Former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit defeated the Tax Authority and the Pensions Administration in the Treasury in a class-action lawsuit filed on the advice of his accountant.
Weksler, Kodenzik, Enoch & Co. examined his income tax statement and found that Shavit deserved an additional tax credit under Amendment 190 to the Income Tax Ordinance. The details of the arrangement were given to Maariv exclusively.
According to the lawsuit, the tax refund rate granted to Shavit was estimated at about NIS 100,000. Yet, the tax authority initially refused to grant the request, so a class action lawsuit was filed in March 2018.
A compromise settlement was reached and submitted in early 2021 for approval by the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court.
The arrangement concerns a defined group entitled to tax refunds, and the position of the tax authority is that it didn’t accept the claims of the plaintiffs. It obliges the Treasury and the Pensions Administration to publish in the press notices of the principles of the arrangement presented.
Under the arrangement, any retiree who received a pension from the state in the six years prior to the filing of the claim (i.e from 2012) and didn’t seek to monetize this annuity is entitled to a refund.
Reimbursement is conditional on the state deducting withholding tax from its allowance, without regard to the additional exemption due to it as stated under section 190.
The Pensions Administration in the Treasury will receive from the tax authority the list of beneficiaries. The tax authority must notify anyone who is eligible so they can claim the money they deserve.
Shavit told Maariv that his accountant, who handled the finances of a company he owned, drew his attention to eligibility for reimbursement and that he himself didn’t personally address this issue.