Architect Yaakov Yaar Battles Tax Authority Over Tel Aviv Apartment
Architect Yaakov Yaar and his children are appealing a Tax Authority decision denying tax exemptions on a 3 million NIS Tel Aviv apartment gifted between siblings.
Renowned Israeli architect Yaakov Yaar and his children are locked in a legal dispute with the Israel Tax Authority over a 3 million NIS apartment in Tel Aviv. The family is seeking a full exemption from betterment tax and a reduced purchase tax for a 60-square-meter apartment on Mazeh Street, arguing that the property is being transferred as an intra-family gift.
According to the family's appeal, Yaar purchased the apartment in 1987 for approximately 81,000 NIS and registered it under the name of his then 25-year-old daughter, Tal, who was an architecture student without independent financial means. Yaar stated that in 1991, after Tal married and moved to a larger property purchased with parental funds, the apartment was intended to be transferred to her younger brother, Amir. However, the formal transfer of rights was only initiated in July 2025 as the 97-year-old architect updated his will and organized his family assets.
The Tax Authority rejected the exemption request, maintaining that sibling-to-sibling tax-exempt transfers apply only if the property was originally acquired directly from parents as a gift or inheritance. Authorities noted that official records from 1987 listed Tal as the purchaser, and the family failed to provide sufficient bank documentation or financial proof from the 1980s to substantiate parental funding. The Yaar family appealed the decision to the court, arguing that demanding 38-year-old financial records is practically impossible.
