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Does the Israel Tax Authority receive information about my foreign bank accounts?

Yes, automatically and every year. Israel joined the OECD Common Reporting Standard and began receiving financial account data from partner jurisdictions in 2019, so banks abroad report balances, interest, dividends and gross sale proceeds on accounts held by Israeli tax residents. A separate intergovernmental agreement runs the FATCA exchange with the United States. The data arrives whether or not the account holder files a return, and a mismatch is a common trigger for an enquiry.

Two parallel systems feed the Israel Tax Authority. The Common Reporting Standard operates through the OECD multilateral framework, implemented domestically by Income Tax Regulations that require Israeli financial institutions to identify and report account holders resident elsewhere, and that entitle Israel to receive the mirror image from more than a hundred partner jurisdictions. FATCA runs bilaterally with the United States under the 2014 intergovernmental agreement and its implementing regulations. The underlying tax obligation is older and broader: Section 2 of the Income Tax Ordinance taxes Israeli residents on worldwide income, and Section 131 sets out who must file an annual return, which includes most residents holding significant foreign assets or income.

New immigrants and veteran returning residents keep the ten-year exemption on foreign-source income and gains under Section 14 of the Ordinance, and that exemption is unaffected by the data exchange. What changed is the paperwork. The reporting exemption that once travelled with the tax exemption was repealed for immigrants arriving from 2026, so an oleh can be exempt from tax and still obliged to declare foreign income and assets. The practical step is reconciliation: list every foreign account, note which are reportable, and check that the figures the bank will transmit match what appears on the Israeli return. Anyone with unreported past years should take advice before filing, rather than after a letter arrives. See the guide on FATCA and FBAR obligations for Americans in Israel for the parallel US side.

⚖ In Practice
  • Governing law: Sections 2, 14 and 131, Income Tax Ordinance; Income Tax Regulations implementing the OECD Common Reporting Standard and the Israel-United States FATCA agreement
  • Competent authority: Israel Tax Authority (Rashut HaMisim BeYisrael), International Taxation Department
  • Scope of the exchange: more than 100 partner jurisdictions report annually; the data covers account balances, interest, dividends and gross proceeds of sale
  • Filing deadline: the annual individual return is generally due by 30 April, or 31 May where the return is filed online, with representative extensions common in practice (2026)
  • New immigrants: the ten-year exemption under Section 14 continues, but the accompanying reporting exemption was repealed for immigrants arriving from 2026
  • Consequences: late or absent filing attracts monetary penalties under the Ordinance, and deliberate non-reporting can be pursued as a criminal offence

From the full guide: FATCA and FBAR for Americans in Israel: What You Must Report to the IRS

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Get a Free Consultation with Adv. Eli ShimonyPrepared under the direction of Adv. Eli Shimony, Eli Shimony Law Office · Editorial policy

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