Bar Refaeli ordered to pay back taxes on $4.5m in unreported income

The Lod District Court has ordered Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli to pay back taxes on the NIS 16 million ($4.5 million) in income that that she allegedly concealed from Israeli tax authorities.

The ruling was handed down last week, but the court only announces the decision today.

Refaeli’s legal team argued to the judge at the hearing last week that during the period in question, between 2009 and 2010, the model was permanently living abroad and therefore should not have to pay income tax in Israel. Her lawyers pointed to Refaeli’s relationship with then-boyfriend, Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and claimed the US was her primary residence during that time.

But the judge rejected those claims, and sided with authorities who insist Refaeli lived Tel Aviv during 2009 and 2010. The court ruled that since she was not considered a foreign resident under Israeli law, Refaeli must pay the massive bill from the Tax Authority she received last June.

Refaeli’s lawyers vow to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, telling the Ynet news site that the ruling by the Lod court “ignored main facts” in Refaeli’s case.