Your Taxes: Employers of olim eligible for job-training subsidies

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry has embarked on a campaign to boost the employment of olim by providing job subsidies to employers.

By LEON HARRIS
Olim arrive in Israel with Nefesh B'Nefesh (photo credit: Courtesy Nefesh B'Nefesh)
Olim arrive in Israel with Nefesh B'Nefesh
(photo credit: Courtesy Nefesh B'Nefesh)
The Immigrant Absorption Ministry has embarked on a campaign to boost the employment of olim by providing job subsidies to employers. The details can be found on the ministry’s website (www.moia.gov.il).
The aim is to help olim find decent employment for professional assignments.
Employers are invited to the ministry with a precise description of their requirements, including the profession, the degree of expertise, the age, etc., and the ministry will try to provide labor meeting those requirements.
If the olim need to undergo any training to meet those requirements, financial assistance is available in the sum of half the minimum monthly wage, currently NIS 4,300, for a period not exceeding six months. This is to help olim who cannot find suitable employment and are recruited into a workplace that provides both training and employment.
Which professions?
The assistance is available for employment in the following professions: engineer, technician, artists and sportspersons, electricians, metal workers, carpenters, seamstresses, maintenance people, hotel workers, electronic production workers, operators (not defined).
The aim is to help olim acquire onthe- job skills and experience so they can get employed professionally.
Which olim is this for?
According to the ministry’s website, the assistance is earmarked for olim aged 18 or more up to retirement age; olim in their first 10 years in Israel (15 years if from Ethiopia); olim who were not supported by the fund previously; olim who started work within three months before the application for assistance was filed (the assistance is given from the application date onward); olim who finished their absorption “basket” (after six months in Israel); returning residents within two years after their return.
Always read the forms!
The application forms contain a number of conditions the employer must meet. For example, the employer must undertake to continue employing the oleh for a period equivalent to the assistance period. If that was six months, then the individual must be employed another six months as well.
The oleh must be paid at least the minimum wage and social benefits (pension, etc.) and to immediately notify the ministry if employment stops. The assistance is refundable in the event of noncompliance. Assistance must be claimed within three months after the obligation period.
To sum up
In applicable cases, the oleh on-thejob training subsidy can be useful for employers and olim alike. But a word of warning about government grants and budgets: claim quickly because they dry up fast.
As always, consult experienced tax advisers in each country at an early stage in specific cases.
leon@hcat.co
Leon Harris is a certified public accountant and tax specialist at Harris Consulting & Tax Ltd.