Globes, Levi-Weinrib,  21.09.2020 

"Unable to report", "Can not print certificates due to tax prevention", "The matter of examination" - these messages have been received in recent weeks by representatives, lawyers and accountants - real estate tax officials, after failing to complete the required procedures for their clients on the Tax Authority website To pay tax on real estate transactions.

"Globes" received a number of complaints that for the past three weeks it has not been possible to pay tax for many of the real estate transactions that have been made, and therefore the transaction cannot be completed. This is due to a malfunction in the online system of real estate taxation. At the same time, some of the representatives claim that even transactions that were approved before the failure, and for which the tax has already been paid, are stuck in the system because it is not possible to generate a tax payment certificate for them.

According to CPA Dorit Gabay, an expert in real estate taxation, founder and chairman of the Forum representing real estate taxation, recently the reporting system of real estate taxation is going from crisis to crisis. "From January this year we are experiencing crises in the real estate tax reporting system. In January there was an attack on the finance computers and real estate taxation did not work for three weeks, and everyone was required to submit the required permits and documents in real estate transactions. "Unfortunately, we were not informed at all that it was happening, and we are discovering this while using the system."

This time the glitch is apparently due to an upgrade of the real estate taxation computer systems. CPA Gabay: "In light of the introduction of a new application system for real estate taxation, a system that thinks that should automatically transfer cases for immediate approval of the real estate transaction without the need for examination by a human factor, a situation of stagnation has arisen in the system. "On the one hand, it is a welcome upgrade, which is supposed to shorten procedures for paying tax on real estate transactions, but on the other hand, it has caused all systems to collapse and representatives are unable to report transactions."

What is the nature of the fault?
"Everything is stuck. Representatives are on hold for over two weeks from the moment they reported the transactions, and do not receive tax assessments. It is not possible to proceed according to the deadlines set for reporting and payment because the system does not work. The most serious bug is that it is not possible to broadcast transactions that have more than one buyer or more than one seller.
"During the upgrade, they decided that at the moment they will only receive transactions that have one seller and one buyer. The rest of the deals are not handled at all, but also deals with a single seller and buyer, the representatives have to sit for hours on end, especially late at night, eleven or later, and try their luck to get the deal recorded.
"A one-on-one transaction will pass within a few days if special efforts have been made on the part of the representative, but the rest of the transactions are completely blocked.

One person who is supposed to give answers to hundreds of inquiries a day

Representatives in real estate transactions have been complaining for some time about the problem with real estate tax officials, and in recent days the WhatsApp groups of representatives in the field have been buzzing. The membership groups also include tax officials who are supposed to address the representatives, and the thousands of representatives in these groups are flooded with a variety of allegations. "I am trying to get paid again in the system and the system is writing to me that there is no debt. There is no answer in support," writes one representative. Another writes: "What is a mole prevention because of which certificates cannot be printed?".

Another representative repeatedly came across the message: "It is not possible to report a controversial amount", but he has no idea what exactly is controversial in the report he submitted, and there is also no one to answer him that question.

Another complaint addressed to the Authority reads: Moles (praise) dated 11 February 2020 have not yet been addressed. Assessment Numbers ... Tel Aviv Real Estate Taxation, for Treatment Soon to Be Admitted ".

Another representative writes to the representative of the Tax Authority: "Tidhar Shalom, I appeal to you for the third time, regarding the amendment of the purchase tax certificate, it is as an urgent matter. I also contacted the system and there is no response and service 1 parts 2 for each of them, as well as a partial registration of the sellers in a clear manner. These are 7 sellers. Please !! Please gallop, help me here. Thanks!".

Another representative writes: "Tidhar Shalom Rav, due to a malfunction in the representative system, it is not possible to issue purchase tax vouchers (Netanya) in the following three assessments: ... I will thank you for receiving purchase tax vouchers in a return e-mail."

The same Tidhar receives hundreds of similar messages a day. This is a representative of the Tax Authority, Tidhar Israeli, who stands alone in front of hundreds of thousands of representatives in the field of real estate taxation - lawyers, accountants and tax consultants - and moves as best he can between referrals. Representatives appreciate his work, and it is evident that he is striving to give an answer, but he is only one person.

Dealing with the corona stopped the response

According to Gabay, the problem is not only the fault, but also the fact that the manpower that was supposed to provide a solution in real estate taxation was assigned to other tasks. "Due to the demand for corona compensation and the load that is there, as well as the fact that some of the PA's passers-by in isolation or fell ill in Corona, some of the CBS (real estate taxation) call center staff were directed to help the Corona Grants Center.
"So in terms of manpower, HaMoked has become
meager. Of the representatives and the authority and he runs around among thousands of different representatives who approach him regarding several transactions each, and he collapses. We routed the manpower that was trained to provide a solution for real estate taxation to the center of the corona compensation and grants, and we have no solution. "

According to Gabay, an absurd situation has arisen where the online system does not work, the law prohibits the manual submission of real estate reports and there is no response at the CBS hotline. For customers. The state threw everything at the representatives, did not issue a notice of the malfunction and the customers call and go and explain to them why their real estate transaction is stuck. "

The Tax Authority stated that "In recent weeks, the Authority has been replacing the internal computer system used by tax assessors in real estate tax offices to generate assessments (the previous system has been in operation since the 1980s). The new system is an advanced system Several months, in some cases, automatic treatment of moles.

"Indeed, since the system was launched at the beginning of September, it has not been possible to actually produce such assessments until the system is stabilized in the coming days.

Moreover, the representatives can submit the reports in respect of the transactions in the normal way (so that there is no fear of delay in submitting reports). Law.

"Tax Authority employees are working intensively to complete the system implementation process in the coming days."