a message about tium mas – your comments appreciated

Shalom Gidon!
Thank you for your blog – it’s quite a nice support! 

Thank you aww shucks
I am an olah from Toronto,  

welcome!

 and while I have a job at a bar, I am also getting into the business of doing English voice-overs for videos.  

good luck

 The company I now work for requested a Teum Mas. Two questions: 1) Where in Jerusalem do I go to arrange one of these?;  

a long time ago, i got one, pretty easily. i went to Kanfei Nesharim (66 i think) but I live in Maale Adumim, you might need to go to Center One

 and 2) Do I need any information from my other employer when I go to arrange this for my second employer? 

I think how much you expect to make from all your employers total 2011. If you are follwoing the adventures of an Osek Zair, than you probably have nothing to worry about:-)

But I think nowadays you can get a teum mas via the Internet! In fact, it might even be the better or even only way…

Please keep me posted. I will post this on my blog for others to chime in. Gotta love Web 2.0…

Thanks, shavuah tov.
Best,
Liana

a little more about osek patur plus sachir

a message to me, a reply in a comment somewhere on this blog, and a repost here in its own post..

Dear Chana Leah,

Thanks for writing, sorry for the time lag in responding, I guess you get what you pay for:-)

I have been reading your blog on-and-off for a while. I just opened an osek patur, but I am still working in a regular “sachir” job part-time. I wanted to ask you the following: Will this affect the taxes that I will pay at my sachir job or as an osek patur?

>>I remind you, my “advice” is not professional, just my educated guess. Depending on your salaried income, it probably will not impact. I don’t have the exact numbers, but from what I understand, if your combined income is under a certain number, you do not pay more. See below>>

If so, do I need to visit Te’um mas or any other office to fix this?

>>The question isn’t how much tax you will pay, but how much people will withhold from you. Ultimately, around Pesach you will go to the free advice hours, and they will help you complete your tax return (doch shnati) and tell you how little if any tax you will have to pay. But until then, you should go the Mas Hachnasa and get a teum mas, so your salaried job won’t deduct more than he should, and your clients won’t think they have to withhold at source (nikkui mas bamakor). Getting a teum mas is painless, just takes time. I understand that you can do it online nowadays. Taxes.mof.gov.il or something like that.

Thanks for your help, Chana Leah

Thanks, Gidon Ariel

Osek Mursheh, Zair, or Teum Mas?

Jessi wrote in a comment to a previous post. I will use this post to respond:

Hi Gideon!

My name is Jessi and I have come across your website before but today when searching for information on specific atzma’i status, I noticed with pleasant surprise that you have me in your blog roll  I know I have been in contact before with Jeremy over at Shomer Shkalim, but had no idea that you would also include me! So thanks….I do need to really get on top of publishing more. Really – I’ve been beyond horrible at posting.

Anyways – I have a question that you may or may not be able to answer for me:

I myself also am a freelancer, however as far as I know, I’m not any one status or the other. I have always just been referred to as an atzmait. I have a “file” open up at the tax office but whenever I gained a new client, I would get their business number and would be issued a teum mas. This has always been sufficient for what I have done.

However, I have a new company that wants to hire me on and they asked me to have an osek mershuh status – which from what you have found out and from what I have been told, I need to earn at least 64,000nis/year in order to qualify for this status and while it would be nice to do so, that is nowhere near what I will be making with this company – in fact, in a year, I would only project to make about 18,000nis.

So my problem lies here – this new company would like me to issue receipts to them (which is understandable) – I normally if a client asks, just write one off Excel or some other billing software I’m using at the time and then send it in and keep copies for my records. However, now I’m worried – do I actually need an official receipt book with my tax status on it? Or can I just purchase one from Office Depot and be done with it?

Also, this project is only about 5 months in scope, so I don’t know if since I will be under the “radar” as people have been calling it, is it really worth it to go through the whole process of opening a new file?

Thanks!

Oh and I shall also be adding you to my blog roll in reciprocation.

Gidon responds:

if your potential client wants you to work, then they (or specifically, their accounting dept) will get over the fact that you are an osek zair and not mursheh, meaning that they do not pay you ma’am

I’m not any one status or the other. I have always just been referred to as an atzmait. I have a “file” open up at the tax office

The MAAM tax office gives you a certificate (see mine:-): http://atzmai.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/gidon-ariel-osek-patur.gif ) that says in capital letters if you are a mursheh or a zair. If you have neither, you are neither! So if your direct charging work this year (not counting the clients who take you on payroll and do a teum mas) comes out to less than about 60,000 NIS this year, then you can open an Osek Zair account.

You might consider working through Yeul Sachir or similar for this project, but I doubt it will be more beneficial for you than if you open an osek zair tik as above.

So my problem lies here – this new company would like me to issue receipts to them (which is understandable) – I normally if a client asks, just write one off Excel or some other billing software I’m using at the time and then send it in and keep copies for my records. However, now I’m worried – do I actually need an official receipt book with my tax status on it? Or can I just purchase one from Office Depot and be done with it?

As I wrote elsewhere in this blog (insert link here, lazybones), it seems the simplest solution for us oskim ze’eerim is to buy the humungous Hadar “pinkas kabalot leosek zair” which has about 400 receipts for about 63 NIS and simply write the following six items on each one, by hand, at the time of its issue:

your name/name of your business

your phone number

your teudat zehut number (the number of your business license)

date of issue

the name of your client

the scope of the work you are providing this receipt for

total charged

your signature

Also, this project is only about 5 months in scope, so I don’t know if since I will be under the “radar” as people have been calling it, is it really worth it to go through the whole process of opening a new file?

If your client requires a receipt, then your choice is either open a tik or work through Yeul Sachir or similar.

Good luck!