I lost my payment decision notice — can it be reissued?

As a rule the payment decision notice is needed to file for the refund: it states the amount paid and the tax withheld, so without it the refundable amount is hard to establish. Losing it, however, is not a reason to give up on the refund.

You can still apply

Even if the notice is lost, a reissue or an alternative document can be explored from information such as:

• your basic pension number
• when you received the pension payment

The exact route depends on your situation, so the way it works is: choose "I received it but lost it" on the application form, submit, and we guide you individually from there.

Originals are not needed at the start

For that matter, no document needs to be an original at the preliminary check stage — a photo or a scan is enough. Eligibility and the withheld amount are confirmed first, and only once you decide to proceed do you post the originals to the Tokyo office. That order exists so nobody spends money on international postage before knowing whether they are eligible.

If you have not even claimed yet

If the notice was never "lost" because the lump-sum was never claimed, that is a different situation: it falls under the separate two-year deadline after leaving Japan.

The exact documents and steps for a reissue can vary with your circumstances (enrolment history, when payment was made), which is why they are not set out uniformly here.