Parents of disabled children in Israel who seek to exercise their rights to tax benefits will henceforth have to overcome fewer bureaucratic hurdles. The Israel Tax Authority has simplified the process of obtaining tax credit points for parents of disabled children under section 45 of the Income Tax Ordinance. Parents who receive a disabled child allowance from National Insurance will no longer need to attach a medical certificate to their application to the Tax Authority, and it will be possible to obtain the tax credit points directly from employers, without having to visit an Income Tax Office. The new regulations affect thousands of parents, who will be able to obtain tax benefits with fewer bureaucratic entanglements and less effort.
Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon has signed an amendment to Income Tax regulations bringing the relaxations into force.
Under the Income Tax Ordinance, a parent of a child who is paralyzed, blind, or intellectually or developmentally impaired, is entitled to two credit points. Up to now, in order to receive these points, parents had to go to an Income Tax Office, complete an application form for tax credits for a disabled child, and attach a medical certificate signed by a medical practitioner specializing in the field of the child's disability, which meant that the parents had to apply to the relevant doctor every few months or years, depending on the doctor's finding.
Teams set up by the Tax Authority to examine take-up of tax benefits and improvement of taxation services recommended simplifying the procedure and replacing the requirement for a medical certificate with proof of receipt of a disabled child allowance from National Insurance, and saving parents having to visit Income Tax Offices by enabling employers to give parents the tax credit points on presentation of the confirmation from National Insurance and a declaration that only one parent is claiming the points and that the child has no income in the tax year concerned.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 19, 2017
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