Free Help Filing Israeli Taxes/Tax Refund Requests for Tax Year 2022!

Every year, many of us have to file a yearly tax report with the Israel Tax Authority.

Many, many people pay an accountant to handle this report, but did you know that in some cases you can also get FREE help?

Here's the deal:

The Israel Tax Authority runs Free Clinics for filing yearly tax reports: this year, assistance is available for Atzmaim (freelancers/self employed people) with income up to 60,000 NIS using Form 137, people who need to file a tax report using Form 1301, and employed individuals requested a refund using Form 135.

Find this help HERE:

Regional Tax Offices will operate these services between May 7, 2023 and June 29, 2023, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 1pm - 6:00pm. Some offices may be closed on certain days of the week. I recommend calling before you go to verify they are open!

In Eilat, the service will be available only on Mondays and Wednesdays.

In Um Al Fahem, the service is only available on Sundays. 

In Ashdod and Rishon Letzion the clinic is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-6pm.

NOTE: These clinics are ONLY for getting help filing your yearly tax report or a request for a refund for employed people (only forms 1301, 137, and 135).

Bring ALL your relevant paperwork with you so you can get the most accurate assistance.

Good luck!

Follow me on Facebook for more tips and info!

 

Best Shopping Find of the Month?

You all know that I'm a price sensitive shopper.

 And I'm definitely not opposed to stocking up if I find a great price on something we'll use.

You might feel the same, right?

So I thought I'd share what may be the best find of my month so far:

Yes, you read that right!

8 bottles of Carmel Selected Moscato wine (full-size bottles!) for just under 100 NIS! That includes the deposit (pikadon). Usually, we see this priced much higher - about 4/100 NIS.

This sale seems to have been available for a limited time on Rami Levy Online. I  guess I lucked out and was on their website when it went live, noticed it, and added them to my grocery order. It's since gone back up to about 25/bottle, but I wonder if they'll drop the price again soon!

And I checked the receipt when my order arrived, and I was, indeed, charged only 12.40 per bottle. So now we're good for our kiddush wine for a while! Maybe I should have ordered 12? I don't know - I didn't want to press my luck, so I went for 8.

I find that I can keep my grocery bill lower by placing an online order about once a month, and buying most of my fresh fruits and vegetables and other perishables at other stores I can easily get to. So it's very likely that had I not found this wine sale, I may have opted out of placing an online order this week and just waited until another time when I found a compelling sale.

Have you found any great deals?

What's your take on online shopping?

Updated Recipe: Vegetarian Chopped Liver

This post contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, always at no additional cost to you!

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I'm posting an updated NUT-FREE version of this recipe, because I no longer make it the way it appeared on this blog back in 2014, due to a nut allergy.

I've been making variations of this recipe for years, and it's been a big hit with family and guests.

It IS vegetarian, so I'm sure it does not taste like REAL chopped liver, but I haven't eaten chopped liver in over 3 decades, so what do I know? It's our favorite vegetarian version, though.

I hope you'll try it out and let me know what you think!

Vegetarian Chopped Liver

1 cup water
1/2 bag frozen green beans (about 400g)
1/2 bag frozen peas (also about 400g)
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
oregano
1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Place green beans, peas, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 min.

(watch to be sure you don't boil out the water, add water if needed)

Set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil in a medium size frying pan (I usually use my cast iron pan) and saute onions and garlic with oregano flakes, until caramelized and very fragrant.

Combine peas, green beans, some of the cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, sunflower seeds, salt, and pepper in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse to puree. Add more cooking water or regular water if needed.

(If you don't have a food processor, you might want to consider getting a light duty one for the times you want to make recipes like this! Here's one to take a look at that ships from within Israel (link updated 31.1.2024 so it's valid again!).)

Transfer to a container and refrigerate before serving. Serve with cherry tomatoes, pickles, olives, and crackers!

I'd love to hear what you think of this recipe!

Pesach Brownies - Repost with updates

This post contains affiliate links. So if you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, 

but never at any additional cost to you. Thanks for your support!

What is Pesach without brownies?

I first posted this recipe for Pesach 2020. We thought it was awesome then, but this year, I modified it and made it even more amazing!

I hope you like it as much as my family and extended family does!

Pesach Brownies 

(gluten free, non-gebrokts, pareve)

4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp pesach vanilla (optional)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup potato starch
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 bag of chocolate chips

Optional: chocolate frosting (I used the entire (small) jar of pareve chocolate spread)

Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. In a second bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and add the wet mix. Mix well with a wooden spoon. If you want to use one bowl, you can, but you'll probably find this needs to be mixed with an electric mixer, rather than a wooden spoon.

Pour into a large pan (I used a lasagna size pan or even bigger. It worked perfectly in the largest baking pan from the new set I bought for this Pesach!), sprinkle chocolate chips all over the top of the batter, and bake at 180 C for about 25 min (160 C if using the convection setting). I've also baked these in my "Shabbat mode" oven on 140 C (the highest I can leave it on Shabbat mode. I know, that's very strange, but that is what it is) for about 35 or 40 minutes, and it was perfect. But not everyone leaves the baking for the chag, so if you're baking on a weekday, go ahead and bake it according to these directions.

Allow to cool before frosting. Cut. Serve.

YUM. Chocolate craving solved. And with the roller coaster ride we've been on here in Israel, I'm guessing I'm not the only one craving a chocolate fix.