Israeli Arnona | Imamother

GramaNewYork

Wed, May 02 2007, 8:30 am

I wanted to post this in the Israeli forum, but I don't know how so I'm posting here.

If you live in Israel, can you explain to me how "arnona" works? For example, do you get a bill in the mail? Do you have to pay it in person or can you send it by check in the mail? Any info you can give about the concept of arnona would be appreciated. Thank you.

catonmylap

Wed, May 02 2007, 8:44 am

It comes in the mail. You pay at the post office(or bank) like all Israeli bills.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, May 02 2007, 8:48 am

you can also pay by credit card. thats a good way if you want to pay after the post office has closed and you want to get it paid.

arnona is like a city taz on your property. the amount is based on the sq footage of an apartment/home.

GramaNewYork

Wed, May 02 2007, 10:25 am

Cat and Shabbat, thank you for the info! Since it's possible to pay w/a credit card, I wonder if that could be done from outside of Israel as well.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, May 02 2007, 10:30 am

GramaNewYork wrote:

Cat and Shabbat, thank you for the info! Since it's possible to pay w/a credit card, I wonder if that could be done from outside of Israel as well.

why not? im sure. just get the number for the iriya (city council? not sure of the exact definition) that you need and you can call them. which iriya do you need? I can try to find the number for you. (im in israel and information is cheaper here than for you to find out)

Marion

Wed, May 02 2007, 1:23 pm

At least for Jerusalem, I believe it can be done online as well, by credit card.

This is the website: http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/j.....lng=2, however the payment site is available only in Hebrew.

Health is a Virture

Wed, May 02 2007, 1:43 pm

ARnona is a city tax that anyone who lives in a certain city needs to pay. While it is based on how many square meters the apt you are residing in is, it is also based on income. IN other words, low income people can apply for a discount and they may or may not get it.

new immigrants get a 90 percent discount for the first 2 years after making aliya.

While it is true that you can pay by calling up via credit card, I don't know if they accept international credit cards by phone. Though, now that I think about it, I know that in person they do. But, again, each city/iriya has different rules for these things. You have to call certain hours and the rules for payment vary from place to place.

A person receives a bill in their mail once a month. But, if one does not pay it then they may hand deliver a bill with a 25 shekel fee (speaking from experience :-).

The arnona bill includes 1) water fee (based on how much water you used in a given month) 2) "biyuv" (again based on how much water you used) and then 3) the large bulk of it is the arnona/the city tax

If you own an apartment, but are not currently living in it and it is vacant, then you can also be resolved from paying the arnona, but you need to get in touch with the iriya (the individual city where you own your apt.) They send out people to see if in fact nobody is living there (again, speaking from experience, we didn't know this and only told them later that our apt was vacant, but we had to pay bec. by then we were already living there.)

Basically, look at your bill, and call the iriya to find out what exactly you have to do. Very often, if you need to fight a bill, you need to "go down." (or rather up :-))

Any other questions?

GramaNewYork

Wed, May 02 2007, 2:27 pm

Thank you all so much for the help. The apartment in question is in Jerusalem. It is "vacant" in that nobody lives there, but it does have some furniture. Does it have to be empty of furniture/appliances in order to be considered vacant?

hila

Wed, May 02 2007, 2:36 pm

It has to be vacant for at least 6 months. I think you have to show your electricity bills/usage to get the discount

If you want pm and I will ask at work exactly what you need to know.

I work in Iriat yerushalayim (computer dept)

Health is a Virture

Wed, May 02 2007, 2:36 pm

each iriya might have their own rules, but I think they just check to make sure no people are there. But, I don't know for a fact! Call them up. Also, this will probably not work retroactively, as you can't prove that you weren't living there (though it doesn't hurt to ask), it can help now. It could be they look at your water bill in some places....don't know. Call during their specific office hours. may have to wait on hold for a very long time. Also, make sure you are fluent in Hebrew. Chances are, you will need to either 1) go down and fight your case or 2) fax them in writing the issue

but, call!! and if that doesn't work, send someone down for you, though that might also not work, but at least maybe they can send you to the write place.

Good luck!! PERSEVERANCE is the key!!

GramaNewYork

Wed, May 02 2007, 2:59 pm

http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/j.....ng=2,

I tried the link, but when I searched for arnona, I got an error message.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, May 02 2007, 6:22 pm

Quote:

[quote="Health is a Virture"]new immigrants get a 90 percent discount for the first 2 years after making aliya.

not anymore. now it is 70% discount for the fist year. when was this for? when I made aliyah it was only for one year and that was 4 years ago.

Quote:

A person receives a bill in their mail once a month. But, if one does not pay it then they may hand deliver a bill with a 25 shekel fee (speaking from experience :-).

I know that we do not recieve a bill every month. we get them quarterly.

hila

Thu, May 03 2007, 1:13 am

The link is
http://www.jerusalem.muni.il/j.....lng=2

then go to where there is a square saying epayments.

Unfortunately for you that leads to a Hebrew page ( I have complained but the English web perrson had a baby and is out for 3 months) and you need an asmachta from teh bill (paymnet #)
I will try and get it for you later.

GramaNewYork

Thu, May 03 2007, 7:20 am

I don't know what to say! I'm amazed at the amount of valuable info you've given me.