High-School Dependent Deduction: 380,000 Yen to Reiwa 10

The short answer: 380,000 yen and 330,000 yen stay in place through fiscal Reiwa 10 resident tax

A child of high-school age (16 or over and under 19 as of 31 December of that year) is an ordinary qualifying dependent relative. The deduction is 380,000 yen for income tax and 330,000 yen for individual resident tax[NTA No.1180][MIC]. Here is what has been locked in.

Source: a notice from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) dated 21 January 2026[MIC]. Citing the ruling parties' outline, it states in writing that income tax for Reiwa 9 and individual resident tax for fiscal Reiwa 10 are kept as they are.

The National Tax Agency also still lists 380,000 yen as the law in force as of 1 April 2026[NTA No.1180]. The scheme as a whole is set out in the complete guide to the dependent deduction.

The 250,000 yen plan stopped at "aims to" and has been postponed twice

It has never become law. Here are the three outlines.

1. The Reiwa 6 tax reform outline (December 2023). It said the government "aims to" replace the ordinary portion for ages 16 to 18 (380,000 yen national, 330,000 yen local) with a restored top-up portion (250,000 yen national, 120,000 yen local). It came with the proviso that the timing would be settled in the Reiwa 7 reform[MOF, Reiwa 6 outline].
2. The Reiwa 7 tax reform (first postponement). It concluded that income tax for Reiwa 8 and individual resident tax for fiscal Reiwa 9 would be kept as they are, and that the review would be taken up from Reiwa 8 onward. The result can be checked in the law as it stands[NTA No.1180].
3. The Reiwa 8 tax reform (second postponement). The outline approved by the Cabinet on 26 December 2025 contains no cut to the dependent deduction[MOF, Reiwa 8 outline]. On the items-for-further-consideration side, the maintenance of Reiwa 9 and fiscal Reiwa 10 is stated in writing[MIC].

"250,000 yen and 120,000 yen" are not new numbers. When high school was made effectively free in 2010, the top-up attached to ages 16 to under 19 (120,000 yen of resident tax) was actually abolished[MIC, Heisei 22 reform]. The high-school-age bracket has already been cut once. The current plan swaps that lost top-up back in while taking the main deduction apart.

The form changes for Reiwa 8, but the reason is university-age children

This is a year in which it is easy to assume that the deduction must have been cut because the form changed. The change to the form is real, but the cause lies elsewhere[NTA, Reiwa 8 withholding for salaries].

• What you enter on the dependent exemption form moved from "qualifying dependent relatives" to "relatives subject to withholding deduction" (源泉控除対象親族)
• The reason is the creation of the Special Deduction for Specified Relatives (特定親族特別控除). It covers relatives aged 19 or over and under 23 with total income over 580,000 yen and up to 1 million yen, that is, university-age children
• The headcount of dependent relatives is now also calculated from the number of relatives subject to withholding deduction
• A high-school-age child is still entered as a qualifying dependent relative, as before. The deduction is still 380,000 yen
• A child under 16 is still entered in the "matters concerning resident tax" box (the headcount is used in the exemption test)

The change to the form has nothing to do with the dependent deduction for high-school students. Only the name of the box changed.

If it were cut to 250,000 yen, the extra tax would be 27,600 yen to 64,800 yen a year

The deduction would fall by 130,000 yen for income tax and 210,000 yen for resident tax. How much more you pay is set by your marginal income tax rate.

Our own calculation. Income tax is 130,000 yen x the rate x 1.021 (including the Special Income Tax for Reconstruction); resident tax is 210,000 yen x 10% (the standard rate)[MIC]. The cut has not been implemented, so these are hypothetical figures.

Rough figures by salary. They move with the basic deduction and social insurance premiums.

• Salary of 4 million yen (rate 5%) ... about 27,600 yen
• Salary of 6 million yen (rate 10%) ... about 34,300 yen
• Salary of 8 million and 10 million yen (rate 20%) ... about 47,500 yen

The Child Allowance (児童手当) pays 10,000 yen a month, or 120,000 yen a year, for the high-school-age bracket[Children and Families Agency]. Amounts and payment dates are in how much the Child Allowance is and when it arrives. Even if the cut happened, the allowance would still be larger than the extra tax. At the top rate of 45% the increase is about 81,000 yen.

The groundwork for the cut is already laid: the mortgage tax credit and the life insurance premium deduction

If the allowance is bigger, why does the debate keep going? Because the aim is not the net arithmetic. It is a shift of support away from deductions and towards benefits.

The Reiwa 8 items for further consideration include a line about expanding other measures "in advance" in light of the review of the dependent deduction[MIC]. The two named are the mortgage tax credit and the life insurance premium deduction. Two things did move in the Reiwa 8 reform[MOF, Reiwa 8 outline].

• A person with a dependent relative under 19 was added as an eligible individual under the special borrowing limits of the mortgage tax credit (guide to the mortgage tax credit)
• The special rule on the life insurance premium deduction for a household with a dependent relative under 23 had its expiry date extended

Give first, take later. That is how the order reads.

The other tailwind is free high school. The same items for further consideration say the review will also keep in mind "the removal of the income limit on free high school and similar steps". The income limit on the tuition support fund was removed in April 2026[MEXT].

Good news for household budgets, but a headwind for the dependent deduction. The objection that cutting the deduction would push some households out of the free-tuition scheme has disappeared along with the limit itself.

High-school-age children have no safety net like the one for university-age children

A pitfall that bites sooner than any cut is the child's part-time earnings. Ages 19 to 22 and ages 16 to 18 break in different ways.

Losing 380,000 yen of deduction costs a household at the 10% rate about 60,000 yen a year. That is close to double the proposed cut (34,273 yen). Before your child takes on extra shifts at the end of the year, always check the expected total pay.

The cut would bite at prefectural counters, not national ones

If the cut happened, where would it land besides the tax bill? Split it by whether there is an effect at all.

Unaffected are the schemes decided by the number of dependent relatives. The resident tax exemption test turns on headcount and income, so a smaller deduction does not move the threshold[MIC]. National Health Insurance is the same. Its income-based portion subtracts only the basic deduction, so the dependent deduction is irrelevant.

The problem is schemes that test income on the taxable standard amount. Tuition support for private high schools was tested, through fiscal Reiwa 7, on "municipal resident tax taxable standard amount x 6% minus the adjustment deduction"[MEXT]. The national tuition support fund has lost its income limit, so that formula is no longer used there.

Prefectural top-ups are another matter. MEXT itself warns that each prefecture's own support has its own requirements[MEXT]. Some prefectures keep the same formula and the same income limit in fiscal Reiwa 8.

• Prefectures that keep an income limit include Kyoto, Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba and Fukuoka
• A deduction 130,000 yen smaller raises the test figure by 130,000 yen x 6% = 7,800 yen (our own calculation)
• A household on the borderline stays in nationally but drops out of the prefectural top-up

Top-up amounts and requirements are set out in the prefectural top-ups. The prefectures named were checked by us against each prefecture's official guidance as of September 2026.

Frequently asked questions (the dependent deduction for high-school students)

Summary

• The dependent deduction for high schoolers stays at ¥380,000 for income tax and ¥330,000 for resident tax; this is set to continue through income tax for Reiwa 9 (2027) and resident tax for Reiwa 10 (2028).
• A proposal to cut the deduction to ¥250,000 has been postponed twice, but discussion continues. If cut, the tax increase would be ¥27,600 to ¥64,800 a year.
• The Reiwa 8 (2026) return form is being revised because of the new special deduction for college-age dependents; the format and amount for high schoolers are unchanged.
• If a high-school child's part-time earnings exceed ¥1.36 million in wages, the full ¥380,000 deduction disappears at once.
• A cut would affect prefectural top-up subsidies for private high schools: the income threshold used for eligibility rises by ¥7,800, which could push borderline households out.

Reference links (sources)

• National Tax Agency, No.1180 Dependent deduction - the 380,000 yen left in place, the age test, the income requirement
• MIC, Points to note on the Reiwa 8 local tax reform - maintenance for Reiwa 9 and fiscal Reiwa 10
• Ministry of Finance, Reiwa 6 tax reform outline - the original text that "aims to" restore 250,000 yen and 120,000 yen
• Ministry of Finance, Reiwa 8 tax reform outline - the advance expansion of the mortgage tax credit and the life insurance premium deduction
• MIC, Heisei 22 tax reform - the abolition of the 120,000 yen top-up
• MIC, Individual resident tax - the 330,000 yen dependent deduction, the standard rate
• National Tax Agency, Reiwa 8 withholding for salaries - relatives subject to withholding deduction
• MEXT, Reiwa 8 briefing material on the tuition support fund - the removal of the income limit
• MEXT, Reiwa 7 edition, Supporting high-school learning - the income test formula
• Children and Families Agency, Guide to the Child Allowance - 10,000 yen a month

Note: the extra tax figures are hypothetical calculations in which we applied the deduction amounts and tax rates ourselves. The cut has not become law.