Last update - 00:00 20/02/2008
Business owners in north told to return Lebanon war compensation
By TheMarker
About 1,000 business owners in the northern part of the country recently received a letter demanding they return all or part of the compensation they received from the state following the Second Lebanon War.
The business owners were surprised, and appalled, to learn that according to the Tax Authority calculations, the compensation paid them was too high because, the Authority says - the damage to their businesses was not caused directly by the 2006 war, but by a combination of causes.
The businesses in question are vendors who received compensation in the framework of the so-called "green track," which utilized an assessment formula drawn up by the Tax Authority.
The compensation was calculated automatically. The formula was based on the difference between a business's turnover before the war and during five-week hostilities. Use of the green track was intended to speed up the process by which payments were issued to floundering businesses, which were for the most part completely stalled during the war as much of the population fled the missile attacks peppering the north of Israel.
After the war, the Tax Authority conducted an audit on compensation paid out, and found about 1,000 firms that it claims were overpaid.
A businessman in Kiryat Shmona who employs four workers recently received a demand for immediate return of part of the sum he received.
The letter from the treasury explained that the financial harm his business suffered had not been caused exclusively by the war.
But the business owner disagrees. "The business was completely closed down for a month during the war, so I don't understand how more harm could have been done." He added that forcing him to repay the amounts demanded would constitute a death blow to his firm, which has not yet recovered completely from the war.
Attorney and accountant Rami Arye said that 20% of the northern business owners had appealed the amount of compensation they received, but two years after the war, the appeals committee had not yet begun to operate.
"The Tax Authority has not established an appeals committee to address the claims of these businesses, and yet is demanding immediate payment of the reimbursements. It makes no sense," Arye said.