Registering an Amuta (Nonprofit Association) in Israel: A Complete Guide for Foreign Organizations

Diaspora federations, foreign NGOs, congregations and family foundations that want to run programs in Israel usually end up with an amuta. It has legal personality: it can open a bank account, employ staff, sign leases and receive donations in its own name. It has no shareholders, and its income and assets can never be distributed to members.

Most foreign organizations find registration easy. The work comes afterwards, when the bank opens the account, the Tax Authority grants or refuses tax status, and the annual reports start falling due. This guide follows that order. The figures below are the 2026 amounts, which are indexed every January.

1. What an Amuta Is, and When It Is the Wrong Choice

An amuta is a corporation formed under the Associations Law to pursue a lawful purpose that is not profit distribution. Its constitution is its bylaws (takanon, תקנון), which under section 9 of the law bind the association and its members like a contract. If you file no bylaws of your own, the model bylaws (takanon matzui) in the First Schedule to the law apply automatically (section 10).

The amuta is a good fit for charitable, educational, religious, cultural and community work run in Israel. It may be the wrong choice in three situations:

• If the organization mainly wants a commercial arm, an ordinary company or a public benefit company (chevra le-to'elet ha-tzibur, a nonprofit company under the Companies Law) may suit better. See our guide to forming a company in Israel.
• If you only need a local office of the foreign body, with no separate Israeli entity, registering the foreign organization itself may be simpler. See opening a foreign company branch in Israel.
• If the goal is only to let US donors give tax-efficiently to Israeli causes, the main structure sits in the US (see section 6), and the Israeli amuta is the recipient, not the vehicle.

2. Who Can Found an Amuta

Section 1 of the Associations Law allows two or more adults to form an amuta. Many guides say seven founders are required. For registration, that is wrong. The number seven comes from the tax definition of a "public institution" in section 9(2) of the Income Tax Ordinance, which requires at least seven members, most of whom are not relatives of each other. You can register with two founders. If you plan to apply for public-institution tax status, you will need seven unrelated members by then (see section 5).

For foreign organizations, the main points are these:

• The law has no nationality or residency requirement for founders. Foreign citizens living abroad can be founders.
• The law speaks of founders as individuals. A foreign organization usually takes part through individuals it nominates, and can be admitted as a member afterwards. Under section 33, a corporation cannot itself sit on the board, but a representative of a corporate member can.
• The application gives each founder's name, address and identity number, and each founder signs a declaration agreeing to found the association and serve on its first board. The Registrar verifies identity online or through a lawyer. Founders abroad should plan on having a lawyer confirm their identity and signatures, and should check with that lawyer what the Registrar currently accepts for foreign passports.
• The association must have an address in Israel (section 2). A board member's home or the office of the association's Israeli lawyer is common. Official mail from the Registrar and the Tax Authority goes there.

3. Registration Step by Step

1. Check the name. Section 4 bars names that are misleading, offensive to public policy or public sentiment, or identical or confusingly similar to an existing corporation's name. Search the Registrar's database before you draft anything.
2. Write the objectives carefully. They define what the amuta may do and, later, what the Tax Authority will treat as its public purpose. Section 3 bars registration where an objective denies the existence of the State of Israel or its democratic character, or could serve as cover for illegal activity. Vague objectives ("to promote welfare") invite questions; concrete ones ("to run after-school tutoring for children in the Negev") rarely do.
3. Decide on bylaws. You can adopt the model bylaws or draft your own. Foreign organizations often want their own bylaws, to control who can become a member and to protect the founding body's influence over the board. Membership rules are where control is won or lost.
4. File online. The application goes to the Registrar of Associations at the Israeli Corporations Authority (Rashut ha-Ta'agidim) through its online service. It includes the name, objectives, Israeli and digital addresses, founders' details and declarations, and the bylaws.
5. Pay the fee. The registration fee is NIS 893 from 1 January 2026 under the Associations (Fees) Regulations, 5758-1998, plus the separate fee for publication in the official gazette (Reshumot).
6. Receive the certificate and number. The registration certificate carries the association number (mispar amuta, beginning 58), which goes on contracts, receipts and bank documents.
7. Register with the Tax Authority. Open a file for income tax and withholding, and register for VAT as a nonprofit (malkar, מלכ"ר) on Form 24, which is free. If the amuta will employ staff, register as an employer with the National Insurance Institute too.

4. Mandatory Governance

Section 19 of the law requires three organs. These rules apply whatever your bylaws say.

• General assembly (asefa klalit) of all members, meeting at least once a year (section 20). It approves the financial statements and elects the board and the audit committee.
• Board (va'ad), which runs the association. The model bylaws set a minimum of two members. Section 33 bars non-members, people paid for services to the association, minors, people declared legally incapacitated or bankrupt, and some people with criminal convictions from serving.
• Audit committee (va'adat bikoret), which checks the board. No one can sit on both (section 32). Instead of a committee, the general assembly can appoint a CPA or a body approved by the Registrar to do this job (section 19(b)).

Two thresholds depend on annual turnover. Above NIS 1,380,630 (the 2026 figure), the amuta must appoint a CPA to audit its accounts (section 19(c)). Above NIS 10 million it must also have an internal auditor (section 30A).

The law does not require board members to live in Israel. In practice, an amuta whose board is entirely abroad struggles with banks, payroll and annual filings. Most foreign-linked associations put at least one reliable person in Israel on the board, and keep the founding organization's control through the membership and bylaws rather than through day-to-day signatures.

5. Tax Status: Three Separate Approvals

A newly registered amuta pays tax like any other body until it obtains the approvals below. Foreign organizations often confuse them.

Public institution under section 9(2) of the Income Tax Ordinance. This exempts the institution's income from income tax, other than business income. The tax definition requires at least seven members, most of them unrelated, and a public purpose such as religion, culture, education, science, health, welfare or sport. You apply to the Tax Authority with the bylaws, financial statements and a description of the activity.

Section 46 approval for donations. This lets Israeli taxpayers who donate get a tax credit. In 2026, individuals receive a credit of 35% of donations above NIS 207 a year, up to 30% of their taxable income. The Tax Authority usually considers a section 46 application only after the association has some operating history, and it expects a certificate of proper management (see section 7). Approvals are time-limited and must be renewed. From 2026 donations must be reported through the Tax Authority's digital receipt system for the donor to get the credit. Our guide to the Section 46 donation credit explains the donor side.

VAT as a nonprofit. A malkar does not charge VAT on its ordinary activity and cannot reclaim VAT on its purchases. Instead it pays a payroll levy. Activity that looks like a business can be reclassified, so commercial income (a café, paid courses, hall rental) should be reviewed with an accountant before it starts.

6. Banking, Foreign Funding and Foreign Donors

Bank accounts. Israeli banks open accounts for amutot under the Bank of Israel's Proper Conduct of Banking Business Directive 411 on anti-money-laundering risk management and the anti-money-laundering order for banks. In practice, nonprofits funded from abroad are treated as higher-risk customers. Expect to identify all board members and authorized signatories and explain where the money comes from. Expect to answer questions on the countries involved, and to update the file regularly. Bring the registration certificate, bylaws, board resolution on signatories and a short activity plan to the first meeting. Our guide to opening a corporate bank account as a foreign company covers the same process for companies.

Foreign state funding. The Law on Disclosure Requirements for Recipients of Support from a Foreign State Entity, 5771-2011, applies to donations from foreign governments and their agencies, including bodies they created, control or appoint to act for them. It does not apply to private foundations or individual donors. There is no minimum amount. An amuta that receives such a donation reports it to the Registrar every quarter, within a week after the quarter ends, giving the donor, amount, purpose and any conditions. It must also publish the information on its website. Under a 2016 amendment, an association whose main funding in the past year came from foreign state entities must say so prominently in its advertising, its letters to public officials and its public reports. The Zionist institutions (the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, Keren Hayesod and KKL) are excluded from the definition. Non-compliance is a strict-liability offense.

US donors. A US donor who gives directly to an Israeli amuta generally cannot deduct the gift on a US return. Article 15A of the US-Israel tax treaty allows a deduction only against the donor's Israeli-source income, capped at 25% of that income. The usual route is an "American Friends of..." organization registered as a 501(c)(3) in the US, which receives the donation and decides independently whether to grant it to the Israeli amuta.

7. Annual Compliance Calendar

Filing on time also matters for the certificate of proper management (ishur nihul takin), which the Registrar issues online. Government ministries require it before giving support, and the Tax Authority expects it for section 46. It is issued per year, and generally only once the association has a track record of filed reports. A newer association can get a confirmation that it has submitted its documents instead. Missing deadlines in the first years delays the certificate, and that delays everything that depends on it.

Under section 59, an amuta that fails to pay its fee, file its financial report or comply with a court judgment within 90 days of the deadline can be treated as inactive and struck off by the Registrar.

8. Closing an Amuta

A voluntary winding-up needs a resolution passed by two thirds of those voting at a general assembly, called with at least 21 days' written notice to all members (section 43). Before that meeting, a majority of the board must file an affidavit with the Registrar confirming that the association can pay its debts (section 44). Otherwise, the District Court can order a winding-up on the application of the Registrar, the Attorney General or, in some cases, a creditor or the association itself (sections 49 and 50).

After debts are paid, the remaining assets go where the bylaws say. If the bylaws are silent, they go to a purpose close to the association's own, as the court directs, and never to members or founders (section 58). Foreign founders who expect to get donated property or funds back when they leave Israel should know this before they transfer anything into the amuta.