Clients updates / Real Estate Taxation

The Israel Tax Authority (ITA) published a new directive a few days ago that updates the rules for persons classified as disabled, blind, or injured during Israel’s various wars, and families of fallen soldiers.

The district court’s position in its recent ruling in the Ahuzat Allenby Ltd. case has significant implications for investors, developers and private individuals who purchase apartment buildings slated for demolition and are looking to change the zoning of the purchased properties.

The amended regulations, expected to come into effect in August 2024, improve the tax benefit track for new immigrants who are purchasing a first residence and are more lenient than the purchase tax track to which every Israeli resident is entitled when purchasing a first residence.

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.

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.

The Israel Tax Authority and the Real Estate Tax Appeals Committee disagree on the entitlement to the maximum exemption from land appreciation tax.

Israeli Minister of Finance Israel Katz’s plan to reduce purchase tax for investors has gone into effect. Until now, under plans advanced by the previous Minister of Finance, Moshe Kahlon, for lowering housing prices and pushing investors out of the real estate market, the purchase tax for investors went up from 5% to 8% for an apartment that was not the purchaser’s sole apartment.

The Law for Reducing the Use of Cash, which is scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2019, will have a significant impact on the real-estate sector.

The Israel Tax Authority (ITA) recently launched an application that allows anyone who previously executed a real-estate transaction to check whether he or she has a credit balance in respect of an overpayment of betterment tax or purchase tax.

The Israel Tax Authority (ITA) recently published a draft circular for public comment on the issue of classifying residential rent income. The ITA states that, according to its reasoning, income from the leasing of 10 or more apartments should be deemed business income.

A number of changes in the taxation of residential apartment sales will come into effect on January 2018.

The new law prescribes that, as of January 1, 2017, every taxpayer must pay tax annually (January through December) for every residential apartment that he owns in excess of two apartments, at the sum defined pursuant to the provisions of the law. The taxpayer will be allowed to choose which of his apartments he deems to be his first two apartments, and which shall be taxable under this law.