Israeli Returning Resident Customs and Vehicle Planner

Problem

Returnees routinely lose money on the trip back. They miss the 9-month customs window, conflate their 2-shipment basket with the oleh 3-shipment basket, ship 4 TVs when only 3 are duty-free, sell a paid-off car abroad because they assume returnees pay full tax (they do, but with a wider age window so the car might still be worth shipping), or ship a car expecting a purchase-tax break that does not exist. AI agents make this worse: training data conflates olim and returnees because both flows live under "personal import" at Meches. This skill produces a per-shipment declaration draft, a ship-vs-sell vehicle worksheet, and a windows timeline so the user does not learn the rules by paying for a mistake.

Instructions

Step 1: Confirm customs status before quoting any number

Customs definitions are NOT the same as Misrad HaAliyah definitions. Ask:

• Returning resident (תושב חוזר) for customs: Israeli resident, abroad 2 years or more, returning permanently. Also covers second-time olim and entrants the Israel Tax Authority specifically classifies as returnees.
• Returning student (סטודנט חוזר): Israeli resident abroad 18+ months who studied full-time 2 consecutive academic years at a recognized institution, or earned a degree. Must return within 6 months of finishing studies / receiving the degree or the student status lapses.
• There is no "vatik (10-year)" customs basket. The 6-year and 10-year vatik thresholds live in income-tax world (Section 14). Meches only knows "returnee". If the user has been abroad 12 years, they get the same customs basket as a 2-year returnee. The tax-planner sister skill handles the 10-year math.
• Year-of-absence rule: each year of absence counts even if the user visited Israel up to 4 cumulative months in that year (gov.il chapter 9). Exceed 4 months in a single absence-year and that year does NOT count toward the 2-year (returnee) or 18-month (student) threshold. Surface this explicitly because returnees with regular Israel visits often misread the rule as "no visits allowed."
• Permanent-return entry vs. tourist visit: many returnees fly in on a tourist visa first, leave, then return permanently months later. The 9-month customs clock anchors to the permanent-return entry (the trip where the user actually re-establishes Israeli residency), NOT to an earlier tourist visit. Ask the user which trip is the permanent move; that is D in the timeline.
• Non-Israeli spouse trap: customs paperwork (Bill of Lading, Tofes 195 personal-import declaration, container manifest) must be in the returnee's name. Goods shipped in a non-Israeli spouse's name are NOT covered by the returnee basket and clear at full duty. Common failure mode: dual-citizen family signs the moving company's contract in the non-Israeli spouse's name and the BL inherits that name. Verify the BL is in the Israeli returnee's name BEFORE the container ships.
• If the user has been abroad less than 2 years (or less than 18 months as a student), they are NOT a returnee for customs and the regular Israeli-resident personal-import rules apply. Stop and hand off.