Income walls (年収の壁) for part-time childcare workers in 2026 | ¥1.78M, ¥1.36M, 20 hours a week, ¥1.3M
The income walls shift a lot in 2026: the ¥1.78 million income tax threshold (for 2026), the ¥1.36 million dependent deduction limit, the planned removal of the ¥1.06 million wage requirement (October 2026), and contract-based assessment of the ¥1.3 million limit (from April 2026), worked out with a part-time childcare worker’s hourly wage.
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- The income tax-free threshold is ¥1.78 million from the 2026 tax year (effective December 1, 2026, applied all at once in the year-end adjustment)
- Family members can claim the dependent or spouse deduction for you up to an income of ¥1.36 million (from the 2026 tax year)
- The social insurance “¥1.06 million (¥88,000 a month)” requirement is scheduled to be removed in October 2026. At workplaces with 51+ employees, “20 hours a week” becomes the line
- At the average part-time childcare wage (¥1,419/hour), 20 hours a week comes to about ¥1.48 million a year, over the ¥1.3 million dependent limit
If you work part-time in childcare, the “income walls” (年収の壁) are probably on your mind: the income levels at which tax or social insurance kicks in. Tax and social insurance rules changed one after another in 2025–2026, so talk of “¥1.03 million” and “¥1.06 million” is already out of date in places. Let’s look at the rules as of September 2026, using a part-time childcare worker’s hourly wage.
The 2026 income walls at a glance
| Wall | What happens? | From when |
|---|---|---|
| About ¥1.1M (resident tax, FY2026) | Above this, the income-based portion of resident tax applies (if single). The flat per-capita portion starts from about ¥1.03–1.1 million depending on the municipality | FY2026 resident tax (on 2025 income) |
| ¥1.36M (dependent and spouse deductions) | Above this, your family member can no longer claim the dependent or spouse deduction for you (for a spouse, the full special spouse deduction applies up to ¥1.69 million) | From the 2026 tax year (¥1.23 million for 2025) |
| ¥1.78M (your own income tax) | If your only income is salary, no income tax up to this amount | 2026 and 2027 tax years (effective Dec 1, 2026; ¥1.6 million for 2025) |
| 20 hrs/week (social insurance) | Working 20+ hours a week at a workplace with 51 or more employees means joining employees’ pension and health insurance (students excluded) | The ¥88,000/month wage requirement is scheduled to be removed in October 2026. The company-size requirement shrinks in stages from October 2027 |
| ¥1.3M (family social insurance dependent) | If your expected annual income is ¥1.3 million or more, you drop out of your family member’s health insurance and pension as a dependent | From April 2026, can be assessed by expected income based on your contract |
How “income” is counted differs by wall. For tax (¥1.1M, ¥1.36M, ¥1.78M), tax-free commuting allowances are not included. For the ¥1.3 million dependent test, commuting allowances are included. The ¥1.78 million income tax threshold is a measure limited to the 2026 and 2027 tax years; from 2028, it is set to be reviewed in line with prices.
Working it out with a part-time childcare worker’s wage
According to the Basic Survey on Wage Structure (2025), childcare workers working short hours earn ¥1,419 an hour. At that wage, how many hours a week does it take to reach each wall? (Simple calculation over 52 weeks, excluding commuting allowances, bonuses and overtime.)
| Wall | Approx. hours per week |
|---|---|
| Resident tax, about ¥1.1M | about 14.9 hrs |
| ¥1.3M (social insurance dependent) | about 17.6 hrs |
| ¥1.36M (dependent and spouse deductions) | about 18.4 hrs |
| ¥1.78M (income tax) | about 24.1 hrs |
At ¥1,419 an hour, 20 hours a week comes to about ¥1.48 million a year. You pass the ¥1.3 million family dependent limit before you reach the “20 hours a week” line for joining social insurance yourself. If your workplace is too small to be covered by social insurance, you may drop out of your family’s coverage and have to pay into the National Pension and National Health Insurance yourself.
Hourly wages differ by nursery and region. Try the numbers again with your own wage.
From April 2026: the ¥1.3 million test can be based on your contract
If you become a dependent on or after April 1, 2026, you can, as a rule, be accepted as a dependent if the annual income expected from your contract (such as the written notice of working conditions, 労働条件通知書) is under ¥1.3 million and you have no income other than salary. If occasional overtime not in your contract ends up taking you over ¥1.3 million, your dependent status is not cancelled as long as it is within a socially reasonable range (no specific amount has been given for what counts as reasonable).
However, in cases like these you cannot use this test, and you are assessed from payslips and similar instead.
- Contracts that don’t clearly state working hours, such as “hours per shift schedule”
- The contract says only “commuting allowance provided,” without the amount
- A contract period of less than 1 year, or income other than salary (such as a pension)
- You work at several places and can’t produce all the contracts
Part-time nursery jobs are often shift-based. If you want to stay within the dependent limit, check before you join whether your contract can state your scheduled weekly hours and the commuting allowance amount.
Working past the walls is an option too
Joining social insurance means paying premiums, but it also increases your future employees’ pension and gives you benefits such as the sickness and injury allowance (傷病手当金) if you have to take time off. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare estimates that someone earning ¥1.06 million a year who moves from dependent status to their own social insurance pays ¥12,500 a month, and that 20 years of coverage raises their pension by ¥8,800 a month (for life).
How much work pays off best depends on things like your family’s income and the conditions of any family allowance at your family member’s workplace. If unsure, ask the person in charge at your workplace, the pension office or the tax office.
What to check on a trial shift
- How many scheduled hours a week, and how they will be written in the contract
- Whether there are busy periods with more overtime, such as events or the end of the fiscal year
- The number of employees (whether the workplace is large enough to be covered by social insurance)
- Whether others there work within the dependent limit, and how easy it is to discuss shifts
Sources
- 源泉所得税の改正のあらまし 令和８年４月 — Outline of the withholding income tax revisions, April 2026 (National Tax Agency, Apr 2026)
- タックスアンサー No.1191 配偶者控除／No.1195 配偶者特別控除 — Tax Answer No. 1191 (spouse deduction) / No. 1195 (special spouse deduction) (National Tax Agency, laws as of Apr 1, 2026)
- 所得税は非課税でしたが住民税は課税になりました（FAQ） — FAQ: I owed no income tax, but I owe resident tax (Musashino City, Tokyo, Dec 2025)
- 短時間労働者に対する健康保険・厚生年金保険の適用の拡大 — Expanding health insurance and employees’ pension coverage to part-time workers (Japan Pension Service, updated Apr 2026)
- 短時間労働者の社会保険の加入拡大のポイント — Key points on expanding social insurance for part-time workers (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Jan 2026)
- 年金制度改正法の概要（主な改正内容・施行日） — Outline of the pension reform act (main changes and effective dates) (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2025)
- 労働契約内容による年間収入での被扶養者の認定の取り扱いについて — Assessing dependent status by annual income based on the employment contract (Japan Pension Service, May 2026)
- 労働契約内容による年間収入が基準額未満である場合の被扶養者の認定における年間収入の取扱いに係るQ&A — Q&A on assessing dependent status when contract-based annual income is below the threshold (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2026)
- 令和7年賃金構造基本統計調査 — Basic Survey on Wage Structure, 2025 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Mar 2026)
Figures and programs are summarized from the materials above as of September 2026. Programs can be revised, and conditions differ by municipality and employer. Check the latest information with the relevant office before you use any of them.