Tax authority started chasing Israelis holding accounts abroad and arrested three

The tax authority has started chasing Israelis holding accounts abroad. The Authority began investigations following information transmitted to Israel as part of the extensive exchange of information with European countries.
The Tax Authority has arrested three Israelis - Aharon Winkler, Shai Tzur and Maya Bankov-Tzur - on suspicion of failure to report overseas bank accounts and other tax offenses.
The three were arrested as part of two different investigations conducted by Diamond Unit and Mole Investigator Haifa and Northern Investigations, after their names were included in a list of overseas bank account holders accepted under agreements and exchange of information between European countries and tax authorities in accordance with the Common Reporting Standard CRS. These are the first arrests of Israelis following the CRS regulations, after information began to flow to the Tax Authority in July this year.
The arrest request of Aaron Winkler, a shareholder and CEO of AutoWorks Ltd., which deals with the import of auto parts, indicates that Winkler, a resident of Tel Aviv, filed a voluntary disclosure request in 2015, stating income from abroad, but his request was rejected. In 2016, Winkler chose to sign his Tax Change Assessment Initiative by 2014, stating his existing income in overseas bank accounts. As a condition of the agreement, it was held that from the date of signature, Winkler would declare his entire income to the tax authority.
Winkler's name appeared on the CRS list relating to the years following the signing of the assessment agreement. An in-depth review revealed that during 2018, Winkler filed the 2016 financial statement and did not declare that he had a bank account overseas with over NIS 1,850,000. In addition, he also failed to submit the reports he owed him for 2017-2018.
The investigation also revealed that Winkler's sister earned NIS 1,380,000 between 2012-2018, when she was not actually working for the company. In doing so, he gave his sister false salaries, demanded false salary expenses in the company and reduced the company's taxable income, thereby avoiding the cumulative tax payment of hundreds of thousands of shekels.
Winkler was brought to trial by Judge Marb Greenberg in Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court, and released to his home under restrictive conditions.
The arrest request of Shai Tzur and Maya Bankov Tzur, residents of Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek whose name appeared on the CRS lists, shows that the two hold several bank accounts in Norway amounting to NIS 2,500,000. The money, it is alleged, is deposited in an investment house and bank in Norway, where it carries profits. It is suspected that from 2013 to the present, the suspects did not report the existence of a bank account abroad nor the income they received from interest, dividend and other income.
Justice Ziv Arieli of the Haifa Magistrate's Court accepted the request of a mole official for investigations in Haifa and the north and released the two on restrictive terms.