Rafi Amit is ordered to pay income tax in Israel

On the basic of the Israeli court decision a professional player Rafi Amit (PokerStars nickname – refaelamit) is ordered to pay income tax in Israel in amount of $85,500. This decision was made by the judge Harry Kirsch even though Rafi has been living in Las Vegas for a long time now.

Rafi Amit is famous for his huge winnings in online and live tournaments. He won two gold bracelets at the WSOP as well. Israeli court ordered that even though in 2007 the players hadn’t spent enough days in the country to be considered a resident, he still needs to pay income tax. The question is that he visited his parents in Israel several times and sent them back $5,000,000 in total.

According to the court during 2007 Rafi earned about $1,100,000 playing poker. The rate of the income tax in Israel is so high, so Rafi is obliged to pay $650,000 (2,500,000 shekels). But the player managed to persuade the court that during the year 2007 he had earned only $320,000 (1,400,000 shekels). Moreover, he had already paid $68,000 of the income tax in the USA.

The final decision of the court was so that Rafi Amit had to pay 320,000 shekels as the income tax and 12,500 as court expenses, which is $85,500 in total.