Israeli Tax Alerts | Practical Interpretations | 2008-2020

231 The judge claims that in accepting the claim while retaining the immunity from criminal charges, there is an egregious violation (emphasis in the original!) of the delicate balance at the foundation of the Voluntary Disclosure Procedure, and this claim displays a lack of good faith. We believe that there's good news in this ruling, despite denial of the request; specifically, the possibility of taxation of income for the years in which the statute of limitations has expired. What follows from the ruling is that while the Voluntary Disclosure process grants immunity from criminal charges, taxation of income from more than ten years prior is legitimate. We believe this is not the case in standard civil tax assessment procedures; as long as the taxpayer was not convicted of a crime or paid a forfeiture, he will not receive a tax assessment and the Tax Authority will not be authorized to tax him on the years preceding the statute of limitations. This would certainly apply to cases where non - reporting on past income was due to error or was not a result of premeditated planning and intent. We'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that the current Voluntary Disclosure Program will expire at the end of 2019 and the Tax Authority has already announced that it does not anticipate an extension or a renewed program. (November 2019)