Just a friendly reminder about the negative income tax for 2013. **October UPDATE: the deadline has been extended to December 26, 2014**
All the information is available in Hebrew on the official income tax website, but I'll summarize it in English for you.
This is basically a tax refund for working families. There are various qualifications to meet - basically someone who works and is age 23+ with children under the age of 18, or age 55+, even without children. This program is open to people who earned, on average, no less than 2050 shekels per month and no more than 6109 shekels per month for families with one or two children, and no more than 6717 shekels per month for families with 3 children and up.
The deadline to file based upon your 2013 earnings is September 30, 2014 It's easy. Just go into the post office (not all post offices do all tasks, please verify which branch to use), with your Teudat Zehut and your bank account information (take a check, everything they need is on there, or get a letter from your bank, the banker will have a form to fill out and stamp if you don't have a check. Just knowing your account # and branch # isn't enough, it needs to be "official".). Let the clerk know that you want to apply for "mas shleelee". Answer a few questions, and then go home. Your approval may take a few weeks, and you'll be given instructions for checking the status online.
Even if some months you earned more, if you were unemployed or under-employed for part of the time, you may qualify. In some cases, people who are (legally) self-employed qualify as well... If you were employed by a relative, you are not allowed to claim this benefit. If you have questions about this program, please call the tax authority at *4954. Check it out and see if you qualify! Some people will get a nice big "refund" and others will just get a token amount. Still many others will not qualify, because they are decently employed.
B'hatzlacha.
Please share this information with all of your English speaking friends, so those who qualify won't miss out.
And if you find me on Facebook, you'll be sure to stay up to date!
Thanks for this Ester. I do it every year and get about 5,000 nis returned - definitely worth it. That is almost an extra month's salary for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it is helpful to you!
DeleteI also thank you; got a "refund" (in two installments) in recent months for 2012.
DeleteNow if only the memshala could make it even easier and allow us to file online...
Thanks for this, Ester. I read on the myparnassa blog post about this (which links to your blog, btw) that "Sadly, it’s not as good for self-employed people. Instead of getting cash, your grant will be deducted from future tax payments."
ReplyDeleteThis is great to know. Not sure if it will apply since we earned nothing in Israel last year and plan to be self-employed in future. But we'll try it next year anyway (since my husband spent most of 2014 in ulpan, too) and see how it works out.
ReplyDelete