Israel
STEP Israel is a non-profit registered company, which aims to
provide its members with updated information in their areas of
interest as well as creating professional and personal contacts
between its members. STEP Israel has centres in Tel
Aviv, Jerusalem and
Haifa
A brief introduction to STEP
Israel
STEP Israel was founded in October 1998
following an initial meeting of 10 members who decided to form an
organization that would become part of STEP International, the
worldwide organization for trust and estate practitioners based in
the UK. Until that time, there were very few STEP members in
Israel, among them George Rosenberg and Alon Kaplan. Following the
establishment of the Israeli branch, activities such as personal
meetings and seminars were held in order to enrol new members.
In 1999 the Tel Aviv branch gained full recognition; in 2003 the
Jerusalem branch was established, followed by the Haifa branch in
2004. At present there are about 90 members of STEP in Israel who
come mostly from the legal and accounting professions as well as
the banks and other financial institutions. The advantage of such a
range of members is that there is a sharing and exchange of ideas,
not linked to a single profession.
STEP’s activities in Israel cover various areas:
A) Seminars and professional meetings held about four times a
year. These events are usually sponsored by financial institutions
such as banks, brokerage houses and insurance companies. They see
STEP as an important forum to promote their activities and by
meeting the STEP members, improving their public relations.
B) Professional activities in specialized areas for developing
an awareness of trusts and estates and related tax issues. STEP
members participated in the Government Tax Committee that examined
the taxation of trusts in Israel and were involved in the drafting
of the legislation and in preparing the regulations (which have yet
to be published).
C) Publishing professional articles through publications of STEP
International, its web site (www.step.org) and the web site of STEP
Israel (www.stepisrael.org).
D) Publication of the STEP Israel Yearbook, now in its second
year. The Yearbook comprises articles from STEP members covering a
wide range of relevant trust and taxation topics and is circulated
in Israel and abroad.
E) In 2004 STEP initiated a summer course as an introduction to
the law of trusts in cooperation with the Institute of Certified
Public Accountants of Israel. At present STEP Israel is running a
course on trust with the Ongoing Education
Institute of the Tel Aviv University legal faculty. This course
will start in November 2010 and will comprise 80 academic
hours.
To date, STEP Israel has held more than 50 events, including
several full-day seminars and country conferences.
STEP Israel is set up as a legal entity and has the status of a
non-profit organization. All its activities are self-financed
through membership fees, part of which are received from STEP
International, and through sponsorships received for its activities
from financial and other institutions.