During a bookkeeping audit conducted in the last week of June in the jurisdictions of the Kfar Saba, Holon, and Ramla tax officials, a shoe store owner was surprised to discover that not only did she not owe any income tax, but that she was owed tens of thousands of shekels from the state.
As part of the operation, which was managed by Kfar Saba Tax Assessor, Pazit Kliman, visitors came to a number of stores in the area and inspected their income and payments to the Income Tax Office. When they arrived at the shoe store in Herzliya, the visitors, as part of routine procedure, contacted the chief collector at the office to inquire about the status of the business owners' debts.
During the conversation, it became clear that not only did they not have any debts, but they were entitled to a refund of NIS 65,000 that had not yet been transferred to them, since the letters informing them that they had been sent to the representative and in which they were asked to provide bank account details that could be credited - were never answered. The business owner was sure that it was a hoax and was not convinced even when she spoke to the chief tax collector herself. The next day, the woman appeared at the income tax office in Kfar Saba and was informed that the auditors had not "worked" on her and after she updated her bank account details, all the money was returned to her.
Over six million shekels in debt
During the operation, inspections were conducted at 508 businesses, where approximately 14% of business owners were found not to be recording income. Old debts were also collected during the operation by the National Collection Enforcement Unit at the Tax Authority, which collected approximately 6.2 million NIS during the operation. As is tradition, Income Tax auditors encountered new excuses explaining why income was not recorded: At a flower shop in the Bat Yam Mall, all income was put into a flower pot instead of the cash register. When the business owner was asked why she did not record the income, she said that she was alone and only helping her husband. At a food stand in the Holon Mall, 3,800 NIS were found that were not recorded. The taxpayer claimed that "she has permission from the Income Tax to record income only at the end of the day," but when the auditors checked, it turned out that income had not been recorded for a month and a half. A Druze food stall in the same mall did not record any revenue, and it turned out that the family that runs it has other stalls scattered in malls all over the country, and all of them have a history of concealing revenue.
The audits are being conducted as part of the Tax Authority's extensive campaign against tax evaders and black money, and as part of a directive to regional offices to increase enforcement activity and improve deterrence. One of the actions is conducting field operations aimed at bringing about true tax reporting and collection and increasing equality in the burden among citizens.
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