Dependent wife welfare and pension payment

[kingbean]

Hi everybody,

I have gotten some conflicting information recently and I'm wondering if someone in similar situation cant clarify.

I'm the main bread maker in our house and my wife having 0 income is under my welfare and pension. In recent
years we decided to invest in property and made a godougaisha in my wifes name as sachou. Now I heard that
people with certain low income (about under 1.2 mil a year) can still be dependent and do not need to pay their
welfare or pension. So to help optimizing tax we wanted to give my wife a salary from the company which is below
this threshold. Few months later the public office sent us a letter that she cannot be dependent anymore and needs
to pay her own welfare and pension even if she gets 1en salary per year. I upload the table, where it shows how much
the payments would be as its ridiculously high (considering that both her and the company would pay). Nobody would
employ this low salary people under these terms no?

I have a good Japanese friend who says that its a nonsense and the workers are just incompetent in what they say,
which wouldn't surprise me from my previous interactions with public servants here in Japan. It also somehow doesn't
compute with this dependent small income allowance.

Now I'm not really sure what to do, as ignoring what they say might (in my mind) end up by paying some fine or her
not getting any pension etc.

I was wondering if someone here might have a similar experience or if I should consult some type of lawyer/advisor
on this.

Thanks a lot

[RetireJapan]

My understanding is that once you incorporate employees need to be enrolled in shakai hoken.

[kingbean]

Thanks for the input. In our case, we do not have employees and she'd get the money as
a boss, which apparently is different in the accounting since you can change that only
once a year within certain period and can start only from the beginning of tax period.
So I was hoping that is the difference.

In any case I then do not understand how does the small income for dependents should
work. If she work for any other company, she'd have to do the same no?

[RetireJapan]

One of the people that work at my wife's business also has a KK company on the side with no employees. She has to enrol in shakai hoken because of that through her company. Sounds similar.

[beanhead]

In any case I then do not understand how does the small income for dependents should
work. If she work for any other company, she'd have to do the same no?

Dependents who are company employees (usually part-time workers) and earn less than the cap can, as you may know, not pay their own shakai hoken but still receive the health insurance benefits and kokumin nenkin payments when the spouse is paying.

I think the key is that your wife is not an employee. She is the director of the company, which has been incorporated. As RJ notes, incorporated companies should join shakai hoken and make contributions for any directors and employees.
That seems to be what has tripped you up. It is not possible to be a dependent for shakai hoken purposes if one is a company director.