Sanctions expand: All yeshivas where draft dodgers study will not receive tax benefits
A few weeks ago, the Tax Authority began revoking tax benefits only from yeshivas that requested the appropriate approvals for the first time. Now, the Authority is demanding that all Haredi institutions declare that no draft dodgers from IDF service are studying there.
Economic sanctions on Haredi institutions where draft dodgers study are expanding: In recent days, the Tax Authority sent about a thousand letters to Haredi institutions with a demand to declare unequivocally that no yeshiva students who are dodging IDF service are studying there. Otherwise, the Authority will be forced to revoke their tax exemption on donations, which can accumulate to hundreds of millions of shekels per year.
A few weeks ago, the Tax Authority began applying the sanction partially, only to yeshivas that requested the exemption benefit for the first time under Section 46, and did not have valid approvals from the past. Now, the expansion of the sanction applies to all yeshivas and Haredi educational institutions, including those that had already obtained valid approvals for the exemption.
A letter sent by the Tax Authority to the institutions' managers indicates that the yeshivas will have to declare clearly in the coming weeks that no student who has dodged military service is studying there, even though they were required to do so by law, and certainly that no deserters or those who have not settled their status with the IDF authorities are studying there. Failure to comply with these conditions will immediately lead to the revocation of all approvals granted to the institutions to date, which allowed donors to receive tax credits for their donations. According to estimates, many donations will stop being received by these yeshivas due to the cancellation of the tax benefit for donors.
The requirements that students dodging service do not study in institutions eligible for tax exemption were previously directed only to new institutions, and as of today, as mentioned, they are expanded to all institutions that have received the tax benefit for their donors until now. The Haredi institutions will also have to commit in writing that they will not accept in the future any yeshiva student whose affairs are not finally settled with the IDF authorities and who presents such confirmation to the institutions.
All institutions were required by the Tax Authority to immediately transfer all lists of students who will study there this year with their ID numbers and addresses. Students will be required to present a military ID, exemption, discharge from service, planned enlistment date, or a certificate stating why they were released from service (for example, a medical issue). In the Haredi sector, there is fear that the new decree of not applying the tax discount according to Section 46 of the law could cause institutions that rely mainly on donation money to close if draft dodgers from military service study there starting this year.
