Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Intel Pays Israel Tax On Mobileye Deal In Dollars To Keep Shekel Down

Israel sought to prevent the shekel rising further on Tuesday by agreeing to allow Intel Corp to pay the tax due on its planned purchase of Israeli autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye in dollars.

Intel agreed to buy Mobileye for $15.3 billion in March in a deal which, if completed, is expected to result in a capital gains tax payment of $1 billion to $1.5 billion.

Israel had initially believed the money would fund tax cuts, but the central bank was worried converting such a large sum from dollars would further strengthen the shekel, which Bank of Israel officials have said is “over-valued.”

The Israel Tax Authority, accountant general and Bank of Israel said in Tuesday’s joint statement that Intel will be able to pay the taxes derived from the Mobileye transaction in U.S. dollars “with the aim of preventing an impact on the exchange rate and over-appreciation of the shekel.”

The shekel has gained 7 percent against the dollar so far in 2017 to a 27-month high of 3.6. It is also close to a 15-year peak versus the euro and at an all-time high against a basket of currencies.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.