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Foster Families Stipends to be Tax Exempt

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

After nearly a year of deliberations, the representatives of the Labor and Welfare Ministry, the Income Tax Department and the National Insurance (Bituach Leumi) informed the Knesset's Labor and Welfare Committee of the following arrangement, meant to ease the situations of foster families.

The entire amount which foster families receive from the Labor and Welfare Ministry will be regarded as a refund of expenses, and as a result, taxes will not be deducted from it. Until now, the Finance Ministry opposed this arrangement. But after its representatives saw that foster family care isn't only better than that of a dormitory framework, but also cheaper, its representatives agreed to the arrangement.

Until this arrangement, the foster families were forced to pay 205 shekel in tax (and more) out of the 1560 shekels which they received for the care of each child. They were also obligated to open a file in the Bituach Leumi as independent businessmen and many were deterred by these requirements. Bituach Leumi agreed to recognize them as volunteers for the purpose of the insurance, and exempted them from this obligation.

In Israel, there are currently 1300 foster families who care for 2000 children whose parents are incapable of caring for them for short periods or long terms, but still maintain contact with them. The Child Care Service of the Labor and Welfare Ministry says that there is an urgent need to find families for 2000 more children, and it is hoped that the new agreement will persuade more families to take in such children.


 

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