The betterment levy, known in Israel as hetel hashbacha, is one of the only taxes that may actually make you feel quite lucky. This tax is levied when a municipal planning decision significantly increases the value of your property. However, before you rush to pay it, there are a few important things to understand: How...

A series of tax amendments introduced this month by the Minister of Finance seeks to “release” tens of thousands of apartments from owners who do not live in Israel, by abolishing tax benefits worth hundreds of thousands of shekels. Another amendment is expected to significantly reduce the purchase tax on medium value apartments, and increase...

A new bill seeks to cease linking the entire purchase price of a new apartment to the Construction Price Index.  Until now, this linkage had the potential to increase the amount that buyers of new homes have to pay by tens of thousands of shekels. Instead, the government has proposed that only construction costs, which...

In a concerted effort to bring down prices in the residential real estate market, the Israeli Government implemented a number of reforms in the last few years in the regulations connected to real estate transaction taxes (purchase tax and capital gains tax in Israel). While most professionals in the field would agree that the reforms...

With the operation of a Shabbat control mode, an elevator will stop automatically on a certain floor and its doors will open, hence allowing users to step in and out without having to press any buttons. Otherwise it would be prohibited to use an elevator on Shabbat because pressing the button to operate the elevator closes a circuit, which violates the prohibition of building on Shabbat, which is considered a form of labor.

The Israel Tax Authority issued a memorandum last week that includes a series of amendments to the real estate tax laws, whose stated goal is to increase the supply of apartments by various means. Among the measures proposed, are those taxes applied to buyers and sellers who do not live in Israel, in the hope...

Every year, during the month of January, Israel Tax Authority publishes new thresholds for Mas Rechisha (Purchase Tax in Israel) according to the Central Bureau of Statistics Home Prices Index for the previous year. The Mas Rechisha or Purchase Tax 2022 thresholds are updated annually, in mid-January, with consideration for the Home Prices Index of...

As a result of the ongoing housing crisis and a sharp rise in real estate prices in Israel this year, the Purchase Tax rates for investors (second-home buyers) including foreign residents have been increased. The hope is that purchases made by investors will slow down and make it somewhat easier for homebuyers in Israel to...

In order to incentivize municipalities to increase residential construction, the government recently issued a bill to raise the property tax (arnona) levied by local authorities on residential areas by 2% annually over the course of ten years. The current residential property tax averages at NIS 49 per square meter – an amount that does not...

Your real estate asset in Israel may be recorded to be of varying sizes, depending on the assessment institution and the method they might choose to apply. The size of a particular apartment may be different in the building construction permit, the owners’ land registration in “Tabu” (Israeli Land Registry), and the local municipality’s data...