Bar Refaeli
Bar RefaeliCredit: Yonatan Zindel, Flash 90

Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli was ordered to pay back taxes of NIS 8 million ($2.25 million) on tens of millions of shekels of income she earned outside of Israel in 2009-2010. The court also ordered Refaeli to pay NIS 120,00 in court fees.

Rafaeli had argued in court that she had established a 'family life' abroad for the years in question, and should therefore not be liable for Israeli taxes for income earned in that period. The court rejected her argument, however, ruling that Israel remained her primary residence

The court determined that in the years 2009-2010, Refaeli was a resident of Israel, rejecting her claim that she was living permanently abroad with her then-boyfriend Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2009, Refaeli was in Israel for 185 days, and in 2010, for 131 days. "The substantive test for determining the center of life examines qualitative parameters, that is, the totality of the family, economic and social ties of the taxpayer," the court ruled. According to the court, Refaeli's center of life did not shift abroad during that time.

'It should be noted that at the beginning of the [disputed] period, Rafaeli's parents' home in Hod Hasharon was her permanent home, and afterward, her permanent home was a rented apartment in the Yoo Towers," the court stated. "In the last few months of the period under discussion, Rafaeli moved into another rented apartment in the W Towers, which was also used only by her."