Part-timer paying into pension

[genkikiwi17]

As a part-time University teacher from April I am expected to pay into the pension system by myself, either through automatic withdrawal from my bank account or by convenience store.

Before I was an ALT for a BOE so they would deduct the pension from my salary every month (I paid half)

My question is if I plan to live long term in Japan should I keep paying into the system? If I stopped paying then I would lose the previous 12 years I have paid?

 

[musicisgood]

One must pay into the pension. Best to go to the office and explain your situation. If you leave Japan, before leaving go to the pension office and do the paper work. You'll be entitled to some money "sent" back to you in "your" country. It "will not" be given to you in this country. Do all the paper work and make sure you get the correct addresses needed to mail your stuff back to Japan from your home country.
This figure might be close to what you might get refunded. About 180000 to maybe 210000 yen. I basing this figure off of info that was given to me about 3 years ago. It's not much considering we usually been paying into for a long time and I think I was paying about 14800 yen a month.
I ended up staying in Japan. Based upon a figure that I've seen, in a short time from now, my pension (Japanese) will be about 32000 yen paid every 2 months.
Luckily I get American Social Security which is not enough to live really in Japan, but... got to save your money when times are good.

 

[jt9258]

As a part-time University teacher from April I am expected to pay into the pension system by myself, either through automatic withdrawal from my bank account or by convenience store.

Before I was an ALT for a BOE so they would deduct the pension from my salary every month (I paid half)

My question is if I plan to live long term in Japan should I keep paying into the system? If I stopped paying then I would lose the previous 12 years I have paid?

If you have been paying into the pension system for the past twelve years you will never lose entitlement to claim a pension based on those payments, however if you leave the country permanently you can only claim back the last three years.

As you will now be expected to pay 100% and not half as before, you can make a claim to reduce the amount you need to pay based on having a low income, but to receive this you must make the claim now, a claim cannot be back dated.

What is the situation regarding health insurance with the new position?

 

[Mike Cash]

My question is if I plan to live long term in Japan should I keep paying into the system?

I believe you will find it is mandatory, although lots of people don't.

This is the 国民年金 you're going into, correct? Which were you paying into before, the 国民年金 or the 厚生年金 ?

You're aware every municipality has an office with people who take care of this stuff and can give you much better answers than your fellow gaijins can, right?

 

[jt9258]

You're aware every municipality has an office with people who take care of this stuff and can give you much better answers than your fellow gaijins can, right?

Mike you are partly correct. Every municipality has staff that may be able to answer these questions, but a lot will depend on when they were rotated into the position, with no experience other than what they have remembered from the rule book in that department.

At this time of year there are a lot of new faces in positions they will only hold for the next three years.

 

[genkikiwi17]

Yes, I visited the pension office at city hall last week. I was told there was an exemption but I would need to fill in the paperwork. Maybe that is for low income earners but I will be making almost the same as I did when I was in a fulltime position last year. I am just asking if anyone else is in the same position.

I joined the kokumin kenko hoken last week.

Someone else mentioned to me that you have to be paying into the system for 25 years before you receive the full benefit. Has anyone else heard about this?

 

[genkikiwi17]

I believe you will find it is mandatory, although lots of people don't.

This is the 国民年金 you're going into, correct? Which were you paying into before, the 国民年金 or the 厚生年金 ?

I heard that recently the pension office is claiming back payments from people who have not been paying into the system and there is nothing you can do to stop them taking the money.

I was in the shakai hoken system before. Now Kokumin kenko hoken.

 

[jt9258]

I heard that recently the pension office is claiming back payments from people who have not been paying into the system and there is nothing you can do to stop them taking the money.

I was in the shakai hoken system before. Now Kokumin kenko hoken.

I have heard this mentioned before its rubbish.

 

[Mike Cash]

Based upon a figure that I've seen, in a short time from now, my pension (Japanese) will be about 32000 yen paid every 2 months.

That's because you never had a job that got you on the Kousei Nenkin and you obviously didn't pay into the Kokumin Nenkin very long. That and/or you were on reduced contributions due to having no income because you didn't hit a lick at a snake the whole time you've been here. The averages paid out are 147,000 for the former and 55,000 for the latter. Those figures are per month, not every two months.

It is possible to receive up to a maximum of 65,000 per month on the Kokumin Nenkin and up to a maximum of 100,000 per month on the Kousei Nenkin. So from a theoretical maximum possible of 165,000 per month you're getting about 10% of that....1/4 of the Kokumin and nothing from the Kousei.

One should not use your case as a basis on which to get some idea about Japanese government pension plans.

 

[genkikiwi17]

So if there is no punishment into paying into the system, people are trusting themselves basically every month to save up money for retirement?

 

[Mike Cash]

I have heard this mentioned before its rubbish.

Facts and statistics indicate otherwise.

 

[jt9258]

So if there is no punishment into paying into the system, people are trusting themselves basically every month to save up money for retirement?

The pension is not regarded as a TAX.

The health insurance is regarded as a TAX, so if you do not pay it when you join the city office scheme they will charge you penalties for non payment and they will come after you for payment.

 

[jt9258]

Facts and statistics indicate otherwise.

View attachment 26439

Mike please do not start a debate.

The government want everyone to join the pension system, but if you fail to pay there are no penalties.

Even I have six months unpaid pension payments that date back more than 12 years and when I asked if I could pay them they refused and said it was impossible.

 

[genkikiwi17]

Wait a minute, what is the difference between the kousei nenkin and the kokumin nenkin. Excuse my ignorance.

 

[Mike Cash]

Mike please do not start a debate.

It isn't a debate because there is nothing to debate regarding your opinion that it is rubbish that one's assets may be subject to court-ordered seizure. The facts are that it happens thousands and thousands of times every year. As you can see, it happened nearly 14, 000 times in 2016.

How is that even debatable?

Even I have six months unpaid pension payments that date back more than 12 years and when I asked if I could pay them they refused and said it was impossible.

That is correct. The facts are online and easily searchable.

 

[jt9258]

What I mean Mike is that its not going to help the OP.

He wants to know what his options are.

Firstly if the OP was paying into an employee scheme where his employer was paying 50%, he would have also joined the employee health scheme.

Since his new job does not offer these benefits, he would need to pay 100% of the pension payments and 100% of the health insurance payments after joining the city office health insurance scheme.

The city office will assess the amount due for Health Insurance based on last years income.

This health insurance is regarded as a tax and comes under the tax law, which means the city can apply late fees for overdue amounts and these fees just get higher the longer they remain unpaid.

The only way to reduce these fees is to claim an exemption to pay the Pension, which could be anything from a full exemption or a partial exemption, but what he has to consider is that being exempt still counts towards a pension.

Claiming an exemption means that it will only affect those payments after the date of filing the application, and he must do this every year to continue to claim the exemption.

 

[Glenski]

Someone else mentioned to me that you have to be paying into the system for 25 years before you receive the full benefit.

I believe that if you get PR, they will reset the clock backwards 20 years. I don't recall the exact length of time, but that sounds familiar. You only get back what you paid for, but by resetting the clock, you are eligible to receive what is owed to you sooner and physically don't have to be here or pay into it 25 years. Confirm with city hall.

 

[Kamasama]

As a part-time University teacher from April I am expected to pay into the pension system by myself, either through automatic withdrawal from my bank account or by convenience store.

Before I was an ALT for a BOE so they would deduct the pension from my salary every month (I paid half)

My question is if I plan to live long term in Japan should I keep paying into the system? If I stopped paying then I would lose the previous 12 years I have paid?

I received an exemption from the pension because I have paid and pay into US social security. They cannot double dip the collection process. And if you have a bank account here they can go after it to satisfy the pension collection unless you deal with it. You do have to do something. Whatever it is.
I do pay into monthly healthcare.

 

[jt9258]

I believe that if you get PR, they will reset the clock backwards 20 years. I don't recall the exact length of time, but that sounds familiar. You only get back what you paid for, but by resetting the clock, you are eligible to receive what is owed to you sooner and physically don't have to be here or pay into it 25 years. Confirm with city hall.

This does not make sense, because your residence status is not relevant.

 

[Majestic]

The time required to pay into the pension system was reduced from 25 years to 10 years.
必要期間が25年→10年に短縮「年金10年」手放しで喜べない2つの理由｜たあんと

 

[johnnyG]

The time required to pay into the pension system was reduced from 25 years to 10 years.
必要期間が25年→10年に短縮「年金10年」手放しで喜べない2つの理由｜たあんと

Yes, but that's the minimum time to be vested--it was 25, and is now ten years. But that doesn't mean you can stop paying after ten years...! As long as you're still here, you're liable/responsible for paying in.

OP should take their pension number to their local pension office, take a number and talk to someone there. They will plug that into their system and can print out your history, and they can tell you what benefit you'd be getting if you were retired now.

The fact that the workers might have just been rotated there is ridiculous--they're not going to put some clueless person out to face the public. There may be a chance you'll see a pair of people (one in training), and even if you get someone who is very experienced, they still may have to step away to clarify something with another worker there.

It is possible to receive up to a maximum of 65,000 per month on the Kokumin Nenkin and up to a maximum of 100,000 per month on the Kousei Nenkin.

With 29 years paid in, I receive ¥76,577 every other month that's tagged as 国民厚生年金 in my bankbook (40 years of payments are necessary for the max payout). The larger chunk comes from the 私立学校 system--¥256,813 and again that's the bimonthly figure (this was ¥5000 higher last year). Do the math and I now get ¥166,695/month.

An insurance-like aspect of the pension system comes into effect if you happened to become disabled (one of the established levels of disability here). I'm not disabled, but I've heard that you are eligible to begin collecting your full pension earlier. I think there are some other differences, besides that (e.g., how your contribution is calculated). Also, if you are officially institutionalized, I think the payout is increased to help pay those costs.

I ended up staying in Japan. Based upon a figure that I've seen, in a short time from now, my pension (Japanese) will be about 32000 yen paid every 2 months.
Luckily I get American Social Security which is not enough to live really in Japan, but...

I'm not eligible for any SS, since I've never really worked in the US. Based on a colleague's experience here who is collecting both, SS will reduce your payment/benefit if you're collecting another pension (and don't think they "just won't know" about your pension here!). They don't approve of people who are double-dipping.

 

[Glenski]

JohnnyG,
I didn't know about that reduction. Have not collected yet. All I knew was that the US and Japan have their treaty to allow both plans to be in effect. Do you have a link to how the reduction is calculated?

 

[Glenski]

This does not make sense, because your residence status is not relevant.

I didn't say it made sense, only what I had read.

 

[jt9258]

I didn't say it made sense, only what I had read.

Where did you read about it?

 

[johnnyG]

JohnnyG,
I didn't know about that reduction. Have not collected yet. All I knew was that the US and Japan have their treaty to allow both plans to be in effect. Do you have a link to how the reduction is calculated?

No link, but the fellow I know did spend some time on the phone with SS people. It's been maybe two years since he talked about it. IIRC, he might be getting half the SS that he would be getting if he didn't have a pension here (similar to mine).

This "adjustment" by the SS system is not specifically targeting foreign pensions. As you probably know, in some states teachers have their own pension systems, apart from SS. (Other civil servants, too, like police/fire.) E.g., teachers in Illinois cannot qualify for their teacher's pension, and then work another job with SS and qualify to receive that, too ( = double dipping). I think in the case of teachers there, they never get anything from SS--not even a reduced amount. So perhaps here, getting half or so of what you might be due is a good thing?

Via goole: Social Security: A Little-Known Pension Rule May Slash Your Benefits | Money