Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 19 - 25 June 2017.

  • Judgment of 24 May 2017 (2C_502/2016): Cantonal and communal taxes 2007 (Aargau); no privileged taxation of two parcels of land transferred from business to private property which, in the context of the sale of an agricultural business, were designated as no longer agricultural in a purchase contract (not concerning the parcels in question).
  • Judgment of 24 May 2017 (2C_509/2016): Cantonal and communal taxes 2007 (Aargau); capital gain; the long period of time until the issuance of an assessment ruling concerning the sale of a property by a farmer does not in the present case require the BGE 138 II 32 issued between the submission of the tax return and the assessment ruling not to be applied, as the latter case was already being dealt with by the Administrative Court of Aargau at the end of 2010 and therefore the present case was not expected to be dealt with under the old practice; no suspension of the appeal proceedings due to the ongoing appeal efforts regarding the taxation of agricultural real estate.
  • Judgment of 24 May 2017 (2C_846/2016): Cantonal and municipal taxes 2011 (Aargau); in cases where the property is no longer subject to the above-mentioned law solely due to the BGBB revision that came into force on 1 September 2008 (since less than 1 standard worker was required for management), a two-stage approach is required for the transfer from business to private assets, i.e. settlement of the capital gain as of 1 September 2008 with property gains tax and of the property since then with income tax.
  • Judgment of 30 May 2017 (2C_140/2016): Withholding tax 2010-2012 (canton of Vaud); refusal of tax deduction by the Vaud tax authorities lawful; argument of the "quasi-resident" rejected; appeal dismissed.
  • Judgment of 2 June 2017 (2C_479/2017): Administrative assistance (DTA Switzerland - India); no legal question of fundamental importance or particularly significant case; decision not to enter into force.
  • Judgment of 7 June 2017 (2C_1014/2016): Notary's fee (Canton Valais); complaint against an invoice from the cantonal land registry; sufficiently determined legal basis (i.c. notary's law and regulations); complaint dismissed.
  • Judgment of 30 May 2017 (2C_115/2017): Cantonal and communal taxes 2004-2009 (Vaud); appellant's criticism of the facts presented by the lower courts; no violation of the right to be heard in the case of motivational substitution, since the financial situation of the respondents was already a topic of the cantonal proceedings and they could have commented on it; no arbitrary application of cantonal law regarding the admissibility of the freezing order; dismissal of the appeal in so far as it was upheld.

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.