Under Regulation 11 of Israel’s purchase tax regulations, a qualifying disabled or blind buyer, a terror victim, or a family member of a fallen soldier who buys a home to live in pays purchase tax (מס רכישה, mas rechisha) at a reduced rate of 0.5% instead of the ordinary schedule. If the home is your only home and is worth up to ILS 2,500,000, and you bought it on or after 6 December 2016, you pay nothing on the value up to ILS 1,978,745 and 0.5% only on the rest. In every other case you pay 0.5% of the full value. The relief can be used only 2 times in a lifetime, and you must actually live in the home. The rules below come from the Israel Tax Authority’s instruction 3/2024 on Regulation 11 (5 November 2024), the Tax Authority’s Form 2973 and service page, and the Defense Ministry and National Insurance documents listed under Sources, checked on 29 October 2026.
The relief is a rate cut, not a grant: it changes how the purchase tax on your purchase declaration is calculated. The regional Real Estate Taxation office (מיסוי מקרקעין, misui mekarkein) decides whether you qualify and how much you pay. The Defense Ministry, National Insurance (Bituach Leumi) or another recognising body only confirms your status. For the ordinary bands that everyone else pays, see our purchase tax guide.
Source: Israel Tax Authority, Real Estate Taxation instruction 3/2024, Regulation 11, 5 November 2024, checked 29 Oct 2026.
Who qualifies
Regulation 11 covers four groups: disabled people (נכה, in the regulation’s own term), blind people, people injured in hostile action (terror), and family members of soldiers who fell in battle. Each group has its own legal test, and each is proven with a document from a different authority. A disability percentage from one body does not automatically count under another body’s test: a general Bituach Leumi medical finding of 19%, for example, is not one of the routes below.
| Group | The test | Proof you attach |
|---|---|---|
| IDF and security-forces disabled veterans | Recognised under the Disabled Persons (Benefits and Rehabilitation) Law 1959 with a permanent disability of at least 19%. A temporary rating does not count. | Approval from the Defense Ministry Rehabilitation Division |
| Bereaved families of fallen soldiers | A family member under the Families of Soldiers Killed in Action Law who is entitled to benefits, including a parent or the surviving spouse (the law’s term is widow, אלמנה) who gets no payments only because of age or income, and an orphan aged 50 years or younger | Approval from the Defense Ministry Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division |
| People injured in a hostile action (terror) | Permanent disability of at least 19% under the Hostile Action Victims Benefits Law 1970 | Bituach Leumi confirmation |
| Families of people killed in a hostile action | A family member entitled to benefits under that law, and an orphan aged 50 years or younger | Bituach Leumi confirmation |
| Work-injury disabled | Permanent disability from a work accident of at least 50% under the National Insurance Law. A degree raised by the committee for your occupation and age (functional disability) counts. | Bituach Leumi confirmation of the disability degree |
| General disability (Bituach Leumi) | Permanent incapacity to earn of at least 75%. You qualify even if you buy after retirement age, as long as the rating was set before you reached it. | Bituach Leumi confirmation |
| Nazi persecution disabled and some Holocaust survivors | Disability of at least 50% with entitlement to state payments under the Nazi Persecution Disabled Law 1957, or a survivor recognised under section 3(b)(1) of the Holocaust Survivors Benefits Law 2007 with at least that degree | Approval of the recognition and degree |
| Blind and visually impaired | A blind certificate from the Welfare Ministry’s Service for the Blind issued on or after 1 January 1994 and valid permanently. A child diagnosed as blind by an eye doctor also counts. | The blind certificate. No medical committee is needed. |
| Disabled children and legally incompetent adult children | Parents buying a home for the child’s needs; see the children section below | Disability approval or Bituach Leumi data, plus Family Court approval |
Source: Tax Authority instruction 3/2024 (groups, thresholds, blind certificate, orphans); Defense Ministry Rehabilitation Division instruction 80.07 (the 19% veteran definition); Tax Authority Form 2973 service. Checked 29 Oct 2026.
Orphans and surviving spouses
For purchases from 23 August 2023, an orphan of a fallen soldier or of a terror victim qualifies while aged 50 years or younger, which the Tax Authority reads as until the day before the 51st birthday. Before that date the limit was 40 years. An orphan who lost both parents (both fell or were killed in hostile action, or one of each) has no age limit, provided you bring a certificate saying you receive the rights of a widow without children. The Defense Ministry’s approval form describes orphans who were orphaned before age 21, so if you lost your parent later, ask the Families Division before you sign a contract.
The same 2023 amendment removed the old wording about widows who remarried. The Tax Authority’s instruction says a soldier’s widow qualifies whatever her later family status. The Defense Ministry’s approval form still has a separate box for a remarried widow whose rights were restored, so expect the Families Division to check your file.
Holocaust survivors whose disability was set under the German federal compensation law (BEG), rather than under an Israeli law, are handled under a separate Tax Authority guideline of 17 August 2020, issued after High Court case 7577/19. It is not the ordinary Regulation 11 route, so ask the Tax Authority before you buy.
How much you pay
The calculation depends on whether the home is your sole home (דירה יחידה, dira yechida) under the Real Estate Taxation Law, which looks at you, your spouse and your minor children together; our guide to spouse and child first-home rules explains that test.
| Your case | How the tax is calculated |
|---|---|
| Sole home worth up to ILS 2,500,000, bought on or after 6 December 2016 | Nothing on the value up to ILS 1,978,745, then 0.5% on the part above it |
| Sole home worth more than ILS 2,500,000 | 0.5% of the full value, from the first shekel |
| A home that is not your sole home, which you will live in | 0.5% of the full value |
| Sole home bought before 6 December 2016 | 0.5% of the full value |
Source: Tax Authority instruction 3/2024, section 5.2; first band from instruction 1/2026. Checked 29 Oct 2026.
Worked example: three prices compared
The table is our own illustration, using the bands in force in October 2026 and assuming the buyer qualifies and will live in the home. It is not a quote for your purchase.
| Price | Regulation 11, sole home | Regulation 11, not a sole home | Ordinary sole-home schedule | Ordinary additional-home schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ILS 2,000,000 | ILS 106 | ILS 10,000 | ILS 744 | ILS 160,000 |
| ILS 2,500,000 | ILS 2,606 | ILS 12,500 | ILS 20,538 | ILS 200,000 |
| ILS 3,000,000 | ILS 15,000 | ILS 15,000 | ILS 45,538 | ILS 240,000 |
Illustration by Semerenko Group from the Regulation 11 rule in instruction 3/2024 and the 2026 bands in instruction 1/2026 and the Tax Authority notice of 12 October 2026. Example at ILS 2,500,000: (2,500,000 minus 1,978,745) times 0.5%. Rounded to the shekel.
Three things stand out. First, the ceiling is a cliff: a sole home at exactly ILS 2,500,000 costs ILS 2,606, but one shekel more puts the whole price at 0.5%, about ILS 12,500. If your price sits just above the line, run both figures before you negotiate. Second, the relief still beats the ordinary schedules at every price in the table, but the saving is largest for a home that is not your sole home, because the alternative there is the additional-home rate. Third, for a sole home priced at or below the first band, the ordinary schedule already charges nothing, and the instruction says the sole-home calculation can also be used only twice. Form 2973 itself tells buyers with no other home, or with one home they plan to sell, to check whether the ordinary sole-home calculation would come out lower before choosing the regulation. Run both in our purchase tax calculator and ask the office whether a claim at that price counts toward your two uses.
The conditions that can cost you the relief
You must live in the home
The relief is only for a home bought to house you, and the Tax Authority conditions it on actually living there. For an apartment the office normally grants it when you file, without freezing anything. In special cases where it seriously doubts you will live there, it can refuse at filing and record why; it looks at things like the distance from your workplace, whether the home suits your needs, and its value compared with where you live now. If that happens, ask for the assessment to be amended once you move in. If it later turns out that the facts you declared, including how the property is used, are not true, the director can reopen the assessment under Regulation 28 and charge the full purchase tax plus linkage, interest and fines.
The Tax Authority takes this seriously. In June 2026 it announced the investigation of a lawyer suspected of a false declaration: he bought an additional house for about ILS 6 million in 2024, which carried about ILS 480,000 at the 8% rate, then claimed Regulation 11 and asked to pay about ILS 30,000. The office approved the request, then ran its routine check and found the house rented to another family. The investigation was continuing when it was announced.
Only two uses in a lifetime
Each person can get the reduced rate only 2 times, and the Defense Ministry issues bereaved families at most two approvals for this purpose. Form 2973 asks whether you ever received a purchase tax relief under Regulation 11, 12 or 12A, or an exemption from the land registration fee, and on which property, so declare any earlier benefit. Whether an earlier registration-fee exemption counts toward the limit is not spelled out in the documents we checked; ask the office before relying on a second use.
Buying with a spouse
When spouses buy a home together and one of them qualifies, both get the reduced rate on the purchase, and you attach your marriage certificate to Form 2973. If two single people buy together, one of them eligible, and marry within 12 months of the purchase, the partner also becomes entitled and can get back the tax paid above 0.5%. Recognised common-law partners do not need to marry: the Tax Authority treats them as spouses from the start, subject to the other conditions.
Buying land to build on
If you buy land to build your home, the office issues the assessment at the full tax and freezes the difference between the full tax and the reduced tax. After 3 years it checks whether you got a building permit and started building. If you did, the assessment is corrected to the reduced rate; if not, the frozen difference is collected, unless the director extends the period for special reasons, such as planning delays that are not your fault or a permit that is about to be issued. If you want to register the land in the Land Registry (Tabu) before then, you pay the full tax or give security for the difference. Form 2973 asks you to attach a residential building permit for a land claim.
How to claim
- Get your status document first. Veterans: the Defense Ministry Rehabilitation Division. Bereaved families: a written request to the welfare officer of the Families Division district that handles you; the district manager countersigns, and the ministry’s own service standard is an answer within 7 days. Terror victims, work-injury and general-disability buyers: Bituach Leumi. Blind buyers: the blind certificate.
- Know what that document is. The Defense Ministry approval only confirms that you are a family member. It says in writing that it is not a notice of entitlement; the Real Estate Taxation office decides eligibility and the amount.
- File the purchase declaration with Form 2973. The purchase declaration is due within 30 days of the purchase. On it you tick the Regulation 11 exemption, and Form 2973 goes with it as an annex, with your status document and, for a joint spouse purchase, the marriage certificate. If a lawyer represents you, the lawyer files it online through the representatives’ system. Signatures are verified by a lawyer or a Real Estate Taxation clerk. There is no fee for the request.
- Ask about a medical committee only if you need one. If no authority has yet set the disability that qualifies you, ask the Real Estate Taxation office whether your case should go to a Bituach Leumi medical committee for tax purposes (next section).
- Wait for the assessment notice. The regional office reviews the request together with your declaration and sends its decision as an assessment notice.
The Tax Authority’s real estate information centre answers on *4954 or 02-5656400, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 08:15 to 15:30 and Tuesday 08:15 to 12:30, and takes online inquiries.
The Bituach Leumi medical committee
Some buyers, for example people whose disability was never rated by any authority, need a medical committee to set their percentage. It is the same Bituach Leumi committee that rates disability for income tax exemptions, under the Income Tax (Determination of Disability Percentage) Regulations 1979, and the request goes through the Tax Authority rather than directly to Bituach Leumi. The percentage the committee has to find depends on which part of the regulation’s definition of a disabled person you rely on. For children, the Tax Authority applies 100% medical disability, or 90% from one organ or from several combined (see below). For an adult, ask the Real Estate Taxation office which test applies to you before you pay for a committee.
- Form 169A is the request. List every impairment and attach the medical records for each one: the form warns that a missing impairment or missing records can mean no percentage for it.
- If another law already rated you (the Disabled Persons Law, the Nazi War Disabled Law, the Hostile Action Victims Law, the National Insurance Law or the Ringworm Victims Law), attach that protocol. The committee treats it as medical evidence but is not bound by it.
- You can agree on the form that the committee decides on your documents without you attending, and you sign Form 169B, the medical confidentiality waiver.
- Bituach Leumi charges ILS 679 for the committee. You can pay online or get a payment voucher at an assessing office or a Bituach Leumi branch.
- You can appeal the decision within 45 days of receiving it, in writing through the assessing officer, with a fee of ILS 979.
Children with a disability
Strictly, the relief belongs to the buyer. The Tax Authority nevertheless gives it to parents who buy a home in their own names because of a disabled child’s needs, given the type of disability and the housing the child lived in before. Three conditions matter. The regional office has to be satisfied that the move is necessary for the child. The parents, as guardians, need Family Court approval under section 20 of the Legal Capacity and Guardianship Law 1962 to use the child’s relief, and the Tax Authority says not to ask the court until the office has checked that the child meets the definition. And the relief counts as the child’s own: after it, the child has one use left for a home of their own.
Where Bituach Leumi’s disabled-child benefit already reflects 100% medical disability, or 90% from one organ or from several combined, Bituach Leumi passes the information to the Tax Authority and the parents do not need another committee or a disability certificate. Parents of a child who receives the benefit but has no medical rating can file Bituach Leumi form BL/3533; it applies only to children with permanent entitlement, Bituach Leumi may decide without examining the child, and the percentage set this way cannot be appealed. A child with no benefit and no rating goes to the medical committee above.
The same approach applies to parents who are the appointed guardians of an adult child who has been declared legally incompetent, has a disability approval, has never left their care, lives with them permanently and depends on them.
Before you sign: a short checklist
- Have the status document in hand, or at least confirm with the authority that you will get it, before you sign a contract.
- Check whether the home is your sole home for tax purposes, and where the price sits against ILS 2,500,000.
- Count your earlier uses, including any oleh relief under Regulation 12 or 12A or a land registration fee exemption declared on the form.
- Compare the Regulation 11 calculation with the ordinary sole-home calculation, as Form 2973 advises.
- Plan to live in the home. The office can check, and a wrong declaration brings back the full tax with interest and fines.
For the wider picture on housing and benefits for older buyers with a disability, see our pages on housing options for disabled seniors making Aliyah and retiring single, divorced or widowed in Israel.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice; confirm with a licensed professional.
Sources
- Israel Tax Authority, Real Estate Taxation instruction 3/2024, “Regulation 11 of the Purchase Tax Regulations: updated guidelines”, 5 November 2024.
- Israel Tax Authority, request for partial purchase tax exemption for disabled, blind, hostile-action victims and families of fallen soldiers (Form 2973), service page, and Form 2973, version 8.2024.
- Israel Tax Authority, Real Estate Taxation instruction 1/2026 (2026 amounts), and Tax Authority notice of 12 October 2026 (additional-home schedule).
- Israel Tax Authority press release, 16 June 2026, on a suspected false Regulation 11 claim.
- Defense Ministry Families, Commemoration and Heritage Division, instruction 86.02, in force from 9 November 2023.
- Defense Ministry Rehabilitation Division, instruction 80.07, 1 July 2003.
- Bituach Leumi, medical committee for income tax exemption (fees and appeal), and form BL/3533 (04.2024).
- Israel Tax Authority, request for a medical committee for tax relief (Form 169A).
If you qualify, the relief can change which homes make sense for you. Send us a buyer brief with your budget, the areas you are considering and the Regulation 11 group you belong to, and we will search for homes that fit, with the purchase tax worked out on each one before you commit.
