The Japanese government will give 300,000 yen to households whose incomes fall to levels matching those at low-income families due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, informed sources said Monday.

The cash benefits will be given to households led by those whose incomes in February and later fall to levels equivalent to those at families exempt from residential taxes on an annualized basis.

Also eligible will be households led by those whose monthly incomes drop by 50 percent or more to levels twice those of households exempt from residential taxes or lower, the sources said.

The government will start handing out the cash benefits as early as May.

Applications will be accepted at local government offices and online. Documents verifying income drops, such as pay statements, will be necessary.

In Tokyo's 23 special wards, a single-member household of a corporate employee with an annual income of one million yen or less is exempt from residential taxes. The threshold stands at 2.25 million yen for a household consisting of a corporate employee, a full-time homemaker and two children.

The cash handout program will be included in an emergency stimulus package that the government is expected to adopt Tuesday to shield the economy from the virus' impact.

The government estimates that the cash benefits will be paid to 13 million households. It plans to earmark 3.9 trillion yen in a supplementary budget for fiscal 2020, which started Wednesday, to finance the program.

JIJI Press