Throughout the past few days, 19,000 citizens received letters from the Tax Authority inviting them to check their eligibility for a tax return and submit an application for that purpose.
The recipients are citizens who didn't submit refund applications for 2016 and a check of their wage reports revealed that they're entitled to it because they overpaid tax.
The letters and envelopes are designed in a light greenish color to distinguish them from regular mail and to draw the attention of recipients to their entitlement to tax refunds. According to estimates, there are surpluses of billions of shekels in the coffers of the Tax Authority intended for those who aren't aware of their entitlement.
These include reimbursements for health conditions, excess payments for previous years (mainly due to working for two employers without tax coordination), negative income tax (known as a work grant), deposits in provident funds and more.
Until now, private entrepreneurs who would check if people were due refunds would receive a percentage of the payout.
The current move, led by Tax Authority Director Eran Yaakov, follows a similar one carried out in September, when green envelopes were sent to 11,000 citizens. The timing isn't accidental, since tax refund claims can be filed up to seven years back.
To facilitate submitting an application, Form 135, which is an application for a tax refund for the year 2016, an explanatory page for filling out the form was attached to the letter.
Also, a recommendation was issued to use an online simulator to check eligibility and calculate the tax before submitting the application.
In addition to sending the letters, recipients who need assistance can contact the authority's information and services center. Also, the Tax Authority continues to work to ensure that parents of children with disabilities who haven't exercised certain tax rights will receive two tax credit points.
As part of this, letters were sent to 8,500 parents who submitted an annual report for the years 2017-2020, who were receiving a disabled child benefit from the National Insurance Institute, but in those years didn't receive full entitlement to tax benefits.
Parents should exercise their entitlement in their "personal area" on the Tax Authority's website.
In July, letters were sent to 4,500 parents who aren't required to submit an annual report to income tax; they received a disabled child benefit from the NII in 2016 and 2017, but didn't receive tax credit points.