"Despite the tax authority's voluntary reporting campaign uncovering NIS 12 billion in capital held abroad by Israelis, this is only the tip of the iceberg. We are in constant contact with various bodies to receive further lists of Israeli activities overseas," Tax Authority head Moshe Asher told the annual STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) conference today.
Asher was reacting to the revelations earlier this week by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists about the large number of Israelis exploiting tax havens and said that the voluntary reporting campaign was not enough to locate the vast amount of black capital held abroad.
He said, "We are considering renewing the voluntary reporting program beyond this specific campaign. If you have black money abroad now is the time to report it."
Asher added that the tax authority is expanding its sources of information about Israelis in Israel and abroad. "The authority is pushing forward legislation about the automatic exchange of information with countries that don't have a tax covenant with Israel, and making intelligence efforts to locate assets and capital of Israelis in Israel and abroad, and promoting information transfer procedures as part of the US FACTA Foreign Account Tax Compliance Account."
Asher also said that the tax authority is setting up a unit of analysts to locate black capital overseas, which would be passed on to the tax authority's intelligence network.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 18, 2013
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