International taxation - Spacing out the “cooling-off” period for a betterment tax exemption upon a sale of a “qualifying residential apartment”

The real estate Taxation Act (increasing the supply of Residential Apartments – temporary order), 2011 as formerly reviewed in our tax alert no. 11, was legislated on 1^st August 2011. Our update concerns a temporary order supplement to the temporary order above mentioned, that was published (hereinafter: “Amendment no. 71“). According to Amendment no. 71 between 1^st January 2013 until 1^st January 2021 a betterment tax exemption upon a sale of a “qualifying residential apartment”(as defined in the law), will be granted only once in 8 years (!!) instead of 4 years as prior to the Amendment.

This exemption applies to an owner of one or more residential apartments. We indicate that the exemption granted to an owner of a single “qualifying residential apartment” hasn’t been amended and therefore, is still valid. This exemption can be used once every 18 months, subject to conditions.