Your obligations as a business using Fatoora

Fatoora is a tool. Some of what Israeli law asks of a business issuing digital tax documents is your own responsibility as the business, not something software can do for you. This page lists those obligations in plain words.

1. Notify your assessing officer before your first digital document

Bookkeeping instruction 18ב(ב) requires a business to notify its assessing officer (פקיד השומה) by registered mail before issuing its first computerised tax document. Do this once, before you start issuing from Fatoora. A short template letter — in Hebrew, as the notice itself must be — is below: fill in the blanks and send it by registered mail.

2. Tell your assessing officer where your backup is kept

Bookkeeping instruction 25(ו)(2) requires you to tell your assessing officer, in writing, where the backup of your computerised records is kept. For a business using Fatoora, the answer is: Amazon Web Services, Tel Aviv region (Israel). The template letter above already includes this — one letter can cover both notices.

3. Get your customers' consent before sending documents digitally

Bookkeeping instruction 18ב(ג) requires a customer's consent before they are sent a computerised document, obtained before the first one. When you send through Fatoora's own link, the link itself asks the customer to agree before showing them the document, and Fatoora keeps that record for you. If you rely on your own confirmation instead — because you already have the customer's agreement some other way, such as in person — you must keep the written proof of it yourself: a signed letter, an email, or a WhatsApp message, for instance.

4. Keep your records for seven years

Tax documents must be kept for seven years from the end of the relevant tax year. Fatoora keeps them for you automatically, for the full period, as described in the Privacy Policy — there is nothing extra for you to do.

5. Keep your records in Hebrew or Arabic

Bookkeeping instruction 21(ב) requires that your records be kept in Hebrew or Arabic. Fatoora enforces this: descriptions and notes typed onto a document must be in Hebrew or Arabic.

6. Take payment in a way that identifies both sides

Bookkeeping instruction 18ב(ד) applies to computerised documents like the ones Fatoora sends, which carry a secure electronic signature. It expects the customer to pay by credit card, by a crossed cheque marked "לא סחיר" made out to you, or by bank transfer. Fatoora still lets you record cash and ordinary cheques and send the document digitally. Following this rule when you take cash or an ordinary cheque is your responsibility — ask your accountant how to handle those payments.