Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 4 - 10 September 2017.
- Judgment of 3 August 2017 (2C_96/2017): Rent for boat moorings (Thurgau); no violation of the requirement of equal treatment under the law, as the boat moorings in the local port are limited and, with the differentiated overall order between local and non-resident boat owners, different rental amounts may be set; no protection of good faith of the complainant based on a written agreement with a representative of the town, as the complainant is legally qualified; dismissal of the complaint, in so far as it was upheld.
- Judgment of 21 August 2017 (2C_677/2017): Radio and television reception fees; free administration of justice; the mere existence of a garnishment loss certificate is not sufficient to prove necessity within the meaning of Article 65(1) VwVG; confirmation of the case-law according to which the receipt of supplementary benefits may be an indication of procedural necessity, but does not bind the court in its assessment of an application for free administration of justice; dismissal of the appeal.
- Judgment of 23 August 2017 (2C_792/2016), scheduled for official publication Administrative assistance proceedings (DTA Switzerland - USA); the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) is entitled to appeal against a rejection decision to reassess the Federal Administrative Court if it considers that the Federal Administrative Court made an unlawful assessment; legal question of fundamental importance affirmed and the FTA appealed; the identity of a former bank employee constitutes personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act and the data subject has an interest worthy of protection in whether the transfer is lawful; the FTA is not bound by a ruling of the civil court concerning US program in administrative assistance proceedings, but the data subject has at least an interest worthy of protection in the grounds of the FTA, why his identity is not blackened; dismissal of the FTA's appeal
- Judgment of 10 August 2017 (2C_597/2016): Withholding tax (notification procedure); existence of serious indications of tax avoidance, as a change of regime was implemented by means of coordinated transfer of the shares and financing of the purchase price via a loan from the target company, which enabled the full refund of the withholding tax on future dividends ("purchase of a full wallet"); conditions for approval of the notification procedure not fulfilled; dismissal of the complaint.
- Judgment of 24 August 2017 (2C_1037/2016): Direct federal tax (Ticino); separation of private and business assets; a now separate parcel of land, which originally belonged to a larger property listed in the books of a general partnership, was correctly qualified as business assets.
- Judgment of 25 August 2017 (2C_490/2016; 2C_491/2016); Direct federal, cantonal and communal taxes 2009-2012; admissibility under commercial law or commercial justification of a provision regarding the "business risk"; the company's accounting violates mandatory provisions of commercial law; dismissal of the appeal
- Judgment of 25 August 2017 (2C_707/2017): Failure of the Federal Administrative Court to intervene on account of late payment of the advance on costs; the complainant should first have applied for reinstatement of the time-limit for the present question; failure of the Federal Court to intervene and refer the case back to the Federal Administrative Court
- Judgment of 24 August 2017 (2F_15/2017): Appeal against the decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court 2C_404/2017 of 10 May 2017 (cf. our contribution of 4 June 2017); the complainant challenges the tax law qualification of an actual transaction, which means that the taxpayer's criticism is not of an audit-related nature but of a purely appellate nature and thus not a permissible ground for appeal; the appeal is dismissed
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
