Companies in Israel are registered by רשם החברות (the Registrar of Companies), one of the registrar units of רשות התאגידים (the Israeli Corporations Authority) inside משרד המשפטים (the Ministry of Justice). All filing and searching is done through the Authority’s portal תאגידים ברשת (Corporations Online). Basic company data is free, while the paid נסח חברה (company extract) — now issued in Hebrew and in English — sets out shareholders, directors and registered charges. Financial statements are not filed with the register.

The official company register in Israel

The register of companies is maintained by יחידת החברות / רשם החברות (the Companies Unit, or Registrar of Companies), which registers companies, receives and checks the reports companies must file, registers and releases charges, and handles voluntary liquidations, mergers and revivals under חוק החברות, תשנ"ט-1999 (the Companies Law, 5759-1999) and פקודת החברות [נוסח חדש], תשמ"ג-1983 (the Companies Ordinance [New Version], 5743-1983). The online portal is תאגידים ברשת (Corporations Online).

The Registrar of Companies is not a stand-alone office. It is one unit of רשות התאגידים (the Israeli Corporations Authority), established in 2007 within the Ministry of Justice to bring together the state’s registers of corporate bodies. The Authority comprises רשם החברות (Registrar of Companies), יחידת רשם השותפויות (Registrar of Partnerships Unit), יחידת רשם המשכונות (Registrar of Pledges Unit), יחידת רשם העמותות וחברות לתועלת הציבור (Registrar of Associations and Public Benefit Companies Unit), יחידת רשם ההקדשות (Registrar of Endowments Unit), יחידת רשם המפלגות (Registrar of Parties Unit) and רישום שמות עסק (business names registration).

Israel therefore has separate registers for different kinds of business, all under one authority, and the practical answer to “where is the company registered” depends on the form:

  • Companies — including חברה פרטית, חברה ציבורית and חברת חוץ — are entered in the register kept by the Registrar of Companies.
  • שותפות כללית (general partnership) and שותפות מוגבלת (limited partnership) — registered by the Registrar of Partnerships Unit under פקודת השותפויות [נוסח חדש], תשל"ה-1975 (the Partnerships Ordinance [New Version], 5735-1975), which requires a partnership carrying on business to be registered.
  • Individual entrepreneurs — there is no register of sole traders. A person trading alone is a עוסק פטור (exempt dealer) or עוסק מורשה (licensed dealer) registered with רשות המסים (the Israel Tax Authority) for VAT purposes only. What such a person can register with the Corporations Authority is a שם עסק (business name), under פקודת רישום שמות עסק, 1935 (the Business Names Registration Ordinance, 1935) — a record of a trading name, not of a business entity.
  • אגודה שיתופית (cooperative society) — the kibbutz, moshav, agricultural, transport and housing cooperative form is registered outside the Corporations Authority altogether, by רשמת האגודות השיתופיות (the Registrar of Cooperative Societies) at משרד הכלכלה והתעשייה (the Ministry of Economy and Industry).

Legal forms that can be registered in Israel

Companies under the Companies Law, 5759-1999:

  • חברה פרטית (Private Company), suffix בע"מ — the standard Israeli company: it may have a single shareholder and a single director, may not offer shares to the public, and shareholder liability is normally limited to the unpaid amount on the shares.
  • חברה ציבורית (Public Company) — a company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange or have been offered to the public; subject to the reporting and governance regime supervised by רשות ניירות ערך (the Israel Securities Authority), including a requirement for external directors and an audit committee.
  • חברה לתועלת הציבור, חל"צ (Public Benefit Company) — a company whose objects are exclusively public and which may not distribute profits to its members; it is registered as a company but supervised by the Registrar of Endowments and Public Benefit Companies.
  • חברה מוגבלת בערבות (Company Limited by Guarantee) — a company in which members undertake to contribute a fixed sum, used mainly for non-profit and public-benefit purposes rather than for trading.
  • חברה שאינה מוגבלת (Unlimited Company) — a company whose shareholders bear unlimited liability for its obligations; permitted but rare in practice.
  • חברת חוץ (Foreign Company) — a company incorporated abroad that wishes to maintain a place of business in Israel must register with the Registrar of Companies, appoint a local representative for service and file its constitutional documents and particulars of its directors.

Partnerships under the Partnerships Ordinance:

  • שותפות כללית (General Partnership) — two or more persons carrying on business together, each jointly and severally liable without limit; registration with the Registrar of Partnerships is required for a partnership formed to carry on business.
  • שותפות מוגבלת (Limited Partnership) — at least one general partner with unlimited liability who manages the business, together with limited partners whose liability is capped at their contribution and who may not take part in management. The standard vehicle for Israeli venture capital and private equity funds.
  • שותפות חוץ (Foreign Partnership) — a partnership formed outside Israel that carries on business in Israel and must be registered locally.

Non-profit and mutual forms:

  • עמותה (Association) — a membership-based non-profit legal person under חוק העמותות, תש"ם-1980 (the Associations Law, 5740-1980); the usual form for charities, NGOs and community organisations. It replaced the Ottoman association, which can no longer be newly registered.
  • הקדש ציבורי (Public Endowment) — a charitable trust created by deed under חוק הנאמנות, תשל"ט-1979 (the Trust Law, 5739-1979) and supervised by the Registrar of Endowments; it has no members.
  • אגודה שיתופית (Cooperative Society) — a member-owned society under פקודת האגודות השיתופיות (the Cooperative Societies Ordinance), registered by the Registrar of Cooperative Societies at the Ministry of Economy and Industry.
  • מפלגה (Political Party) — registered by the Registrar of Parties Unit under חוק המפלגות, תשנ"ב-1992 (the Parties Law, 5752-1992).

Unincorporated activity:

  • עוסק פטור / עוסק מורשה (Exempt Dealer / Licensed Dealer) — an individual trading in his own name, personally liable without limit, with no entry in any corporate register; the distinction between the two statuses is a VAT threshold matter for the Israel Tax Authority.
  • שם עסק (Registered Business Name) — a trading name registered with the Corporations Authority by an individual, partnership or company that trades under a name other than its own.

Information available from the register

Israel separates free identification data from paid substantive data, and the boundary is precise. The free company information service on Corporations Online returns the מספר חברה (company number, the nine-digit ח.פ.), the registered name, the type of company, whether it is limited or unlimited, its legal status, its registered address, its objects and description, information on outstanding annual-fee debts, and any warning that the company is about to be declared a חברה מפרת חוק (law-violating company) for failure to file. The same free service issues approvals and refusals, including certificates, for filings handled from November 2017 onwards.

The paid נסח חברה (company extract) is the core due-diligence document and is available in Hebrew and, since 2026, directly in English. It adds the date on which the last annual report was filed, the composition of the share capital, the list of shareholders, the list of directors, and the list of registered charges with the type of charge, the dates on which it was created and registered and a description of the assets charged. An extended version of the extract is offered at no additional charge and draws in data from other public bodies, including registered patents, restrictions recorded by the Bank of Israel, Innovation Authority grants and the contractor registers of the labour and housing ministries.

Beyond the extract, תיק חברה (the company file) can be ordered by anyone: it contains every document the company has filed since registration — certificate of incorporation, certificates of change of name, articles of association and the rest — scanned and secured with an electronic signature, so that a printout is admissible in court and before government bodies.

Two search tools go further than most registers allow. חיפוש הפוך (reverse search) identifies all companies and partnerships in which a given person or corporation holds or has held office — a genuine officer-history search, although it excludes public benefit companies and requires national digital identification and a fee. עץ בעלויות (the ownership tree), a service the Authority describes as still in development, presents shareholders hierarchically with their status and percentage held and can be expanded through successive layers towards the ultimate owner. Aggregate data files on all registered companies and partnerships are also published as open datasets.

What the register does not disclose

No accounts are filed. The Israeli דוח שנתי (annual report) is a report on officers, shareholders, capital and address, not a financial filing; ordinary companies do not lodge financial statements with the Registrar at all. Financial disclosure exists only for reporting corporations, which publish their statements through the electronic disclosure system of the Israel Securities Authority.

There is no public register of beneficial owners. Registered shareholders are disclosed in the extract, and the ownership tree helps trace corporate chains, but where a registered holder is a nominee, a trustee or a foreign vehicle the person ultimately behind it is not recorded as such.

The free service deliberately excludes person-level data: shareholders, directors and charges appear only in the paid extract. Reverse search and the ownership tree require an Israeli national digital identity, which in practice limits their use from abroad. Cooperative societies are not in the companies register, and sole traders leave no corporate record at all, so their existence can be confirmed only through a registered business name or tax registration.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

  • תעודת התאגדות (Certificate of Incorporation) — issued under section 10(d) of the Companies Law as proof that the company was lawfully registered in the register of companies of the State of Israel. Available on paper or in digital form with identical legal validity, and issued in Hebrew and English for companies and partnerships registered or renamed since 2025.
  • תעודת שינוי שם (Certificate of Change of Name) — evidences a change of corporate name while preserving the company number, so obligations undertaken under the former name remain traceable.
  • תקנון (Articles of Association) — the company’s constitution, setting out its name, objects, share capital, and the rules on shareholders’ liability, organs and decision-making. Required to establish who may bind the company.
  • נסח חברה (Company Extract), in Hebrew or English — the consolidated register entry: identity and status, date of the last annual report, share capital, shareholders, directors and registered charges with descriptions of the charged assets.
  • תיק חברה or תיק חל"צ (Company File or Public Benefit Company File) — the complete set of documents filed since registration, electronically signed and admissible as evidence once printed. The definitive source when the extract alone is not enough.
  • דוח שנתי (Annual Report) — the annual statement of officers, shareholders, share capital and registered address, from which the currency of the register entry can be judged.
  • מסמכי שעבודים (Charge Documents) — the instruments registering, amending and releasing charges over company assets, together with the details of the secured property. Central to lending and asset purchases.
  • מסמכי פירוק מרצון, מיזוג והחייאה (Voluntary Liquidation, Merger and Revival Documents) — the filings evidencing that a company has begun liquidation, merged into another company or been revived after dissolution.
  • אישורים וסירובים (Approvals and Refusals) — the registrar’s formal decisions on filings, available for matters handled from November 2017, used to prove that a change was accepted or rejected on a given date.
  • תעודת רישום שם עסק (Business Name Registration Certificate) — the certificate for a registered trading name, which links the name to the individual, partnership or company behind it.
  • נסח שותפות (Partnership Extract) — the corresponding extract for a general or limited partnership, showing the partners, the general and limited partner roles and the registered particulars.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official business register in Israel?

It is the register kept by רשם החברות (the Registrar of Companies), a unit of רשות התאגידים (the Israeli Corporations Authority) within the Ministry of Justice. Filing and searching are done through the תאגידים ברשת (Corporations Online) portal at ica.justice.gov.il.

Can I check an Israeli company for free?

Partly. The free service gives the company number, name, type, limited or unlimited status, legal status, address, objects, fee-debt information and any warning of imminent declaration as a law-violating company. Shareholders, directors and charges appear only in the paid company extract.

Are the financial statements of Israeli companies public?

Only for reporting corporations. The annual report filed with the Registrar covers officers, shareholders and capital rather than accounts; companies whose securities are offered to the public disclose their financial statements through the Israel Securities Authority instead.

What does a נסח חברה contain?

The company name and number, address and legal status, the date the last annual report was filed, the composition of the share capital, the list of shareholders, the list of directors, and the registered charges with their type, dates and the assets charged. It is issued in Hebrew and in English.

Do sole traders and partnerships appear in the register?

Partnerships do: a general or limited partnership carrying on business must be registered with the Registrar of Partnerships. Sole traders do not — they register with the Israel Tax Authority as an exempt or licensed dealer, and may separately register a business name with the Corporations Authority.

Can the ownership chain of an Israeli company be traced?

To a considerable extent. Registered shareholders are shown in the company extract, the reverse search lists the companies and partnerships in which a person holds or held office, and the ownership tree service builds a hierarchical view of shareholdings towards the ultimate owner. There is, however, no dedicated public beneficial-ownership register, so nominee and trustee holdings are not identified as such.

Sources

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