Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published in the week of 29 May - 4 June 2017.
- Judgment of 2 May 2017 (A-4025/2016): Administrative assistance (DTA Switzerland - India); the presumption of good faith with regard to the Indian request for administrative assistance could not be rebutted; the appeal lodged against the FTA's decision on administrative assistance is dismissed (cf. our contribution of 20 May 2017). The decision of the Federal Administrative Court has in the meantime been appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
- Judgment of 11 April 2017 (A-5769/2016): VAT (2011); emission reduction certificates; the appeal is partially upheld and it is stated that sales from forward and option contracts in connection with emission reduction certificates, but not sales from spot sales of these emission reduction certificates, are to be subsumed under Art. 21 para. 2 no. 19 let. e VAT Act (cf. our contribution dated 23 April 2017). The decision of the Federal Administrative Court has since been appealed against in the Federal Supreme Court.
- Judgment of 5 April 2017 (A-6231/2016): VAT (subjective tax liability); tax period 2014; qualification of the services exempted from tax; the qualification of the cantonal authorisation for self-employed professional activity under the title "osteopath" (authorisation to use the title) as a professional licence within the meaning of Art. 21 para. 2 no. 3 VAT Act was questionable (cf. our contribution of 16 April 2017). In the meantime, the decision of the Federal Administrative Court has been appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
- Judgment of 22 May 2017 (A-5243/2016): Radio and television reception fees; in the present case, it was questionable whether a declaratory order or a performance and design order is to be issued for the subsequent demand for reception fees for an elapsed period of time; the Federal Administrative Court states that a declaratory order is in principle to be issued if the dispute relates to a period of time which is directed into the future (on the subsidiarity of the declaratory order E. 5.1); a performance and configuration order relates only to a completed fee period; in casu, a declaratory ruling was issued in connection with a subsequent demand for fees; the appeal was therefore upheld and the case was dismissed to the first instance, whereby the complainant has the opportunity to submit her substantive complaints again (comments on substantive issues E. 6. et seq.).
- Judgment of 23 May 2017 (A-7622/2016): Administrative assistance (DTA Switzerland - Netherlands); the question of the complainant's tax domicile in the Netherlands does not have to be clarified in the administrative assistance procedure - particularly as domicile in one of the contracting states is not a necessary criterion for the provision of administrative assistance; the probable relevance of the information is given; the complainant's argument that there had been a data leak with the Dutch authorities, as a result of which data protection was not guaranteed in the Netherlands, is not accepted by the Federal Administrative Court; the appeal is dismissed.
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
