Non-permanent resident 5-year check

What you are adding

Income Tax Act Article 2, item 4, is the definition. The National Tax Agency's2025 English guide, section 1-3, states it this way: among residents, a person of non-Japanese nationality who has had a domicile or a residence in Japan for an aggregate period of five years or less within the preceding ten years is a non-permanent resident.

Tax Answer No. 2010(the page states current laws as of April 1, 2026) says the same thing: a non-permanent resident is a resident who does not have Japanese nationality and whose total period with a domicile or a residence in Japan within the past 10 years is 5 years or less.

That English guide states the category. It does not say how to count the days. The count on this page followsIncome Tax Basic Circular 2-4の2 and 2-4の3.

Domicile is a separate question. Basic Circular 2-1 says a domicile is a person's base of living, judged from objective facts.Tax Answer No. 2012says the same, and it says the judgment is not made from days of stay alone. A person who spends half the year or more abroad can still be a Japanese resident. This page does not apply that test. Enter a period only if you are already treating it as domicile or residence.

How the days are counted

The 10-year window

Basic Circular 2-4の2 says 「過去10年以内」 runs from the same day 10 years before the determination date through the day before that date. The reference date on this page is that determination date. The Act does not say the test is used only on December 31. Article 8 can split one year into more than one category. That split is in the tax-status article.

The day after entry, through departure

Basic Circular 2-4の3 says that where both the day domicile or residence began and the day it ceased fall in that 10-year period, the counted stretch runs from the day after the start through the end date. The start date you type is not counted. The end date is counted. The circular calls those days 入国の日 and 出国の日.

Calendar first, then 30 days when there are two or more stretches

The same paragraph says to count by the calendar, and to count a stretch shorter than a month in days. Where there is more than one stretch, add the years, the months, and the days. Then 30 days count as one month, and 12 months count as one year.

A single stretch is not put through that 30-day step. A leftover of 30 days on one stretch stays 30 days. The circular states the 30-day step for more than one period.

The result also shows the number of calendar days inside the stretches. The comparison with 5 years uses the years, months, and days, not that raw day count.

Five years or less

Article 2, item 4, says five years or less (五年以下). Basic Circular 2-3(3) says that if the total exceeds five years, a resident who is not a Japanese national is a non-permanent resident through the days that are still within five years, and from the next day is a resident other than a non-permanent resident. A total of exactly 5 years, 0 months, and 0 days is not over five years on this page.

If the total is not already over, the result names the first later reference date on which the count goes over five years, assuming domicile or residence on every day after the reference date, with no new gap. Periods you closed stay closed. The assumption does not fill a gap before the reference date. A blank end date is already treated as continuing, including after the reference date. That later date is a count. It is not a finding that anyone's category changes. A gap can also make a total fall back to 5 years or less when older days leave the 10-year window. This page shows the first later date under the assumption. It does not list every later crossing.

A temporary absence

Basic Circular 2-2, and the note in section 1-3 of the English guide, say a trip abroad can still be residence in Japan when the absence is clearly temporary. The guide presumes that intent if, during the absence, a spouse or relative remains in the household in Japan, a residence or hotel room is kept for the return, or personal property for daily use is kept in Japan. This page does not decide that. If those days still count, include them. If they do not, leave them out.

What the circular does not state

Where a rule is not in the circular, this page says what it does instead of guessing.

1. A stay with no end date. Paragraph 2-4の3 states "the day after entry through the day of departure" for the case where both dates fall in the past 10 years. It does not write a separate sentence for a stay that is still continuing. This page counts a blank end date through the day before the reference date, because that is the last day of the window in 2-4の2.
2. A stay that began before the window. The statute and 2-4の2 limit the total to the past 10 years. The circular does not say, in those words, to start a straddling stay on the first day of the window. This page drops dates outside the window. The entry day is left out only when that entry day is itself inside the window.
3. Overlapping dates. Paragraph 2-4の3 says to add periods. It does not say to count the same day twice. If two periods overlap, this page counts that stretch once. Stretches that only touch, with the next one starting the day after the previous one ends, stay separate, because the 30-day step is for separate periods.
4. A missing calendar day. Paragraph 2-4の2 says "the same day 10 years earlier." Paragraph 2-4の3 says to count by the calendar. Neither sentence mentions February 29, or a month that has no corresponding day. Where the same day does not exist, this page uses the last day of that month. That is the missing-day rule in Civil Code Article 143, paragraph 2. The circular does not cite the Civil Code. Article 138 says the Civil Code's period rules apply unless a statute has a special rule. The National Tax Agency has not said whether that article reaches this circular.
5. A stay that starts and ends on the same day. Under "the day after entry through the day of departure," that range is empty when both dates are inside the window. This page follows that wording. The circular does not discuss a one-day stay on its own.
6. Weekends and holidays. This page does not move a date because it falls on a weekend or a Japanese holiday. The basic circular does not say to.

Figure, with made-up dates. Reference date March 1, 2024. A stay begins February 1, 2014, and the end date is blank. The window is March 1, 2014 through February 29, 2024. February 2014 days before that window are left out. The counted stretch is March 1, 2014 through February 29, 2024: 10 years, 0 months, 0 days. This total is over 5 years. February 29, 2024, is the last day of that window.

If the reference date itself is February 29, 2024, the same day in 2014 does not exist. This page sets that window to February 28, 2014 through February 28, 2024. That is the choice in item 4, not a sentence in the circular.

The figures on this page are calculated from the circular's words and from the choices above. They are not an illustration published by the National Tax Agency.

Worked examples

Each set of dates is made up. None of them is a client's dates. Nationality is not part of the arithmetic. The statute still requires it. A Japanese national is not a non-permanent resident.

Questions the sources answer

The year-of-departure split is in the tax-status article. The second answer above is why one reference date does not label a whole year.