The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Health Aryeh Deri, appealed to the Minister of Finance this evening (Monday) with a request to urgently arrange an exemption from VAT on the payments of nursing workers from the Philippines.
Today there are about 60,000 foreign nursing workers in Israel who help the elderly and disabled, of which 21,000 are from the Philippines, who are considered to be workers with a high level of training.
As you may recall, more than a year ago the implementation of the bilateral agreement with the Philippine government for the employment of foreign workers in the nursing sector began under the supervision and guidance of the Population and Immigration Authority.
A few months ago, the new regulations promoted by the Minister of Economy at the time, regarding the collection of payments from the foreign workers for a basket of services for the private bureaus dealing with foreign workers, were published.
Following the regulations, the total payments amounted to NIS 5,800. The issue created a crisis with the Philippine government, as a result of which the arrival of workers to Israel was stopped. With the increase of the index at the beginning of 2023, the amount even stood at NIS 6,100.
In order to overcome the crisis and find creative and necessary solutions, Minister Deri, as mentioned, turned to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich with a request to promote an exemption from VAT on these payments in order to lower the amount of the allowed commission.
It is important to note that this solution does not harm the state’s revenues since it is a new collection that did not exist.
With the approval of the exemption, the amount will be NIS 5,220, in the hope that this important step will lead to a solution to the crisis, put the arrangement back on track, and prevent harm to nursing patients, who are a population in need of assistance.