Eyal Golan accused of major tax evasion

                                                      Eyal Golan

The national legal division for customs and VAT cases at the Israel Tax Authority filed an indictment on Sunday against singer Eyal Golan, known as the king of Mizrahi-style music, and the production company he owns for tax evasion totaling some NIS 2.5 million (about $710,000).

According to the indictment, Golan and senior managers in his company failed to report income from his performances in private events and on cruise ships from 2007 to 2010, filed false invoices amounting to NIS 2.3 million in a bid to reduce the value added tax they must pay for transactions which did not take place in actual fact, and submitted false reports to the Tax Authority.

Golan, along with other managers in the company, Golan Sharabi and Arik Bnei Moshe, were detained in January 2011 following a Tax Authority investigation on suspicion of working together to conceal income from Golan's gigs and allegedly deceiving the tax authorities.

According to the Tax Authority, in some cases Golan and his partners failed to issue tax invoices and report the income to the authorities, and in other cases the issued invoices did not reflect the full return received. The unreported income totals NIS 2,652,038, the indictment states.

Golan and the company managers are also accused of buying false invoices from different dealers for a commission from 2008 to 2010, and using them to report expenses totaling NIS 2,317,983, and deducting input tax although there was no real transaction.

Golan's company, Liam Productions, offered the following statement in response: "We are convinced that Eyal Golan is innocent and we are certain this will be proved in court."