Major Taxi Operation: Approximately 80% of Taxi Drivers Did Not Operate a Meter

The tax authority‘s Bookkeeping Unit recently conducted a comprehensive operation among taxi drivers to examine the level of compliance with bookkeeping instructions, recording income, and the obligation to use a “smart meter.” The operation included approximately 100 undercover inspections of taxis throughout the country at varying times. The results of the operation indicate that approximately 80% of taxi drivers did not operate a meter and did not record the income from the trip in the business books, contrary to the law.

As part of the joint reform of the Tax Authority and the ministry of Transportation, known as “Good Trip,” all taxi drivers are required to use a “smart meter,” a computerized system that records and saves the data of each trip, including the start and end times of the trip, the distance traveled, and the amount recorded on the invoice. For each trip, even if the fare was agreed upon in advance, it is mandatory to operate the meter. The goal of the reform is to increase transparency in the industry, reduce black money, and ensure true tax payment.

As part of the enforcement efforts, the Tax Authority conducted a nationwide integrated bookkeeping operation in cooperation with the Computerized Audit Department, the Bookkeeping Department, and the Economic Department, which included undercover inspections of taxis throughout the country, from north to south. The operation’s data shows, as mentioned, that in approximately 80% of the inspections conducted, the smart meter was not activated.

In addition to the failure to activate the meter, several unusual cases were discovered during the operation. In one case, two taxis with the same public right number were identified. In four additional cases, a smart meter was identified in a taxi that was not recognized by the meter companies that supply them to taxi drivers. It was also discovered that the license plate number of one of the taxis is not a taxi license plate number and is registered in the Ministry of Transportation‘s records as the number of a vehicle designated for scrapping.

These days, the Tax Authority is summoning drivers who did not operate meters to its offices for inquiries, and various sanctions may subsequently be imposed, such as invalidating books and issuing assessments at its discretion.