How to Read Your Israeli Payslip (Tlush Maskoret): A Complete Guide for Foreign Workers

For most foreign workers arriving in Israel, the first payslip is baffling. It arrives in Hebrew, shows a gross figure that looks nothing like the number in your contract, and ends with a net salary that appears to have passed through five separate buckets of deductions. You need to understand it. Your tlush maskoret is your primary evidence in any salary dispute and the document you need for your annual tax return. It is also the only way to verify that your employer is actually remitting your pension contributions — the payslip says deductions happened; only the pension fund's own portal shows whether the money arrived.

Whether you are on a B/1 work visa, a new oleh, or a foreign national employed by an Israeli company, the structure of the payslip is the same. What differs is which credit points reduce your income tax and whether a bilateral social security treaty removes part of your Bituach Leumi obligation. Both of those differences show up on the payslip itself once you know where to look.

1. What Is a Tlush Maskoret and Why Must Employers Provide It?

Under Section 24 of the Wage Protection Law 5718-1958, amplified by the Notification to Employee (Employment Terms) Act 5762-2002 and the Notification to Employee (Employment Terms) Regulations 5762-2002, every employer in Israel must give each employee a written payslip for every wage payment. The payslip must contain:

• Employee name, identity number (or passport number), and employer name and withholding tax file number (mispar tik nikooyim)
• Employment start date and job title
• The collective agreement or extension order (tzav harchava) that applies to the role
• Each component of gross salary, labeled separately
• Hours and days worked in the pay period
• Every deduction by name and amount
• Net salary paid and the bank account it was transferred to
• Accrued leave balances (annual leave days and sick leave days remaining)
• Year-to-date cumulative totals (mitzaber) for gross salary, tax withheld, and NII contributions

Failing to provide a payslip is a criminal offence under Section 25(a) of the Wage Protection Law, carrying fines of up to NIS 35,820 per violation. An employer also cannot deduct from your salary for a reason that does not appear on the payslip. If the deduction is not labeled, it is presumptively unlawful.

2. The Header: Your Identity and Employer Details

Every tlush maskoret opens with a block of identifying data. Most payroll software produces this section in Hebrew, but the fields are standardized across all payroll systems:

Hebrew Label	English Translation	Why It Matters
שם עובד (Shem oved)	Employee name	Must match your ID or passport exactly
ת"ז / דרכון (Teudat zehut / Darkon)	ID or passport number	Used by the ITA to link income to your tax file
שם מעסיק (Shem ma'asik)	Employer name	Legal entity responsible for your employment
מספר תיק ניכויים (Mispar tik nikooyim)	Employer withholding file number	ITA reference for your employer's payroll; needed to verify your Tofes 106
תאריך תחילת עבודה (Taarich techilat avoda)	Employment start date	Determines seniority rights, vacation accrual, severance, and pension eligibility windows
שכר יסוד (Schar yessod)	Base salary	Your contractual base pay, used as the reference for pension and keren hishtalmut contributions
חוזה קיבוצי / צו הרחבה	Collective agreement / extension order	Governs which mandatory benefits (keren hishtalmut, dmei havraa) apply to your role

Check the employment start date in particular. An incorrect date can reduce your vacation entitlement, delay pension enrollment, and affect severance calculations years later. If the start date is wrong, raise it in writing the month you receive the first payslip.

3. Gross Salary: What You Earned Before Deductions

The gross section lists every payment you received during the month. For most employees it includes some or all of these line items:

• שכר יסוד (Schar yessod) — your basic monthly salary as agreed in your employment contract
• שעות נוספות (Shaot nosafot) — overtime pay; the first two extra hours beyond 8.6 hours/day are paid at 125% of the hourly rate, hours beyond that at 150%, under Section 16 of the Hours of Work and Rest Law 5711-1951
• דמי הבראה (Dmei havraa) — the statutory annual recreation payment, calculated at NIS 418 per day (the 2026 Ministry of Labor rate for private-sector employees) multiplied by your entitlement days (1 day after year 1, up to 10 days after 10+ years); often paid as a lump sum in June or split over the year
• דמי נסיעות (Dmei nesiot) — daily travel reimbursement; in 2026 the statutory maximum is NIS 30.50 per working day under the National Transport Rate Order; reimbursement at or below this rate is not taxable income
• תוספת ותק (Tosefet vetek) — seniority supplement paid under your collective agreement or contract
• בונוס / פרמיה — discretionary bonus or commission, fully taxable
• פיצוי הלנת שכר (Pitzuy Halant Schar) — late-salary compensation; this line should not appear regularly; if it does, your employer has been consistently paying late

Travel reimbursement up to the statutory rate is excluded from taxable income. Anything above that gets added to your gross taxable figure, and both income tax and NII are calculated on that number.

4. Income Tax Withholding: The Tofes 101 System

The largest deduction from your gross salary is income tax (mas hachnassa), withheld at source by your employer under the Tofes 101 (Form 101) withholding system. Every January, or when you start a new job, you complete a Tofes 101 and give it to your employer's payroll department. It declares your personal tax data so the employer calculates the correct monthly withholding.

The 2026 income tax brackets (monthly) under the Income Tax Ordinance 1961:

Monthly Income (NIS)	Tax Rate
Up to NIS 7,010	10%
NIS 7,011 – 10,060	14%
NIS 10,061 – 16,150	20%
NIS 16,151 – 20,830	31%
NIS 20,831 – 42,490	35%
NIS 42,491 – 54,630	47%
Above NIS 54,630	50%

These rates are reduced by credit points (nekudot zikuy). Each credit point is worth approximately NIS 242/month in 2026, deducted directly from the tax you owe. Every Israeli resident gets a base of 2.25 credit points. New olim receive 3 additional points in year 1, 2 additional in year 2, and 1 additional in year 3 under Section 48 of the Income Tax Ordinance. A new immigrant with 5.25 total credit points in their first year saves approximately NIS 1,270/month compared to a base-case resident.

Your payslip will show:

• מס הכנסה (Mas hachnassa) — total income tax withheld this month
• נקודות זיכוי (Nekudot zikuy) — the number of credit points being applied (verify this matches what you declared on Tofes 101)
• מקדמת מס (Makdamat mas) — advance tax payment, appears only if you also have self-employment income and the ITA has required monthly advance payments

5. National Insurance (Bituach Leumi) and Health Insurance

Two related deductions appear together, usually on a single line labeled ביטוח לאומי ובריאות (Bituach leumi v'briut):

National Insurance (Bituach Leumi / NII):

Under the National Insurance Law 5754-1994, both employees and employers contribute monthly to the National Insurance Institute (NII). For 2026, the employee's contributions are:

• 0.4% on the first NIS 7,522/month (the reduced-rate band)
• 7.0% on income from NIS 7,523 to the NII ceiling of NIS 49,030/month
• Income above NIS 49,030/month is exempt from NII contributions entirely

The employer also pays NII on your behalf (3.55% on the low band, 7.6% on the main band), but it does not appear as a deduction on your payslip. It is an extra cost the employer absorbs on top of your salary.

Health Insurance (Bituach Briut):

Health insurance contributions fund the four kupot cholim (health maintenance organizations) under the National Health Insurance Law 5754-1994:

• 3.1% on the first NIS 7,522/month
• 5.0% on income from NIS 7,523 to NIS 49,030/month

On a typical monthly salary of NIS 25,000, combined NII and health insurance deductions for 2026 come to approximately NIS 1,700 to NIS 1,900 per month. Both contributions are calculated automatically and should match the NII's published tables; if your payslip figure looks significantly different, check that your employer is using the correct income ceiling.

6. Pension and Keren Hishtalmut Deductions

Most Israeli payslips have two pension-related deductions, not one:

Mandatory Pension (Pensia Chova):

Under the Expansion Order Regarding Pension Insurance for Employees 5768-2008, all employees must be enrolled in a pension fund within 3 to 6 months of starting work. The 2026 mandatory contribution rates for a salaried employee:

Contributor	To Pension Savings	To Disability Insurance	To Severance Reserve
Employee	6.0%	2.5%	Not applicable
Employer	6.5%	Included above	2.33% (Section 14 arrangement)

Your payslip will show the employee contribution as a deduction:

• פנסיה עובד (Pensia oved) — 6% deducted from your salary toward pension savings
• נכות עובד / אי כושר (Nekhut / Ee kosher) — 2.5% deducted toward disability insurance within the pension

The employer's 6.5% and 2.33% contributions do not reduce your net pay; they appear as additions on the employer's side of the calculation. Many payslips show a combined employer contribution line for informational purposes, but it is not a deduction from you.

Keren Hishtalmut (Study Fund):

Where applicable (most professional and hi-tech roles), two keren hishtalmut lines appear:

• קרן השתלמות עובד (Keren hishtalmut oved) — 2.5% deducted from your salary
• קרן השתלמות מעסיק (Keren hishtalmut ma'asik) — 7.5% contributed by the employer (does not reduce your net pay but increases your keren hishtalmut balance)

7. Net Pay and the Annual Tofes 106

After all deductions, the payslip shows:

• שכר נטו (Schar neto) — the amount transferred to your bank account this month
• חשבון בנק (Cheshbon bank) — your bank, branch code, and account number (verify this matches your actual account; payroll data entry errors do happen)
• תאריך תשלום (Taarich tashlum) — the payment date
• יתרת ימי חופש (Yitrat yemei chofesh) — remaining accrued vacation days
• יתרת ימי מחלה (Yitrat yemei machala) — remaining sick leave days (under the Sick Pay Law 5736-1976, accrual is 1.5 days/month up to 90 days in reserve)

Many payslips also show מצטבר (mitzaber) — year-to-date columns for gross income, income tax, NII, pension, and net salary. These YTD totals are what the employer ultimately reports to the Israel Tax Authority in your Tofes 106.

Tofes 106 is the annual income summary your employer must provide by April 30 of the following tax year. It consolidates every month's gross income, income tax withheld, NII paid, and pension contributions into one document. You use Tofes 106 to file your annual income tax return (Form 1301) and to claim a tax refund for the year if you overpaid monthly withholding. Cross-check the Tofes 106 figures against the YTD totals on your December payslip; discrepancies are rare but do occur.

8. Common Payslip Errors and How to Dispute Them

The payslip errors that arise most frequently for foreign workers in Israel:

• Wrong credit points — the employer failed to update Tofes 101 for a new oleh status or a change in family circumstances; the income tax line is higher than it should be
• Missing overtime — particularly for employees on flexible-hours arrangements (shaat glovalit); check that the agreed global overtime supplement appears and actually covers the hours worked
• Travel reimbursement above the statutory rate treated as salary — if your employer pays you more than NIS 30.50/day for travel, the excess is taxable and should appear in gross salary; if it does not, the employer is under-declaring your income
• Keren hishtalmut absent — particularly in non-hi-tech roles covered by an extension order; the deduction should begin from the month the fund is opened
• Incorrect pension base — pension contributions should be calculated on your gross taxable salary including regular allowances, not just the basic wage if the contract says otherwise
• Wrong start date — affects vacation accrual and severance seniority from day one

Dispute process:

1. Write to your employer's payroll department by email, stating the specific error, the amount, and the months affected. Keep a copy.
2. If there is no corrective action within 14 days, send a formal written demand (a lawyer's letter adds formality but is not required).
3. File an administrative complaint with the Labour Inspectorate (Agaf Pikuach Avoda) at the Ministry of Economy and Industry — 1-222, or via the ministry's website — for regulatory violations (missing payslips, illegal deductions).
4. File a civil wage claim at the Regional Labor Court (Beit Din Avodah). Claims up to NIS 25,000 use the expedited small-claims track; larger claims follow ordinary proceedings. No lawyer is required for the small-claims track, and filing fees are modest.

Under Section 25(c) of the Wage Protection Law, unlawful salary deductions are recoverable with CPI linkage and interest from the date the underpayment occurred.

Frequently Asked Questions