On 9 November 2026 the Registrar of Partnerships at the Israeli Corporations Authority published a public guideline on the duty to register in the partnerships register. It replaces the short timeline in the warning letters sent last month. A partnership that received a letter now has until 31 March 2027 to complete registration, and it will not be charged annual fees for the years it operated unregistered.
The letters went out in October to partnerships that had opened a partnership file with the VAT department but never registered with the Registrar. They gave 45 days to register. Experts said at the time that this was too little for a business that has traded for years and has to update its bank account, contracts and invoices. The new guideline gives close to five months instead.
Who has to register
Under the Partnerships Ordinance of 1975, every general partnership formed to run a business must be entered in the partnerships register. The only exception is a partnership between farmers to cultivate land together. Limited partnerships must register too.
The Registrar spells out a point many owners missed. A partnership file at the VAT department does not replace registration at the Corporations Authority. They are two separate records kept by two ministries. The Registrar goes further and treats a VAT partnership file as an indication that a partnership exists and must register. Two people who opened a joint file with the Tax Authority are, in its view, on the list.
The VAT file number appears at the top of the warning letter, next to the partnership's name. That is the number to attach to the registration request.
Cost and obligations after registering
Registration carries a registration fee set by law. Annual fees for the years before registration will not be collected, so a partnership that ran for years unregistered does not face a retroactive bill.
Once registered, there is no annual filing with the Registrar and no duty to submit financial statements to it. What remains is a duty to report changes: a partner joining or leaving, or a new address.
How to apply
The request is filed online on the Corporations Authority site, using the form for the partnership type, general or limited. A lawyer has to verify the form, and the registration fee is paid in the same process.
A partnership that wants to register under the name it uses at the VAT department should say so in the request and attach the file number. The name is still subject to approval, so the Registrar suggests listing an alternative name as well, so the request does not stall if the first one is refused.
After registering, the partnership can ask the VAT department to switch its number to the one issued by the Corporations Authority and receive an updated osek murshe certificate. Plan that switch with your invoicing software and your largest customers in advance. A new business number affects every invoice issued after it, including requests for an allocation number on invoices above the threshold.
Partnerships that have stopped trading
A partnership that is no longer active but still has an open VAT file does not need to register. It needs to close the VAT file, and the Registrar asks that this be done soon. Owners winding the partnership down anyway can use the guide to closing a business, which covers the filings required at the Tax Authority and Bituach Leumi.
For questions about the process, the Corporations Authority refers callers to its service centre on *5601, extension 1, Sunday to Thursday from 8:00 to 16:00.