Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 24 - 30 September 2018.

  • Judgment of 10 September 2018 (2C_309/2018): Order (as of 7 May 2014) of the Land Register concerning the property transfer tax based on cadastral values, which were disputed by the appellant; adjustment of the cadastral values as of 31 July 2014 retroactively as of 1 January 2014. The tax invoice was paid although the assessment was disputed. Refusal of the OG-Valais to accept the appeal, arguing that the changed cadastral values were not new and substantial facts of which the complainants could not have been aware. Approval of the complainant's appeal, since the decision of the OG-Valais is arbitrary.
  • Judgment of 11 September 2018 (2C_701/2018): State and municipal taxes 2012 and 2013 (St. Gallen); the complainant contests the continuation of her personal affiliation and thus her unlimited tax liability; according to the findings of the lower instance, there was a written police deregistration, but nowhere a mirror-image registration; the alleged new place of residence proved to be imprecise (no house number), particularly since the taxpayer could not prove that she owned a residential property or rented a residential property or was accommodated with a private individual; According to the 2012 and 2013 tax returns, the previous place of residence continued to exist; it was also established at the preliminary instance that the taxpayer had a flat in his residential and business premises (shop and four flats) throughout, and the complaint was rejected on the grounds of obvious unfoundedness.
  • Judgment of 18 September 2018 (2C_240/2017), scheduled for official publication Refund of value-added tax (VAT) on reception fees for radio and television; in April 2015, the Federal Supreme Court had ruled that radio and television reception fees are not subject to VAT (BGE 141 II 182); a party concerned subsequently requested Billag in July 2015 to refund the VAT amounts paid by it since 2007 for radio and television reception fees totalling CHF 45.35; after Billag rejected the request, it was referred to the Federal Administrative Court; in January 2017, the Federal Administrative Court upheld the appeal and ordered OFCOM - in whose name and on whose behalf Billag collects the fees - to refund the amount of VAT claimed; DETEC appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which concluded that OFCOM could or should have realised, at the latest against the background of the application for reimbursement submitted by the party concerned in July 2015, that the reception fee under broadcasting law had previously been taxed contrary to federal law; it would then have had to apply to the FTA for a refund of the VAT; in this case, OFCOM would have been authorised to correct its accounts for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (together with the beginning of 2015); to this extent, the limitation period would not yet have applied, but it would have applied to the VAT paid by the fee payer from the end of April 2007 to the end of 2009; claims which extend over the period before 1 January 2009 would have been subject to a refund. The Federal Administrative Court's ruling A-7678/2015 of 25 January 2017 (see our article of 12 March 2017) is set aside in respect of the period up to and including 31 December 2009, and the appeal is dismissed for the remainder; OFCOM must refund the VAT paid by the respondent since 1 January 2010; see also the Federal Supreme Court's press release of 27 September 2018.

Non-occurrence decisions / inadmissible complaints:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

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