Record of 3 High-Dividend ETFs in New NISA: 37,160 Yen Per Year with 1.2 Million Yen, Staying Within Dependent Status with 0 Yen Tax
When I held 3 high-dividend ETFs in my New NISA worth 1.2 million yen in total, I received 37,160 yen in annual dividends. Not even 1 yen was deducted in taxes. If I had put the same amount of money in a regular savings account, it would have been 2,400 yen per year.
This article is for those who keep their part-time annual income under 1.23 million yen to remain as a dependent of their spouse. If you work full-time and are enrolled in social insurance, or if you don’t even have 100,000 yen to invest yet, you don’t need to read this.
October 2026 record.
【Record】
・2026/10/07 October settlement date for NEXT FUNDS Nikkei 225 High Dividend Yield Stock 50 (1489). Confirmed the October portion
・2026/10/27 22:10 Copied the dividends for 1 year for all 3 stocks into my household account book. Total 37,160 yen, withholding tax 0 yen
・2026/10/27 22:16 Calculated the case of putting the same 1.2 million yen into a regular savings account (assuming an interest rate of 0.2%). Annual 2,400 yen
I’ll tell you based on the account figures. In a savings account, it’s 2,400 yen per year. With 3 high-dividend ETFs, it’s 37,160 yen per year. The amount returning to the household budget has increased 15-fold.
These aren’t just my figures. If you think, “Dividends get heavily taxed, right?”, that can be set to 0 yen with a single account setting. Moreover, it doesn’t affect your dependent status. I will write about it step by step.
【What you will learn in this article】
1. Why choose high-dividend ETFs first in New NISA
2. A record of losing 20% of dividends due to a setting error
3. The relationship between dependent status and dividends that securities companies don’t tell you
4. Quick reference table for the number of units and dividends of the 3 stocks
5. 7 steps to fix the receipt method and a calculation template
6. My buying-down line and the diversification of dividend months
7. Looking back at the numbers: how much do you need for a dividend-based lifestyle?
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📈 Why choose high-dividend ETFs first in New NISA
I’ll write the answer first. For a housewife’s account, high-dividend ETFs come before individual stocks. There are only 3 reasons.
・You can diversify into dozens of companies with just one. The household budget won’t be shaken by a dividend cut at one company
・You can buy from tens of thousands of yen. You can add to it with the remainder of your monthly part-time salary
・The dividend months are fixed. You can write the “months of receipt” in your household account book in advance
I realized this when I looked back at my 2023 household account book. At the time, I held 5 individual high-dividend stocks. One of them cut its dividend, and my annual dividends decreased by 4,000 yen. I got scared and kept buying and selling. All that remained was the fees and mental fatigue.
In 2024 the New NISA started, and I switched to 3 ETFs.
・NEXT FUNDS Nikkei 225 High Dividend Yield Stock 50 (1489): 50 domestic high-dividend companies
・iShares MSCI Japan High Dividend Yield (1478): Domestic large-cap high-dividend stocks
・Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (VYM): Over 500 US high-dividend companies
━━ Before / After ━━
・When I had 5 individual stocks: Dividends were 21,000 yen per year, from which about 4,200 yen
was taxed・Now with 3 ETFs: Distributions are 37,160 yen per year, and tax is 0 yen
More significant than the numbers was the peace of mind. I stopped worrying about the announcements of individual companies. The number of times I opened my stock app before bed dropped to almost zero.
Starting this year, Chi-chan has been working as a part-time nursery teacher at a daycare in Kichijoji three days a week. Her annual income is expected to be 1.18 million yen. Last week, she asked me in a small voice, “Does receiving dividends in the New NISA mean I’ll be removed from dependent status?”
……I won’t laugh at that concern. After all, she’s working hard to keep her income within the limit, so it would be pointless if she were removed from dependency due to investments. That’s why I’m writing this record.
💡 One action you can take today: Open your brokerage account and check the “remaining amount for this year” in your New NISA growth investment quota. That is your limit for this year.
But you know, before I held these 3, I once suffered a pointless loss due to a single setting.
⚠️ Record of losing 20% of distributions due to a setting error
February 2024. When I first bought 1489 in the New NISA, I didn’t look at the “receipt method” screen. I assumed that if I bought it in NISA, there would be no tax. I was convinced of that.
【Record】
・April 2024: 1489 distribution, 4,200 yen scheduled, but 3,347 yen
was deposited・Difference: 853 yen. 20.315%
withholding tax
・Cause: Dividend receipt method was still set to “Registered Dividend Receipt Account Method”・Can it be recovered via tax return? → No. NISA tax exemption cannot be applied retroactively
853 yen 853 yen in one go. You might think it’s not a significant amount. But it was the same in July and October. By the time I realized it, a total of 2,559 yen had vanished.
When I saw the numbers, I couldn’t speak for a while. A former trader, defeated by an account setting.
There is only one condition for making distributions from domestic ETFs and stocks tax-free in NISA: you must set the receipt method to “Proportional Distribution of Shares Method.” If you leave it as the method for receiving in a bank account, tax will be deducted even if you bought it in NISA. And there is no way to get it back by filing a return later.
The market isn’t kind, but it is fair. The side that doesn’t know the rules pays the price.
⚠️ One action you can take today: In your brokerage account’s “Customer Information,” look at just the one line for the dividend receipt method. If it’s anything other than “Proportional Distribution of Shares Method,” fix it today.
So, what about the dependent status? This is something you can’t even ask about at a brokerage counter.
🏦 The relationship between dependency and distributions that brokerages won’t tell you
When I was at a desk, I heard this many times from colleagues in the retail department. Even if asked at the counter, “Will this affect my dependent status?”, they don’t answer. They can’t. Individual tax consultation is the job of a tax accountant, and if a brokerage does it, it violates the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act.
That’s why the explanations are always minimal everywhere. The boundary itself is actually simple.
・New NISA dividends and capital gains → Tax-free and not included in total income
・Dividends in a “withholding tax” specific account that are not declared → Not included in total income
・Dividends that are declared on a tax return → Included in total income
2025 tax reform has shifted the tax walls. The spousal deduction threshold for salary income is now 1.23 million yen. If the husband’s income is 9 million yen or less, the threshold for keeping the full 380,000 yen husband’s deduction is now 1.6 million yen.
On the other hand, there are walls that have not moved. The 1.3 million yen limit for health insurance dependency and company family allowances. Moreover, some health insurance associations state in their bylaws that dividends are also counted as “income.” Some associations do not care whether it is NISA or not. Even if you are fine with taxes, you may still get caught by social insurance.
I will share one piece of information that I originally intended to make paid content. US ETFs are taxed 10% in the US, even within a NISA. And this 10% cannot be recovered in Japan. While you can recover some of it in a specific account via the “foreign tax credit,” there is no such path with a NISA. That is why I have kept my US VYM holdings the smallest among the three. I have arranged for the majority of my dividends to come from the two domestic ones.
※This article is a sharing of the author’s personal trading records and market views, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell specific stocks, nor is it investment advice. Please make investment decisions at your own risk.
💎 What you get in the rest of this (paid part)
✅ A quick reference table listing the investment amounts, number of shares, dividend months, and annual dividends for the 3 stocks
✅ 7 steps to verify your receipt method and dependency thresholds
✅ A “total income” calculation template where you just enter the numbers from your pay stub
✅ My buying-down lines and a plan to spread dividend months across 12 months
Let me ask you one thing. How much can you put into your New NISA per month? 10,000 yen or 30,000 yen is fine. Let me know in the comments. I will add portfolio structures for each amount in the next update.
From here on, I will show all the actual figures for the 3 stocks and the procedures for settings to protect your dependent status. The way to return 37,160 yen per year to your household budget while keeping taxes at zero is ahead.
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This record is subject to changes in the NISA system and the dividend policies of each ETF. If there are any changes, I will update this article, and purchasers will be able to read the latest version at no additional cost. Last updated: October 29, 2026