CHAPTER TWO: POWER TO OBTAIN INFORMATION
203
Power to demand returns, information, account books etc.
135. In order to obtain complete information about a person's income –
(1) (a) the Assessing Officer may demand from him, by written notice, that
he deliver to him any return specified in that notice, including a
return of the capital and assets of that person or of his spouse and
of their children for whom they are entitled to credit points or
pension points, or of assets for which he serves as trustee of
another person; however, that person may refrain from including
the capital and assets of his spouse in the return if he attaches to
it a declaration signed by that spouse that he will submit a
separate return of his capital and assets; if such a declaration was
submitted, then the return shall be submitted when the spouse
must submit the said return; every return under this paragraph
shall be submitted to the Assessing Officer on the date specified in
the notice, but in respect of a capital declaration the date shall not
be set earlier than 120 days after the date to which the capital
declaration is to relate or after the date of the demand, whichever
is later; the Assessing Officer may also demand that the person
appear before him, in person or by a representative, and that he
deliver to him all the particulars required by the Assessing Officer
in order to ascertain his income and that he produce for
examination books, documents, accounts and returns which the
Assessing Officer deems necessary; however, the Assessing
Officer – other than an Assistant Assessing Officer or a Chief
Collector – may demand that he appear in person, either with or
without his representative, as that person wishes;
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (a), an individual
who became an Israel resident for the first time or a veteran
returning resident, as said in section 14(a), shall not have to
submit a return of his capital and assets abroad during ten years
after the date on which he became an Israel resident as aforesaid;
the provisions of this subparagraph shall not apply to capital and
assets, if the individual requested under the provisions of
subsection (a) of section 14 – in respect of all or part of the income
that stems from them – that the provisions of the said subsection
not apply to it, and not to any assets the individual received
exempt of tax under section 97(a)(5) on or after January 1, 2007.
(2) the Assessing Officer, or another officer authorized by him for this
purpose in writing, may enter any place in which a business or a
vocation is carried on, and examine stock in trade, the cash box,
machinery, books, accounts, vouchers, records and other documents
that relate to that business or vocation and demand explanations in
connection with them, and he may also demand that the owner of the
business or the practitioner of the vocation or his responsible clerk
show him where aforesaid books, accounts and documents are, enter
the place where they are located, examine them and demand
explanations if that appears necessary in order to ensure compliance
with the provisions of the Ordinance or to prevent an evasion of
compliance with those provisions;
(3) the Assessing Officer or a person authorized by him for this purpose in
writing may, while making an examination under paragraphs (1) or (2),
seize books, accounts, vouchers, records and other documents that 204
relate to that business or vocation, if he is convinced that it is necessary
to do so in order to ensure implementation of this Ordinance or to
prevent evasion of compliance with its provisions; however, the thing
seized –
(a) shall be removed from the place where it was seized only by
Order of the Assessing Officer, and for this purpose: "Assessing
Officer" – other than an Assistant Assessing Officer or a Chief
Collector;
(b) shall be returned within three months after the date of the
seizure, if a criminal action for an offense against this Ordinance
was not brought before then;
(4) the Assessing Officer may summon any person who has business
relations with the assessee and who he believes can testify on his
income, to appear before him and he may question him under oath or
not under oath and demand of the said person that he give him
documents that relate to that income; however, a clerk or authorized
agent or employee of the assessee or any other person employed in his
affairs on a basis of personal trust may only be questioned at the
assessee's demand, and the Assessing Officer shall not, on his own
initiative, interrogate the assessee's spouse, children or parents.

Power to demand information about suppliers and customers
135A.(a) If a person owns a business or practices a vocation, then he must – if
the Assessing Officer so demanded of him – deliver to the Assessing
Officer information and documents about his business relations with his
suppliers, customers or other persons with whom he has business
relations, even though that information and those documents are not
required to ascertain his income; however, if he notified the Assessing
Officer within 15 days after the day on which he received the demand
that it involves much administrative work, then he must enable the
Assessing Officer to collect the said information and documents
himself.
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not obligate an advocate,
physician or psychologist to disclose any information or document
which he is bound to keep secret under any statute.

Power to demand a return about employees from employer
136. (a) Every employer must, if required to do so by a notice from the
Assessing Officer and within the time set by the notice, prepare and
deliver a return for any year, which includes the names and places of
residence of persons employed by him and the payments and
allowances made to them for their employment by him; the provisions of
this Ordinance about failure to deliver returns or particulars demanded
by an Assessing Officer apply to the said return, but an employer shall
not be liable to a penalty for omitting from the return the name or place
of residence of any person employed by him and not employed in any
other employment, if the Assessing Officer finds, on inquiry, that that
person has no chargeable income.
(b) If the employer is a body of persons, then the manager or other
principal officer shall be deemed the employer for purposes of this
Chapter, and every company director or person engaged in a
company's management shall be deemed to be employed by it.

Power to demand return of income received for or paid to another person 205
137. When a person – no matter in what capacity – receives profits or income to
which this Ordinance applies and which belong to a certain person, or if he
pays said profits or income to a certain person or to his order, then the
Assessing Officer may give that person notice, demanding that he submit –
within the time set in it, which shall not be less than 30 days after the day of
its service – a return that shall contain true and correct disclosure of all those
profits and income, and the name and address of that certain person.

Power to demand return from a house occupant
138. The Assessing Officer may give any person who occupies any house
property, land or industrial building, a written notice demanding that within a
reasonable time he submit `a return that includes the name and address of
the owner of that house property, land or industrial building, and a true and
correct statement of the rent paid and other consideration given for it.

Power to demand return about lodgers and tenants
139. The Assessing Officer may give a person written notice, demanding that he
submit – within the time set in it, which shall not be less than 30 days after the
day of its service – a return that includes the name of every lodger or tenant
who resides in his house, hotel or institution on the date of the notice and who
resided there during all of the preceding three months, except for temporary
absences.

Power to demand official information
140. Notwithstanding the provisions of any other statute, the Assessing Officer
may require any employee of a public body to supply any particular that is
needed for purposes of this Ordinance, which that employee has or knows,
but no aforesaid employee shall, by virtue of this section, be obligated to
disclose any particular that he is required to keep secret in accordance with
the Statistics Ordinance 1947, the Postal Bank Law 5711-1951, or the Bank
of Israel Law 5714-1953; an employee, required as aforesaid, shall supply the
particulars within 30 days after the day of the demand or at another time
stated in the demand; for the purposes of this section: "public body" – the
State, any body subject to audit by the State Comptroller, and any other body
which the Minister of Finance, with approval by the Knesset Finance
Committee, declared a public body.

Obtaining information from the National Insurance Institute
140A. (a) Without derogating from the provisions of section 140 and
notwithstanding the provisions of any statute, the Director is entitled to
receive from the National Insurance Institute any information
designated under subsection (b), which reached the National Insurance
Institute in the performance of its duties and which the Director requires
for the exercise of his responsibilities under any statute.
(b) The Minister of Finance shall – with the consent of the Minister of
Justice, in consultation with the Minister of Welfare and with approval
by the Knesset Finance Committee – designate the categories of
information, which the Director is entitled to receive under the
provisions of subsection (a).

Duty to notify of agreement for net payment
141. If a person undertook in an agreement to pay to another work income of not
less than a certain amount after deduction of tax under section 164, then both
the payor and the recipient must give notice thereof to the Director within 30 206
days after the day on which the agreement was made, specifying in it the
particulars of the agreement and every other particular that relates to it and
that the Director shall demand, and if the agreement was in writing, a copy of
it shall be attached to the notice.



CHAPTER THREE: MISCELLANEOUS

Assessing Officer may demand supplementary returns
142. The Assessing Officer may give a person written notice, at any time and as
often as he deems necessary, in which he shall be required to furnish – within
a reasonable time set in the notice – more complete or additional returns on
any matter on which a return is required or prescribed by this Ordinance.

Preparation of return by another person
143. If a person helps another person, against payment, to prepare a return,
notification, form or other document for a purpose of this Ordinance, then he
shall declare on that document that he helped to prepare it.

Returns deemed to be delivered by due authority
144. (a) A return, statement or form purporting to be delivered under this
Ordinance by or in the name of a certain person, shall for all purposes
be deemed to have been given by that person or with his permission,
unless the contrary is proven, and every person who signs any return,
statement or form shall be deemed to be cognizant of all matters in it.
(b) If a registered spouse alone signed any return, statement or form, then
he shall be deemed to hold a power of attorney from his spouse to sign
in his name.

Service on the Assessing Officer of copy of an action
144A. If an assessee brings action in any Court, based on the amount of his income
from any source, then he shall deliver a copy thereof to the Assessing Officer
with whom his file is kept; if he has no file, he shall deliver the copy to the
Income Tax Director.