Download Handling of the Individual Number System commonly known as “My

■Handling of the Individual Number System commonly known as “My Number” (the Social Security and
Tax Number System) by private businesses
Time is coming for the notification of Individual Numbers beginning in October 2015 and use of the
Individual Number System beginning in January 2016.
This system will start with the use of the Individual Number in three areas; social security, taxation and
disaster response. Private businesses with employees will also need to deal with Individual Numbers for tax
and social security procedures.
Today, I would like to introduce to you the basics required for the handling of this system by private
businesses.
I would like to start with an overview of the Individual Number System, and then move on to handling by
private businesses in regard to changes in tax and social security procedures that will accompany the
introduction of the Individual Number System.
I will then explain the guidelines for private businesses in the handling of personal information. Finally I
would like to give you an overview of Corporate Number.
■The Social Security and Tax Number System is social infrastructure to improve administrative efficiency, enhance public
convenience, and realize a fairer and more just society.
Individual Number system (the social security and tax number system) effectively manages information in the areas of
social security, taxation and disaster response. It is used to confirm that personal information possessed by multiple agencies
is for the same person. It is social infrastructure to improve administrative efficiency, enhance public convenience, and realize
a fairer and more just society.
Let’s start with improving administrative efficiency. After the introduction of the Individual Number System, residents
will be requested to present their individual numbers or provide it on application forms for procedures taken at national and
regional public agencies. When the information-sharing network among national and regional agencies is initiated, there
will be a significant reduction in the time and labor required to check and transfer information and administrative procedures
will become more accurate and smooth.
The system will enhance public convenience. Until now, residents were required to run from one public office to another,
such as the city office, tax office, social insurance office, to get all the necessary documents for the submission of one
document. After the introduction of the Individual Number System, there will be cases in which the need for accompanying
documents for administrative procedures will be reduced, making it much simpler for residents. It will also become
possible to receive information about the services available to individuals and their families.
Lastly, the system will realize a fairer and more just society. The system will make it easier to ascertain individual’s
income and other information, and prevent improper evasion of payment responsibility and unfair receipt of benefits as well
as provide fine-tuned assistance to those who really need it.
■Residents will be notified of their Individual Numbers beginning October 2015.
Starting October 2015, residents with resident records will be issued a 12-digit My Number (Individual
Number). Mid- to long-term resident foreign nationals or individuals with special permanent resident
status will also be issued Individual Numbers.
Individual Numbers are allotted to the address appearing on individual resident registry as of Monday,
th
the 5 of October 2015. Thereafter, local municipal offices will send a Notification Card for Individual
Numbers for the entire household via simple registered mail. Individuals not living at the address noted in
the resident record should keep in mind that the notification will be sent to the address on the resident
registry.
Your Individual Number will serve you for your lifetime. Please take proper steps to protect it because
your Individual Number will not be changed during your lifetime, unless it has been leaked and may be
used improperly.
Corporate bodies will be issued a 13-digit Corporate Number. Please refer to pages 31 onward for more
detail.
■Individual Numbers will be used from January 2016. Information sharing will begin sequentially by
national government agencies in January 2017 and by regional government agencies in July 2017.
Individual Numbers will be used by national and regional public agencies only for social security,
taxation and disaster response procedures that are stipulated by law or regional government regulations.
After January 2016, Individual Numbers will be required for applications and other procedures related
to pension, medical insurance, unemployment, welfare payments and taxation.
■Individual Numbers cannot be used for purposes other than for those stipulated by law.
Individual Number cannot be disclosed for purposes not stipulated by law. Illegally obtaining someone
else’s Individual Numbers or releasing personal information file with records of Individual Number and
other confidential information are subject to punishment.
■Individual Number will be used in various situations.
Individual Numbers will be used in different situations.
Specifically,
(1) Households with children will need to present Individual Number to the municipal office for child
allowance applications and updates
(2) You will need to present your Individual Number to the pension office when applying for a judgment
concerning employee pension
(3) Individuals dealing with financial institutions, such as banks, security companies, insurance
companies, etc. must present their Individual Numbers to the financial institution to receive dividends or
insurance money, which will be provided on legally required documents by financial institutions
(4) Employed individuals need to present their Individual Numbers to their place of employment for the
creation of the certificate of income and tax withholding.
Pay particular attention to (4), which involves all private businesses hiring employees.
■Once information sharing begins, individual resident’s burden to attach documents will be reduced
Information sharing via a network system among various public agencies is scheduled to commence in
January 2017 for national government agencies and in July 2017 for regional government agencies. Once
this system is initiated, documents required for public applications such as tax declaration certificates, may
be omitted, which reduces burden and improves convenience for residents.
Information sharing among administrative agencies will be conducted not by direct use of Individual
Numbers but by an encrypted form. A Specific Personal Information Protection Commission will monitor
and oversee information sharing among administrative agencies as a third-party agent.
■You may check a record of how your personal information has been shared through the Personal
Information Cooperation Record Disclosure System
Some people may be concern about how personal information is being shared.
From January 2017, a portal site (Mynaportal) is scheduled to commence operation with which you can
see who has accessed your personal information, what was accessed, when it was accessed and for what
reason it was accessed.
Through Mynaportal, public administration is able to notify you of the public services available to you.
For example, household with infants may receive notices of vaccination for their child scheduled for the
next month. There will be other convenient functions included on the site.
■Individual Number Cards that can be used for various purposes will be issued upon application.
Individual Number Cards that enable identification will include the individual’s name, address, date of
birth, gender, Individual Number, and ID photo. An application form will be included in the Individual
Number notification. Individual Number Cards will be issued free of charge. (Cards need to be updated
every ten years for individuals aged 20 years and above, and updated every five years for individuals under
20 years of age.)
Individual Number Cards can be used for ID purposes, as well as for various electronic-based
applications, such as e-Tax, with the IC chip installed as electronic ID. The Individual Number Cards are also
used to receive services stipulated in the regulations of the regional government of residence such as
issuance of library cards or seal registration certificates.
■Detailed personal information will not be recorded in Individual Number Cards
Some have expressed concern about the leakage of personal information in the IC chip if an Individual
Number Card is lost or stolen. The IC chip in the Individual Number Card contains basic information
provided on the front of the card, and electronic ID for electronic application purposes, but not income and
medical history or any other confidential personal information.
The front side of the card is intended to be used widely for general identification purposes; and the
Individual Number on the reverse side cannot be used for purposes other than that permitted by law. For
example, the front side can be photocopied as an ID document; however, photocopying the reverse side
that includes the Individual Number is prohibited by law.
■Strict operation-side and system-side monitoring in response to concern for privacy
Responding to the concern for personal information leakage and identity theft, measures are in place to
protect personal information from both the operational and system sides.
From the operation side, the collection and retention of personal information including Individual
Numbers is prohibited with the exception of when prescribed by law. A third-party agency, the Specific
Personal Information Protection Commission, will monitor and oversee its use. Punishment for the illegal
use of Individual Numbers is severe.
From the system side, personal information will not be controlled centrally. As it was done before,
pension information will be managed by the Pension office, taxation information will be managed by the
tax office. When information is communicated between public agencies, Individual Numbers will not be
used directly and information being transmitted will be encrypted. Individuals with authority to access into
the system will also be restricted.
■Private businesses will need to prepare for the start of the system
This is an example roadmap for Individual and Corporate Numbers regarding notification and the
issuance of Individual Number Cards. The numbers will be issued in October of this year and put into use
from January of next year (2016).
After the notification of Individual Numbers in October 2015, businesses may obtain Individual Numbers
for their employees. Businesses may apply for Individual Number Cards on behalf of all their employees.
There are office procedures that need to be followed for all employees related to the introduction of the
Individual Number System.
From January of next year, the Individual Number System will come into operation, and Individual
Numbers will be required for the identification of individuals in regard to payment for short-term
employees hired at the beginning of the year, compensation paid to speakers at lectures, March or
midterm retirement, newly recruited employees in April, and other procedures related to your employees.
Administrative procedures for taxation and social insurance for your employees will also begin sequentially.
Please make use of the explanation that follows and begin your preparation for the introduction of this
system.
■Private businesses will also need to handle Individual Numbers
Private businesses handle health insurance and welfare pension application procedures and create
certificate of income and tax withholding for their employees.
Securities firms and insurance companies also create payment record for dividends and insurance
money.
From January 2016 onward, these procedure will require Individual Numbers.
Individuals receiving salary payment or who deals with financial institutes must present their own and
family member’s Individual Numbers to the place of employment and financial institutes such as securities
firms and insurance companies.
When private businesses request individuals to give lectures or to write manuscripts and pays for their
services, tax must be deducted from the payment. For this reason, Individual Numbers (or Corporate
Numbers) need to be presented to the businesses for payment for such services.
■ Individual Number System involves all employees for the processing of social security and taxation
From January 2016 onward, Individual Numbers of all employees, including part-timers and temporary
employees, must be obtained and included on the certificate of income and tax withholding, health
insurance, employee pensions, unemployment insurance and other tax and social security documents by
the date of submission of the relevant documents.
Private businesses must appropriately manage Individual Numbers and personal information (specific
personal information).
■Individual Numbers need to be provided when submitting tax-related documents
In accordance with the national tax-related laws, such as the General Act on National Taxes, Individual
or Corporate Numbers must be provided on all tax forms, applications, notifications, and written
statements to be submitted.
In regard to the tax returns, payment reports and other regional tax-related documents must provide
Individual or Corporate Numbers, as stipulated by law related to regional taxation.
Written statements stipulated by the laws related to national taxation and payment reports related to
regional taxation must also provide the Individual Number or Corporate Number of the party receiving the
payment, along with the Individual or Corporate Number of the party making the payment.
Certificate of income and tax withholding for salary income and salary payment report require (1) the
Individual or Corporate Number of payer, (2) the Individual Number of the recipient, and (3) the Individual
Number of the qualified spouse for deduction and dependents.
The Individual or Corporate Number of the party to which the payment is made must be obtained from
said party prior to the submission of payment records and payment reports.
■Tax-related document format will change
The above is a sample of the new format for the “Payment Record of Compensation, Fees, Contract and
Prize Money” that will be in use after the introduction of the Individual Number System.
As you can see, next to the “Name or title” of “Recipient” field is a field for Individual or Corporate
Number.
There is also a field for Individual or Corporate Number next to “Name or title” of “Payer.”
After the introduction of the Number System, the payer is required to obtain the Individual or Corporate
Number of the recipient prior to preparation of the Payment Record.
Please note with regard to payment records which the payer has no legal obligation to issue that copies
requested by payees for the purpose of confirming content cannot include the payer’s Individual or
Corporate Number.
(Note) When disclosing payment records in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Law,
copies can include said individual’s number.
In the event a copy of payment records that includes Individual Numbers other than the person making the
request, measures must be implemented to erase or mask the numbers so that they cannot be viewed or
restored. (Refer to Q5-8 “Q&A for Guidelines for the appropriate handling of specific personal information
(for Businesses)” created by the Specific Personal Information Protection Commission.)
There will also be changes in the certificate of income and tax withholding and salary payment report for
salary income. The major change is the size of the format from the current A6 to A5 size. Number fields are
added and Individual Numbers of the person receiving the salary as well as the Individual Numbers of the
qualified spouse for deductions and dependents are required.
Individual or Corporate Numbers of the payer must also be provided.
Certificate of income and tax withholding issued to the relevant individual will not have Individual or
Corporate Numbers of the payee.
The above sample of the format prior to the introduction of the Individual Number System is the format
prepared at the end of March 2015. Currently, the format is being reviewed in line with the revision of the
taxation system, and the actual certificate of income and tax withholding may differ.
The new format will be released on the National Tax Agency website as soon as it is finalized.
One of the documents related to income tax and individual inhabitant tax is “Declaration of tax exemption
for salaried employees,” which requires Individual Numbers for the income earner, qualified spouse for
deduction, and qualified dependents.
Payers requested to submit this form are required to provide their Individual or Corporate Numbers.
There are other forms that payers are required to submit which must provide Individual Numbers of the
recipient: Declaration of tax exemption for secondary income, Declaration of insurance premium deduction
and spouse special deductions for salaried employees, Return form relating to retirement income earner,
and Declaration of dependents to recipient of public pension.
These forms also require Individual or Corporate Number of the payer of the salary.
The above format is schedule to change in line with the taxation revision in 2015.
■Phase-in of Individual Numbers on tax-related forms
When the Number System is introduced, inclusion of Individual Numbers on declarations and legal records to be
submitted to tax authorities will be phased in.
The specific phase-in dates for formats requiring inclusion of the Individual Numbers are as follows:
(1) Income tax reports will require numbers on declarations for FY2016.
(2) The inclusion of numbers on individual inhabitant tax and individual enterprise tax reports will be required on
declarations for 2017, and numbers will be required for forms submitted from March 15, 2017.
(3) Corporate tax forms will require numbers for the business year starting January 1, 2016. For example, businesses
with March as their financial closing month will need to include their number on declarations for financial closing in March
2017.
(4) The same will apply to declarations of corporate inhabitant tax and enterprise tax.
(5) Legal records will require numbers for monetary payment made from January 2016 onward. For example, reports of
payment of compensation, fees, contract and reward money shall begin for payments settled in January 2016 onward, and
will require the name and Individual or Corporate Number of the recipient and the payer.
Based on “transactions completed from taxation stand point,” some reports which are required to perform the duty
of disclosure according to tax laws such as “Payment report on dividends, distribution of surplus and interest on guaranty
capital” and “Annual transaction report for specified account” that are completed prior to January 1, 2016, extension is
provided that allows postponement of identity verification and inclusion of Individual Number until the date of the first
payment after 3 years of the date on the said report.
However, for “certification of salary income and tax withholding” and “reports of payment of compensation, fees,
contract and reward money” and other document that do not qualify for extension, employers must obtain the Individual
or Corporate Number from the recipient of the payment to be included in legal document of payment from January 2016
onward.
(6) Payment record will required inclusion of the Individual or Corporate Number from the payment for 2016;
therefore, salary payment reports for 2016 that must be submitted by January 31, 2017 will required the Number.
(7) Applications and notifications will require the Number on documents submitted after January 1, 2016.
■National tax related forms will be disclosed sequentially
National tax related forms are being revised to include fields for the Individual or Corporate Number
and will be disclosed as completed.
Forms for legal records are already posted on the website.
Some of the forms such as Certificate of income and tax withholding are currently being revised in line
with tax system revision in 2015 and are currently being coordinated with other related agencies.
Some application and notification forms are also posted on the National Tax Agency website.
Since the actual use of the new income tax forms will be from January 2017, forms with number fields
were originally scheduled for release in December 2015; however, they were already posted on June 2015.
These posted forms are tentative and are subject to change due to tax reform and other circumstances
until the notice of legal interpretation is issued.
■Individual Numbers must be provided in social security documents
Various social security-related documents and applications, such as written notice of acquisition of the
employment insurance, written notice of acquisition of health insurance and welfare pension insurance,
that employers are to submit to the administrative agencies must include Individual or Corporate Numbers
of the employed.
This means that the employers need to obtain the Individual Numbers from their employees.
Please make use of the specially set up page for social security and tax numbers on the Ministry of
Health, Labour and Welfare website that links to a page entitled “For business owners” that posts related
information.
■Start of time in which Individual Numbers will be required on social security-related forms will differ according
to the system
The starting dates for Individual Numbers required on social security-related forms are as follows:
・ As with tax forms, unemployment insurance documents will require provision of the number for forms
submitted on January 1, 2016 onward,
・ For health insurance and welfare pension insurance, Number is required from documents submitted on
January 1, 2017 onward because system reform of the Japan Pension Organization is scheduled. The period was
extended to reduce the burden on business owners. Business owners are asked to provide the Individual or
Corporate Number for the above documents. (Report of the new applications for health insurance /welfare
pension insurance will require Corporate Numbers from January 1, 2016)
In accordance with Article 18 of the Personal Information Protection Law, employers must notify or provide the
purpose of use when requesting their employees to provide their Individual Numbers.
When obtaining Individual Numbers directly from the written document submitted by employees, employers
must specify the purpose of use to the relevant employee.
Employers are encouraged to make standard procedures for obtaining Individual Numbers from their employees
more efficient by specify more than one purpose of use, such as for both unemployment insurance and health
insurance.
Employers are requested to report the Individual Numbers of existing employees and their dependents to the
Health Insurance Society sometime after January 2016. (Acquisition of Individual Numbers of existing employees for
the unemployment insurance is currently being reviewed, and detailed decision will be announced at a later date.)
■These are formats revised for unemployment insurance documents
Specific changes in documents being submitted by business owners in regards to the unemployment
insurance are as follows:
Individual Number fields will be added in the following documents to be submitted to Hello Work.
・Written notice of acquisition of the employment insurance qualification,
・Notification of loss of qualification, Notification of change of name,
・Confirmation and application for qualification to continuous payment for older worker,
・Confirmation and application for qualification for child care leave allowance, and
・Application for family care leave allowance
Make use of the page in the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare website with summary of Individual
Number information related to unemployment insurance.
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000087941.html
■These are formats revised for health insurance and welfare pension
Specific changes in documents being submitted by business owners in regards to health insurance and
welfare pension applications are as follows.
An Individual Number field will be added to the following documents to be submitted to the Japan
Pension Service and Health Insurance Society
・Notification of or loss of qualification for health insurance / welfare pension,
・Notification of or changes in the base amount for calculation of monthly compensation for health
insurance /welfare pension, and
・Notification of change in health insurance dependents / Notification of Insured Individual for National
Pension Category III
Individual Numbers are used to link information among administrative agents, which enables omission
of previously required resident registry and certificate of annual income to be submitted to the Japan
Pension Service and Health Insurance Society.