Client updates

Pursuant to the Registrar of Companies’ directives, every company incorporated in Israel, whether under local or foreign ownership, must file its reports and applications to the Registrar of Companies solely online, through the Corporations Authority’s website.

Under what circumstances will a court rule a transaction is an artificial transaction for tax purposes? In the case of Shalam Packaging Products Group, the district court rejected the tax assessor’s claims and ruled that the group’s restructuring was a legitimate business action and that the group did not execute the restructuring merely to reduce tax liabilities.

A new Israeli Supreme Court ruling states that, in particular instances, Israeli law will apply to engagements and agreements, even if those agreements stipulate that foreign law applies to them. In its decision, the court also issued several significant rulings that could affect commercial relations, in instances when cogent provisions of law apply.

Companies that did not report their digital address to the Registrar of Companies as part of their 2023 annual reports must report them in the 2024 reports. If they fail to do so, they may face fines and sanctions.

The recent preference shown by the administrators of the insolvent ISBECO company toward the purchase offer from Hacarem Spirit indicates that, despite economic logic suggesting otherwise, the highest monetary offer will not always be the winning bid in the process.

The Israel Competition Authority published a consent decree for public comment and ruled that Mizra and Zilber violated the Competition Law by exchanging sensitive business information during their transaction negotiations. Jointly, the companies must now pay a fine of ILS 1.5 million to the State treasury.

An Israeli court ruled that the Israel Tax Authority overcharged apartment sellers who rented out their apartments under the tax-exempt track up until their sale, by a total of more than ILS 100 million. This ruling has major consequences, since the State treasury will be forced to refund the tax overcharges to the apartment sellers who are part of the relevant class. The Israel Tax Authority is expected to appeal the ruling.

In Israel, voluntary liquidation is an orderly procedure that begins with the preparation and submission of a solvency statement by a company’s directors. This is followed by the shareholders’ approval of the liquidation, delivery of notices to the company’s creditors and the Registrar of Companies, and finally the company’s liquidation. It is crucial to conduct the procedure in an orderly manner to avoid exposures, fines, and debts.

Signing a prenuptial agreement has a critical impact not only on the division of property upon divorce, but also on the taxes a couple pays during marriage. It is important for couples to understand the economic advantages inherent in signing a prenuptial agreement and draw one up accordingly.

Contracts in the construction sector utilize various models for calculating the consideration. These models range from contracts aimed at maximizing accuracy to contracts aimed at maximizing certainty. A new Israeli court ruling creates ambiguity between the models and adversely impacts the status of lump-sum contracts.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority strictly interprets GDPR regarding data scraping, stating that data scraping will almost always be illegal.

A tax assessment dispute in Israel has led to a new court ruling dealing with relationships between subsidiaries in a multinational group and classification of the nature of the business activities that the companies provide to each other.

The Israel Securities Authority is tightening enforcement on companies, especially in the cryptographic assets sector, and is scrutinizing companies’ anti-money laundering procedures and policies and their implementation.

An Israeli court ordered the McDonald’s fast food chain to pay ILS 40,000 to Maayan Parti, a consumer reporter for Israel’s Channel 12 News, after McDonald’s used the reporter’s name without her consent in an advertising campaign for the chain’s ice cream.

Developed for over two years, the American Privacy Rights Act proposes establishing a nationwide standard for privacy and data security, to empower individuals to control their personal information, as part of their right to privacy.

Under MiCA, a critical aspect for non-EU crypto firms is the reverse solicitation exemption. This rule allows firms from outside the EU to offer crypto-asset services to EU clients without needing MiCA authorization.

The purpose of the draft bill is to increase transparency in the Israeli tax system in order to avoid a negative assessment of the State of Israel by the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information, as well as to increase efforts to combat unreported capital.

The Supreme Court noted that, by its nature, the essence of a brokerage transaction is joining two parties into one transaction. Therefore, treating the transaction as providing a service to each party separately—a foreign resident and an Israeli resident—does not reflect the true economic essence of the service.

The purpose of reducing convalescence days and freezing the pay rate in 2024 is to budget benefits for reservists.

The French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) fined a corporation for violation of the GDPR due to flaws in its personal data collection and user consent practices, even though the data was collected by a third party.