrier Support Enhancement Package.” However, the annual income ceiling will not be raised by this measure. It is important to provide detailed explanation to workers and their dependents to ensure their understanding about the requirements.
Reference
Japan Pension Service, “Treatment of annual income in dependent certification”
https://www.nenkin.go.jp/oshirase/taisetu/jigyosho/2026/202605/0501.html
*The information is based on laws and regulations as of the date of the original article.
