Lumenis CEO Tzipi Ozer-Armon Battles Tax Authority Over 22.5 Million NIS Tel Aviv Deal
Lumenis CEO Tzipi Ozer-Armon is locked in a tax dispute with the Israel Tax Authority over a 1 million NIS purchase tax gap for two Tel Aviv apartments bought for 22.5 million NIS.
Tzipi Ozer-Armon, CEO of medical device company Lumenis and director at ICL, is seeking a reduced purchase tax on two apartments she bought in a building in the Old North of Tel Aviv for 22.5 million NIS. She argues the units are uninhabitable and she intends to demolish the old building to construct a new 6-story residential structure in its place.
This dispute stems from a purchase tax assessment objection filed by Ozer-Armon with the Israel Tax Authority. The tax authority recently rejected the request, ruling that Ozer-Armon must pay purchase tax on the apartments as standard residential dwellings, creating an estimated gap of 1 million NIS between the tax she wishes to pay and the amount demanded by the state. Ozer-Armon is expected to appeal the decision in court.
The Real Estate Transactions in Tel Aviv
Ozer-Armon purchased the two apartments in a building on Frankfurt Street in Tel Aviv in April 2025 from Gideon Federman, chairman of Dan Hotels, and his wife Rona. The transaction included a 102-square-meter ground-floor apartment for 6.75 million NIS, and a second-floor apartment measuring 104 square meters with an attached 111-square-meter rooftop for 15.75 million NIS. In total, the two cash deals amounted to 22.5 million NIS, according to reports submitted to the tax authority. Since Ozer-Armon already owned additional rights in the building, the entire plot came under her sole ownership following the transaction.
As part of a municipal building permit issued for the site, Ozer-Armon argued that the building would be demolished to make way for a 6-story building atop two basement levels, comprising 12 residential units. Ozer-Armon reported an independent tax assessment of 5%, amounting to roughly 1.1 million NIS in purchase tax. Her legal stance is that because the purchased apartments are uninhabitable and slated for demolition, the transaction should be taxed as raw land with a building permit.
Tax Authority Rejection and Legal Battle
In December 2025, the tax authority rejected the claim, determining that Ozer-Armon had acquired two fully defined residential apartments under the law and must pay standard purchase tax rates ranging from 8% to 10% since these are not her single residential property. Concurrently, the authority issued a provisional assessment demanding approximately 1 million NIS in additional taxes.
The tax authority emphasized that at the time of the tax ruling, the building had not yet been demolished, demolition work had not commenced, and livable apartments still physically existed on the plot. Officials noted that Ozer-Armon had only presented price quotes for the project rather than active construction, meaning her intent to demolish remained purely speculative. Furthermore, the building permit issued in March 2023 was registered under the sellers, the Federman couple, was non-transferable without local committee approval, and its three-year validity expired in March 2026.
The authority stated that only after the physical demolition of the building, should it actually occur, would Ozer-Armon be permitted to submit a request for an assessment amendment. Tzipi Ozer-Armon's office did not provide a response by the time of publication.
