In the wake of Google’s huge $32 billion acquisition of Wiz, the Israel Tax Authority and the cybersecurity company are at loggerheads over the payment of the tax due, "Globes" has learned. The crux of the dispute is the sharp decline in the shekel-dollar exchange rate between the date the deal was announced a year ago and its completion yesterday. The four founders of Wiz will each be paid nearly $3 billion before tax, and i has been agreed with the state that the tax will be paid in dollars. In this way, the state will lose out by about 15% of the value of the deal due to the decline in the shekel-dollar rate. At the time the deal was announced, on March 18, 2025 the exchange rate was NIS 3.67/$, and now it is only NIS 3.09/$
However, the Tax Authority has informed those acting on behalf of the founders - Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Ami Luttwak and Roy Reznik - that if they wish to pay the tax in dollars, they must pay it according to the exchange rate at the time of the announcement of the deal - increasing the dollar amount in shekels by almost 19%.
The Wiz founders and their representatives are expected to submit a tax assessment to the Tax Authority in the coming days according to their interpretation, i.e. according to the lower and current exchange rate at the time of the closing of the deal, as is customary in the tax world and agreed upon by experts in the field.
In response to Wiz's claim, the Tax Authority may argue that the parties reached an agreement on the method of paying the tax in March 2025, and that according to legal precedents, the regulatory approval period, which lasted one year, is a condition that does not postpone the day of the sale.
Immediately thereafter, the Tax Authority is expected to cancel the assessment of the Waze founders and issue an independent assessment that calculates the tax rate according to the day the deal was first announced in March 2025.
If the Tax Authority's claim is accepted, not only will the founders pay a higher amount in dollars, they will also be forced to pay interest and linkage on the tax and also on the issue of intellectual property (IP).
This is the second dispute that has been revealed between the two sides, as Globes previously revealed a dispute over the tax rate that Wiz will pay on its IP. While the Tax Authority claims that the IP was developed in Israel, and therefore Wiz must pay tax in Israel - Wiz claims that the IP is held in the US under US law, and is therefore considered exempt from it.
No response has been forthcoming from either the Tax Authority or Wiz.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 12, 2026.
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