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“For the 2026 tax year, the maximum annual contribution by a self-employed person in Israel to a Keren Hishtalmut for which investment returns can qualify for a capital-gains-tax exemption is ILS 20,566.”
The conclusion
Reliable 2026 sources consistently identify ILS 20,566 as the annual self-employed Keren Hishtalmut contribution ceiling whose investment returns can qualify for exemption from capital-gains tax. Conflicting figures largely concern a different income-tax deduction limit or appear in isolated lower-quality sources. The exemption remains subject to statutory holding-period and withdrawal conditions.
Caveats
- The ILS 20,566 ceiling concerns exemption of investment returns, not the lower contribution amount eligible for an income-tax deduction.
- Tax-free treatment depends on satisfying the applicable holding-period and qualifying-withdrawal requirements.
- Some secondary sources report different figures because they conflate separate tax-benefit ceilings.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
The caps that recur in the answers, as of 2026: a preferred salary cap of 15,712 shekels per month for an employee, a deduction cap of 13,203 shekels and a preferred contribution cap of 20,566 shekels per year for a self-employed person. 20,566 shekels is the preferred contribution cap, which determines which profits are tax-exempt at the end of the road.
17. Update of the table from 30/04/2025: The amount of the preferred deposit ceiling under sections 9(16a) and (16b) of the Ordinance has been updated to ILS 20,566 per year.
Self-employed people who invest in an advanced training fund (keren hishtalmut) benefit from the fact that the maximum amount that can be invested with an exemption from capital gains tax rises every year. This year it is NIS 20,566.
Regarding a study fund (Keren Hishtalmut) – it will be clarified that the calculator is relevant for deposits of a member who is self-employed only. The total funds that will be defined as a "beneficial deposit" for the purpose of self-employed deposits as stated in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, is ILS 20,566 per year (correct for the year 2026).
Profits accumulated in the fund will be exempt from capital gains tax if the amount deposited annually did not exceed 20,566 ILS (correct for 2026) and the funds were withdrawn after 6 years of seniority (or after 3 years for withdrawal for training or studies)
The deposit ceiling for a study fund for self-employed individuals qualifying for an income tax benefit (on deposit) is ILS 13,203 per year, and the deposit ceiling for self-employed individuals qualifying for a tax benefit (on withdrawal) is ILS 20,566 per year (the data is updated for 2026). ... In addition, self-employed individuals are entitled to a tax exemption upon withdrawing the funds, up to a deposit ceiling of ILS 20,566 per year.
A separate, higher annual ceiling of approximately 20,566 NIS (2025/26) governs how much you can deposit and still receive tax-free growth.
To enjoy the tax exemption on profits, you generally need both of these conditions: - You must deposit no more than 20,566 NIS per year (as of 2026). (If you deposit more than that, the profits on the excess amount can be taxed.)
Anyone who withdraws the money after six years will enjoy an exemption from capital gains tax (provided that the annual deposit amount is not higher than ILS 20,566).
Thus, self-employed individuals can deposit up to 20,566 shekels in a study fund (in the year 2026) and these deposits and their profits will be exempt from capital gains tax at a rate of 25%.
Self-employed individuals depositing into a study fund (Keren Hishtalmut) benefit twice: once from a recognized expense (deduction) on part of their deposits to the study fund, and a second time upon lawful withdrawal, from an exemption from tax on profits for deposits made up to the annual beneficial ceiling of ILS 20,566. ... The information detailed above, including the amounts and rates detailed therein, is updated for the year 2026, and is subject to the provisions of the legislative arrangement, the relevant regulations and company procedures, as updated from time to time.
## Deposit ceiling in 2026 ILS 20,520 per year. This is the maximum amount that can be deposited and still enjoy all the benefits.
| פטור ממס רווח הון על הפקדות | עד 7% מהכנסה | 20,566 ₪ |
The preferred deposit ceiling in the fund which is exempt from capital gains tax in 2026 stands at ILS 20,566.
| Study Fund (Keren Hishtalmut) | 293,397 ILS (3) | 7% | 20,566 ILS (4) | (4) Please note – the deposit ceiling in a preferred study fund for which real capital gains are exempt from the 25% capital gains tax is 20,566 ILS.
Regarding a study fund (Keren Hishtalmut) – it will be clarified that the calculator is relevant for deposits of a member who is self-employed only. The total funds that will be defined as a "beneficial deposit" for the purpose of self-employed deposits as stated in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, is ILS 20,566 per year (correct for the year 2026).
for this matter, "benefited deposit" – NS 15,720 per year (in 2008; in 2007: NS 15,240; in 2006: NS 15,360; in 2005: NS 14,880 – Tr.);
Regardless of your salary, if you deposit 20,566 ₪ into your fund, all of the profits on this sum will be free of capital gains tax.
The preferred contribution ceiling is the ceiling that can be contributed to a Keren Hishtalmut for the purpose of a capital gains tax exemption at the time of withdrawal. In 2026 (similar to 2025), the preferred contribution ceiling for a Keren Hishtalmut is ILS 20,566.
full exemption from capital gains tax (up to a deposit ceiling of NIS 20,566 as of 2026)
* **פטור ממס על הרווחים** - workers who are both self-employed and salaried in the same tax year and contribute to the study fund both as salaried and as self-employed are entitled to an exemption from capital gains tax on the capital gains from amounts deposited in each of the funds up to the relevant ceiling. That is, it is possible to receive full exemption for gains accumulated in the fund as salaried (for deposits that did not exceed the ceiling for salaried and were deposited in accordance with the [conditions specified]()) **and in addition** to benefit from an exemption for the gains accumulated in the fund as self-employed (for deposits that did not exceed the ceiling for self-employed - 20,566 ₪ (as of 2026) regardless of the level of taxable income as self-employed).
The deposit ceiling exempt from capital gains tax: up to 20,566 ILS per year.
for this matter, ” benefited deposit” – NS 15,720 per year (in 2008; in 2007: NS 15,240; in 2006: NS 15,360; in 2005: NS 14,880 – Tr.) ;
In total, the annual contribution ceiling sits at approximately 19,920 ₪ for 2026 when both layers are maxed against a profit of about 285,000 ₪.
You may contribute up to ₪20,520 in 2025 (in one payment or several installments). Both the contributions and the investment earnings will be fully exempt from 25% capital gains tax if withdrawn after six years.
A second slice equal to up to 2.5% of annual taxable profit (with combined deposits capped at approximately 19,920 ₪ per year on profits up to around 285,000 ₪) is not deductible on deposit but enjoys the full capital-gains exemption inside the fund and is tax-free on withdrawal after six years.
What is the Keren Hishtalmut contribution cap for self-employed people in 2026? The determining income cap for self-employed Keren Hishtalmut in 2026 is ₪293,806 per year. 4.5% of that equals ₪13,221 per year, or about ₪1,102 per month, as the maximum contribution eligible for a tax benefit.
Self-employed: deposit up to 4.5% of income (maximum). Of which 2/3 is deducted from income, 1/3 is not recognized. Exemption from tax on profits.
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Debate
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
An overwhelming consensus of authoritative sources, including the official Israeli government tax deductions booklet (Source 2) and leading financial news outlets (Source 1, Source 3), explicitly confirms that the 2026 preferred contribution ceiling for a self-employed Keren Hishtalmut is ILS 20,566. Although a few isolated sites cite slightly lower figures, the vast majority of expert financial institutions and legal rights organizations (Source 5, Source 6, Source 11) uniformly verify that deposits up to this exact 20,566 ILS limit are fully exempt from capital gains tax upon withdrawal.
The Proponent mischaracterizes Source 2: despite being a government booklet, its quoted update identifies ILS 20,566 as of 30 April 2025, not as an independently stated 2026 ceiling. The appeal to numerical consensus also evades directly conflicting 2026 figures—ILS 20,520 in Infinity Finance (Source 12) and approximately ILS 19,920 under its stated self-employed calculation in Yesh Cash (Sources 26 and 28)—so it does not establish the claim's asserted definitive universal maximum.
Argument against
The claimed ILS 20,566 figure is not reliably established as the 2026 maximum: Infinity Finance reports ILS 20,520 for 2026 (Source 12), while Yesh Cash gives an approximately ILS 19,920 annual ceiling when the relevant self-employed layers are maximized (Sources 26 and 28). These directly conflicting 2026 figures show that presenting ILS 20,566 as a definitive universal maximum is inaccurate rather than a substantiated tax-year fact.
The Opponent cherry-picks isolated figures from lower-tier websites while inexplicably ignoring the official Israeli government tax deductions booklet (Source 2), which definitively establishes the 2026 ceiling at ILS 20,566. Furthermore, the Opponent's reliance on Yesh Cash is fundamentally flawed, as another publication from that exact same domain (Source 24) explicitly confirms the 20,566 ILS capital gains tax exemption limit, aligning perfectly with the overwhelming consensus of major financial institutions (Sources 1, 3, 6).
Panel Review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Reviewer 1 — The Logic Examiner
The overwhelming majority of independently sourced, dated 2026 materials (Sources 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 19, 20, 23, 24) converge precisely on ILS 20,566 as the preferred contribution ceiling for capital-gains-tax exemption purposes, and Source 2's government figure (updated for 2025, carried forward and reaffirmed by numerous 2026-dated independent sources) corroborates this via convergent, non-cherry-picked evidence rather than a single stale figure. The Opponent's counter-evidence is weaker: Source 12's 20,520 figure is a lone outlier likely a typo or rounding error inconsistent with all other same-year sources, and Sources 26/28 conflate a different combined-layer calculation (mixing deductible and capital-gains-exempt tiers) rather than directly addressing the specific capital-gains exemption ceiling, making their rebuttal a case of comparing non-equivalent metrics (a false equivalence) rather than a genuine conflict in the underlying figure.
Reviewer 2 — The Source Auditor
The most reliable sources—official gov.il tax booklet (Source 2) updating the preferred deposit ceiling under the Income Tax Ordinance to ILS 20,566, plus independent corroboration from bizportal.co.il (Source 1), Globes (Source 3), Kol Zchut (Sources 5/23), and multiple investment houses (Sources 4/6/11/14/15)—explicitly state that for 2026 this is the self-employed Keren Hishtalmut cap whose returns qualify for capital-gains-tax exemption. Outliers citing 20,520 or ~19,920 are lower-tier blogs that either misstate the year or conflate deduction vs. exemption ceilings, so trustworthy evidence confirms the claim as true.
Reviewer 3 — The Precision Analyst
The claim states that the maximum annual contribution by a self-employed person in Israel to a Keren Hishtalmut for which investment returns can qualify for a capital-gains-tax exemption is ILS 20,566 for the 2026 tax year. The overwhelming majority of the evidence, including numerous financial institutions and news outlets (Sources 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 24), explicitly confirms this exact figure for 2026.
Panel summary
Source analysis finds broad agreement among official tax material, established financial publications, rights-information resources, and major investment institutions. Logical analysis shows that contrary figures are isolated and generally refer to different tax benefits or appear to be erroneous, so they do not establish a substantive conflict. Quantitative analysis confirms that ILS 20,566 is the repeatedly reported 2026 ceiling for contributions whose returns may receive the capital-gains-tax exemption. The only material clarification is that this ceiling is distinct from the lower amount eligible for an income-tax deduction; ordinary eligibility and withdrawal conditions still apply.