Benjamini & Co.

Benjamini & Co. is a leading boutique firm with a proven reputation in tax practice, providing a comprehensive package of solutions for all tax issues, including tax litigation, tax planning, taxation of equity-based compensation, and advice on income tax, VAT, and real estate tax. Startup companies, Israeli blue-chip companies, individuals, and leading multinational corporations are among the firm’s clients. The firm was founded in 2015 by Adv. Yair Benjamini, an attorney with over 20 years of experience in Israeli tax law and one of Israel’s best-known tax lawyers. Other partners include Adv. Sagiv Ron, who specializes in real estate taxation, as well as Adv. (CPA) Doron Elmekiesse and Adv. (CPA) Shahar Strauss, experts in international and Israeli corporate taxation, and Adv. Michal Richulsky, a highly experienced specialist in tax litigation and indirect taxation. Benjamini & Co. is a leader in its field, chosen as the local professional partner of leading global law and accounting firms.

Practice Areas

Capital Market & Private Investments:  Representing a wide range of clients — including VCs, private equity funds, family offices, angel investors, fund managers, and investors — in Israeli tax strategy and dealings with the Israel Tax Authority.

International Tax: Specializing in solutions for Israelis with activity abroad and foreign residents investing in Israel. Advising international ventures on tax-efficient structures, and cross-border transactions.

Merger and Acquisition Transactions: Advising shareholders and companies on tax aspects of M&A deals from the perspective of both purchasing and acquired parties.

Options Taxation and Employee Grants: Advising global companies on equity-based employee remuneration plans in Israel, including for senior employees and employers.

Real Estate Taxation: The department, led by Adv. Sagiv Ron, handles deal structuring, tax rulings, litigation, urban renewal, luxury projects, combination deals, purchasing groups, trusts, and more.

Private Clients: Advising high-net-worth individuals and family offices on personal wealth planning.

Trusts: Assisting in trust formation, compliance, and ongoing tax consultation for existing trusts.

Tax Disputes & Tax Rulings: Working with the ITA to secure preliminary rulings on international taxation, residency, trusts, mergers and reorgs, the Encouragement of Capital Investments Law, employee options, and transfer pricing.

Tax Litigation: The firm has significant experience representing individuals and companies in all areas of civil tax litigation before all judicial forums. The department is led by Adv. Michal Richulsky, former senior attorney at the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office (Civil Law, where she worked for approximately 13 years. In this role, she represented Tax Assessors, VAT offices, and Real Estate Taxation Offices in various complex tax disputes.

Voluntary Disclosure: The firm has extensive experience managing voluntary disclosure procedures.

Value Added Tax: Advising on all VAT matters, including guiding transactions, legal opinions, planning and advice, representation at tax authority assessment hearings and in tax appeals.

Legal Opinions: The firm’s team is highly experienced in drafting legal opinions on a wide range of tax topics.

Crypto-Currencies: A market leader in the taxation of blockchain activity, advising on legal opinions, guidance, and litigation concerning crypto-related matters.

The Firm’s Team

Yair Benjamini, Founding Partner: Yair serves as legal advisor to top Israeli accounting firms on tax issues, including legal opinions, legal support during tax assessment proceedings and representation in court. Yair also advises high-net-worth individuals, both immigrants to Israel and Israeli residents, represents clients in audit proceedings and advises families on changes in trust law and compliance with reporting requirements in Israel with respect to foreign and local trusts. Yair has accumulated a wealth of legal experience, especially in the field of equity-based employee compensation schemes, and regularly advises multinational corporations on compensation strategies for employees in Israel.

Sagiv Ron, Partner and Head of Real Estate Taxation: Sagiv has extensive experience in various areas of taxation and focuses on all tax aspects of real estate transactions, including tax structure planning, opinions, self-assessments, and representation before tax authorities and appeal committees. He has established legal precedents in the courts. Sagiv advises on urban renewal, purchase groups, residential apartments, real estate associations and development projects. He provides continuous guidance to both publicly traded and private real estate contractors, developers, private individuals and real estate associations, and specializes in advising developers in urban renewal projects.

Doron Elmekiesse, Partner: Doron is an Israeli a lawyer and CPA specializing in Israeli and international taxation, and the taxation of domestic and international trusts. Doron worked for seven years as a senior inspector and corporations and trusts coordinator at the Israel Tax Authority. In this capacity, Doron accumulated broad experience in tax audits of individuals, shareholders, companies and trusts, with an emphasis on numerous large-scope international tax issues. Doron served as a member of various Tax Authority committees on legislative reform in the realm of trust taxation and headed tax assessments of large and complex trusts.

Shahar Strauss, Partner: Shahar has nearly 20 years of experience. Shahar specializes in Israeli corporate taxation, including tax benefits under the Encouragement of Capital Investments Law, holding company regimes, withholding tax issues, and complex tax litigation. Shahar worked at the Israel Tax Authority, first as a senior income tax inspector at the Assessing Office for Large Enterprises, and in his last position at the ITA, he worked in the Capital Market Department of the Professional Division, where he issued tax rulings and served as a professional contact person for the various local assessing officers.

Michal Richulsky, Partner: Michal specializes in litigation and indirect taxation, with extensive courtroom experience handling all branches of taxation, including VAT, income tax, real estate tax, and customs. Formerly a senior prosecutor at the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office (Civil Law). Within this position, Michal led large, complex cases on all aspects of taxation. Judgements awarded in these cases constituted important precedents. Prior to joining the firm, Michal was a partner at another boutique tax firm, where she managed the litigation department.