January 18, 2017 - Southern California Residents Plead Guilty to Hiding Millions of Dollars in Secret Foreign Bank Accounts
In August 2008, Azarian, also opened an undeclared account at Israeli Bank A in Israel, and in May 2009, he closed his undeclared account held at Credit Suisse and transferred the funds to Israeli Bank A. Azarian later partially declared this Israeli Bank A account on his individual income tax returns. At the time of its closure, Azarian’s undeclared account at Credit Suisse held assets valued at approximately $1,903,214.
January 18, 2017 - US shares details of 35,000 accounts with Israel under Fatca
“The Government of the United States is committed to further improve transparency and enhance the exchange relationship with Israel by pursuing the adoption of regulations and advocating and supporting relevant legislation to achieve such equivalent levels of reciprocal automatic information exchange.”
October 27, 2016 - US-Israel FATCA agreement enters into force
In September, Israel’s High Court rejected a challenge to laws implementing FATCA in Israel, concluding that the scheme did not invade the privacy of Israelis.
September 28, 2016 - First Israelis indicted from Panama Papers information
The arrest requests claimed that in 2008 the suspects, who are directors and shareholders in several companies in Israel and abroad, used a firm specializing in this field to open several companies in tax shelters (Anguilla, Belize and the British Virgin Islands), in order to conceal their ownership.
September 20, 2016 - FATCA US-Israel tax data exchange begins Sept 30
Israeli owners of US accounts and US citizens in Israel have until September 30 to object to information about them being disclosed to the IRS.
September 20, 2016 - Israeli Court Upholds FATCA Law
"In the modern world the right to privacy is very limited. The alternative to privacy is criminal acts of every kind. This is nothing new, except for the fact that it is regulated now under law and other mechanisms," Justice Meltzer said at the September 12 hearing.
September 13, 2016 - Why is Bank Leumi telling foreigners to close their accounts?
In 2014, Bank Leumi admitted it had conspired to aid and assist a minimum of 1,500 US taxpayers to prepare and present false tax returns to the US Internal Revenue Service by hiding income and assets in offshore bank accounts in Israel and elsewhere around the world.
September 12, 2016 - FATCA Delays Would Cause ‘Severe' Damage, Israel Says
The issue of complying with FATCA is huge in Israel, where as much as 5 percent of the population—some 300,000 to 400,000 people—hold U.S. citizenship. It's big for banks and other financial institutions as well, as they would face sanctions for noncompliance, including a 30 percent withholding tax on U.S.-sourced income payments.
September 6, 2016 - Judge Blocks Israeli FATCA Data Transfer As ‘Unfair’
Judge Hanan Meltzer has stopped the Israeli tax authority and financial institutions from handing information about the finances of around 300,000 US taxpayers living in the country to the IRS in direct contravention of FATCA.
September 2, 2016 - Court Bars Preparations to Share Tax Data with U.S.
A day before it was due to go into operation, Meltzer told the state to suspend work in the mechanism it had developed for sharing information on the accounts of U.S. citizens with banks or other financial accounts in Israel.
August 10, 2016 - Leumi employee hid account data in necklace
Bank Leumi said in response, "As the article says, this is an old affair currently handled by the California court. In December 2014, Leumi became the first and only Israeli bank to sign an agreement with US law enforcement authorities regarding activity with clients who are US taxpayers, which had put this affair behind.
August 2, 2016 - Israeli Bank Secrets Smuggled in Necklace to Help U.S. Tax Cheat
In 2007, Sarshar opened three accounts at Bank Leumi that he hid by placing them in the names of entities he created. Sarshar believed his new relationship manager “knew of his desire to keep his Bank Leumi accounts secret,” and she “acted accordingly,” according to his plea agreement.
August 2, 2016 - California Businessman Charged with Conspiring with Israeli Banks to Hide Income
“Mr. Sarshar stashed millions in secret foreign financial accounts in Israel and then sought to use these accounts to evade his U.S. tax obligations, seeking to cover his tracks along the way,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo. “The message of this case is clear: There are no safe havens. If you are concealing assets and income in undeclared offshore accounts – or are a banker, an asset manager or otherwise are assisting accountholders in such criminal conduct, your only viable option is to come forward and accept responsibility for your actions. Those who continue to violate U.S. tax laws will be held accountable and pay a heavy price.”
July 13, 2016 - Finance C'ttee approves FATCA compliance bill
The Knesset bill requires financial entities to disclose information about US citizens in Israel to the IRS.
July 12, 2016 - Knesset Panel Backs Law for Israel to Share Data With U.S. Tax Agency
Under the terms of the law, Israeli banks and financial institutions will have to provide information on accounts, including those held by American citizens and Green Card holders, to the Israel Tax Authority, which in turn will transfer it to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.