Special to VINNEWS by Chanan Shaked
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It is called “mezuman” in Hebrew and it is about to become illegal. On August 1st, a new law is about to take effect which will ban all large payments in cash and in bank checks.
Israel’s Tax Authority states that the goal of the new law is to fight three things:
- Organized Crime
- Money Laundering
- and non-compliance of the payment of taxes.
Any payment that is more than 6000 NIS must now be made with either a debit card or through a digital transfer. That is about $1700. Thankfully, however, for non business owners who are private citizens – the limitation is 15,000 NIS which is $4360 in US money.
Tzedaka organizations are exempt, however, but they must be an amutah – which is the equivalent in Israel of the American 501-C-3. Another exception is trade with Palestinians from the West Bank, who are not citizens of Israel.
The exceptions are temporary, however, and are just meant to give people time.
A gelechter, like the Israelis who live underground – drugs, diamonds, weapons, Swiss accounts, are going to care.
How will this get enforced ?
I see the fingerprints of the Minister of Finance all over this new law. The corps of private Israeli collectors who receive cash donations, especially on their trips abroad, will have to figure out how to avoid getting them into a bank account where receipts can be audited and potentially taxed. Builders and real estate agents who now accept huge amounts of cash in connection with closings on apartments will be subject to prosecution.
I suspect that the bulk of Israelis who work for a living and pay their taxes as required fully support the new regulations..
This sentence needs clarification as it appears contradictory. “The exceptions are temporary, however, and are just meant to give people time”
Cryptocurrency is the way to go. Bitcoin, specifically, is a great parnasa.