For US citizens & green-card holders · Updated September 2026

You own an apartment in Israel. The IRS still wants to hear about it.

Israel taxes the property. The United States taxes you — wherever you live, whatever passport you use day to day. Most American owners of Israeli property discover this the hard way, and usually not through the tax, but through the reporting forms that carry penalties even when nothing is owed.

Why a treaty does not save you

The United States and Israel have had an income tax treaty since 1975, and almost every American owner assumes it means one thing: pay in Israel, done. It does not.

US tax treaties contain a saving clause — a provision that expressly preserves the United States' right to tax its own citizens and residents as if the treaty did not exist. The treaty allocates taxing rights between the two countries and prevents genuine double taxation through credits. It does not exempt a US citizen from filing or from US tax.

It is worth knowing where that clause actually sits, because this treaty is not numbered the way most are. It dates from 1975 and predates the standard model: the saving clause is Article 6(3), under the heading "General Rules of Taxation" — "Notwithstanding any provisions of this Convention except paragraph (4), a Contracting State may tax its residents … and its citizens as if this Convention had not come into effect." Real property is Article 7, capital gains Article 15, and relief from double taxation Article 26. Anyone citing "Article 6 — Immovable Property" for Israel is quoting a different treaty.

Article 6(4)(a) is the part that rescues you. It lists the benefits the saving clause does not override, and Article 26 — the credit — is on that list. So the treaty takes back nearly everything from a US citizen living in Israel, and specifically leaves the foreign tax credit standing.

Article 7 itself is short and one-directional: income from real property "may be taxed by the Contracting State in which such real property … is situated", and that extends to "the usufruct, direct use, letting, or use in any other form of real property." Article 7(3) then goes somewhere unusually specific for a treaty — it gives Israel the right to tax gains on shares of "a real estate association (as defined in the Israeli Land Appreciation Tax Law)". If your Israeli property sits inside a real estate association rather than in your own name, the treaty has already contemplated you, and the analysis on these pages does not fit.

The practical consequence: your Israeli rental income belongs on a US return, your Israeli sale belongs on a US return, and relief comes as a credit for Israeli tax paid — not as an exemption from the US system.

The three things that actually apply

For a typical American who owns one apartment in Israel, three separate obligations run in parallel. They are not alternatives, and meeting one does not satisfy another.

A fourth item does not belong on that list, because it is not a separate obligation — it is an extra tax sitting on top of the first two. Above the income thresholds, both the rent and the eventual gain attract the 3.8% net investment income tax, and the foreign tax credit cannot be applied against it. The regulation and the Federal Circuit decisions of 31 August 2026 are set out on the rental income page.

The part that catches people: penalties without tax

The uncomfortable feature of US international reporting is that the largest exposures are usually not tax. They are information-return penalties, and they can apply in a year where you owed nothing at all — because the failure being penalised is the failure to file a form, not the failure to pay.

This is why "I paid my tax in Israel, so I'm fine" is the single most expensive assumption an American owner can make. The tax may indeed be covered by a credit. The forms are a separate question with separate consequences.

If you are already several years behind, do not simply start filing this year's forms and hope the past goes unnoticed. There are formal IRS procedures for coming into compliance, and which one fits depends on facts — including whether the failure was non-willful. That is a conversation to have with a professional before you file anything, not after.

What the Israeli side does not tell you

Israeli advisers are advising on Israeli tax, correctly. But two Israeli features have US consequences they will not usually raise:

In other words, the Israeli track that minimises Israeli tax is not automatically the track that minimises your total tax. That calculation has to be done across both countries at once.

Frequently asked questions

I live in Israel and pay Israeli tax. Do I still file in the US?

If you are a US citizen or green-card holder, yes. US tax obligations follow citizenship and residency status, not where you live. The US–Israel treaty contains a saving clause that expressly preserves the United States' right to tax its own citizens, so the treaty reduces double taxation through credits rather than removing the filing obligation.

Does the treaty mean I only pay tax once?

Broadly the intent is to prevent the same income being taxed twice in full, and the mechanism is the foreign tax credit rather than an exemption. You generally report the income on both sides and claim a credit in the US for Israeli tax paid. Whether a specific Israeli tax qualifies for the credit is a technical question — the flat 10% track on gross rent is the well-known problem case.

I have never filed any of this. What now?

Do not simply start with the current year and leave the past unaddressed. The IRS operates formal procedures for taxpayers coming into compliance, and eligibility depends on facts including whether past failures were non-willful. Which route fits is a decision to make with a US adviser before filing anything.

Does owning the apartment itself have to be reported?

Real estate held directly in your own name is not a specified foreign financial asset for Form 8938 purposes, so the apartment itself is generally not reported on that form. The Israeli bank account that receives the rent usually is reportable, and holding the property through an entity changes the analysis entirely.

Which article of the US-Israel treaty is the saving clause?

Article 6(3), under the heading General Rules of Taxation. The treaty dates from 1975 and is not numbered on the later standard model, so real property is Article 7, capital gains Article 15, and relief from double taxation Article 26. Article 6(4)(a) preserves the Article 26 credit from the saving clause, which is why a US citizen in Israel keeps the foreign tax credit but little else.

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