Governing the Israeli people has always been difficult, but the proposed changes to the judicial system are proving especially challenging and divisive. The people are split down the middle, Israel’s economy and credit rating may or may not be affected, and the world is looking on. So what are the ... Read More

The Israeli District Court has just clarified a Supreme Court ruling on artificial or fictitious transactions under Israel’s general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) in Section 86 of the Income Tax Ordinance (Spector vs Large Enterprises Assessing Officer Civil Appeal 5366-05-20 of December 7, 2022). If the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) invokes GAAR, ... Read More

What happens if you are resident in Israel and sell a home you lived in without proper planning consent – do you get the exemption from Land Appreciation Tax (LAT, or Mas Shevach in Hebrew)? Or do you pay LAT at rates ranging up to 50%? Over the years many ... Read More

The Israeli Tax Authority (ITA) published more reportable tax positions on December 28, which are similar to reportable tax shelters in the US and UK. But the ITA also uses them to impose its interpretation of the tax law in non-tax shelter cases. The latest batch relates to the 2022 tax ... Read More

On December 8, 2022, the Senior Deputy Director of the Israeli Tax Authority (ITA), Mr Roland Am-Shalem issued guidance on preparing for Country by Country (CbC) reports by large multinational groups. This followed new tax regulations of September 20 which expanded the transfer pricing reporting requirements in Israel for medium-large multinational ... Read More

A new free trade agreement between South Korea and Israel came into force in Israel under a Customs Tariff Order published December 5, 2022  (Customs Tariff Order and Purchase Tax Exemptions for Goods (Amendment) 2022, (Kovetz Takanot 2045)). The free trade agreement runs to over 500 pages and deals not only ... Read More

The Israeli tax year ends soon, on December 31. There may be many things to consider including those outlined briefly below. The Big Picture: With the pandemic support payments and many other things to pay for, it seems fair to assume Israeli tax rates won’t be falling in the foreseeable future. Layoffs, ... Read More

Below is a round-up of some interesting recent happenings on the tax scene. Seizing assets from employees: Can assets be seized from an employee who allegedly participates in a big tax fraud? If so, how much can be seized? The Israeli Supreme Court ruled on this issue recently (State of Israel vs. ... Read More