On December 9th 2015 the Israeli “Knesset” passed a new legislation [tax benefits and tax consulting law (legislation amendments) -2015] forcing certain legal\tax opinions to be reported to the ITA.
According to the new law one wishing to act in a manner not consisting with the ITA official position will be forced to report the existence of such legal\tax opinion of which he is basing his action upon.
The law defines an opinion as a written opinion signed by the opinion provider which allowed the receiver directly or indirectly a tax advantage.
The reporting duty applies in the following cases:
- When the fee paid to the provider of the opinion is in excess or equivalent to 100,000 NIS;
- When the opinion is a shelf opinion.
Furthermore when taking a position which is not consistent with the ITA, one must report such a position should it cause the following:
- When the tax advantage is in excess or equivalent to 5M NIS in a tax year or;
When the tax advantage is in excess or equivalent to 10M NIS during the following 4 tax years.