The Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (Tax Relief Act of 2024) shines a beacon on innovative businesses of all sizes, extending and expanding crucial tax benefits for research and development (R&D) activities. This legislative boon fosters an environment ripe for groundbreaking advancements, propelling American innovation forward.

Prior to the Shadow:

Preceding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, Section 174 provided companies the flexibility to immediately deduct R&D costs, encouraging investments in the pursuit of new ideas and products. However, the TCJA cast a long shadow, requiring R&D expenses to be capitalized and amortized over five or more years starting in 2022. This heavier tax burden threatened to stifle innovation and hinder the potential of R&D-intensive businesses.

A Lifeline for Innovation:

The Tax Relief Act of 2024 serves as a much-needed lifeline, offering two key advantages:

On November27, 2023, the Knesset plenum approved the "Iron Swords" (ProvisionalOrder – Extension of Periods and Delay of Deadlines) (Tax Procedures andAssistance Grants) Law, hereinafter referred to as the "Law". Butwhat exactly did the Law say? In this article, we will organize and review allthe relevant provisions of the Law.

Purpose ofthe Law

The purposeof the Law is to extend the validity of limited time periods set in tax lawsfor various procedures between taxpayers (the public) and the Israel TaxAuthority.

To implementthe purpose of the Law, it is stipulated that if the start date of the timeperiod for performing a specific action (in accordance with the provisions ofthe existing law), falls before the end of the "determining period"(Section 1 of the Law: a period of three months beginning on October 7, 2023)and the last day for performing the specific action, falls during the"determining period" or within two (2) months after it (Section 2(a)of the Law), then the last day for performing the specific action will bepostponed by three (3) months.

The right of access to court files is a cornerstone of transparency andaccountability within the judicial system. However, this right is not absoluteand may be curtailed under specific circumstances, particularly when theinformation contained within the files is of a confidential nature. In therealm of tax law, the duty of confidentiality is a crucial component designedto safeguard taxpayer privacy. Yet, this duty can intersect with the right ofaccess to court files, as these files may encompass sensitive tax-relatedinformation. This paper explores the duty of confidentiality in tax law and itsimplications on the right of access to court files.

The acquisition of a loss-making company can be acomplex and risky proposition. On the one hand, the new shareholders may beable to offset the losses of the acquired company against their own profits, resultingin a significant tax saving. On the other hand, the courts have ruled that theacquisition of a loss-making company must be motivated by legitimate commercialreasons. If the acquisition is simply an attempt to exploit the accumulatedlosses, the offset of these losses will not be allowed.

The distinction between capital gain and business income is a complex one in Israeli law. The Income Tax Ordinance (ITO) provides a number of definitions for these terms, but the line between them can be blurry. This article explores the key concepts of capital gain and business income, and discusses the factors that courts have considered in determining whether a particular transaction is one or the other.

Transfer pricing (TP) deals with the pricing and review of the pricing of transactions between parties that have special relationships as specified in Section 85A of the Ordinance. In the case of Contara Technologies Ltd., the Supreme Court held that TP refers to the price that a certain company charges another related company for the sale of an asset, right, service, or credit.