Tax, VAT and Customs Offices in Jerusalem

When one makes Aliyah, it is nice to find those who will help you out by doing certain bureaucratic tasks for you. However, as much as no-one likes bureaucracy or to have to spend time waiting in long queues, it is in your best interest to familiarize yourself with where certain key offices are. I highly recommend taking off a morning, take with you something to nosh on, something to drink and something to read or, Tehillim to recite. 

For those living in or around Jerusalem, head off to 66 Kanfei Nesharim Street, Givat Shaul. There are several buses that go there. The offices are open from 8 or 8.30 in the morning to 1.30 in the afternoon.

In this building you will find the Tax Offices, VAT and Customs Offices. Spend some time getting to know why you would need each of them, where the necessary forms are, what you need to take with you when you need any of these offices and any other quesitons you might have.

If you are considering working indpendently, take with all your questions and plenty of time to go from floor to floor, office to office, until you have gathered all the information you require.

A word of warning, even if you are hiring an accountant to do your books and fill in your yearly tax or VAT report, make sure you know where these offices are and find out the laws yourself. 

Once you have found out all you can about these office, the next step is to find out all you can about Bituach Leumi. This we will cover in another post.

Never presume that if you hire a professional that all your accounting needs will be taken care of. You dont' want to land up in the situation where you suddenly find your accountant did not do something crucial, you did not pick it up as you were ignorant of Israeli accounting, Taxes etc and were daunted by all bureaucratic offices. It is better to be prepared, so early in your Aliya, before the need arises, take the time to get to know these offices and any necessary procedures. Information, familiarity and knowledge is invaluable and can save you unnecessary "Tzorres" later on.

Tax in Hebrew is MasHachnasa or מס, VAT is מע"ם and Customs is Meches מכס