Overview of tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published between March 6 - 12, 2023:

  • Judgment of 20 February 2023 (9C_704/2022): Direct Federal Tax and State and Municipal Taxes 2020 (Solothurn); in the present case, the tax authority rightly did not allow the costs for the construction of a winter garden after the demolition of a pergola as a deduction from taxable income. For the demarcation between value maintenance and value increase, not the value of the property is the standard of comparison, but that of the concretely maintained or replaced installation. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
  • Judgment of January 31, 2023 (9C_635/2022): Staats- und Gemeindesteuern 2016 (Bern); in the present case, the home costs borne by the completely blind 93-year-old taxpayer and her husband themselves in the tax period in dispute cannot be allowed for deduction for the most part as disability-related costs, since the home costs can only be qualified as disability-related for ten days. Thus, she only had a verifiable need for care of more than 60 minutes on a total of 10 calendar days (KS 11 item 4.1d) and the reason for the stay in the home was thus not due to the disability. This is not changed by the fact that her husband, who is also very old, continued to support her significantly in the home or that she has been able to orientate herself in the room "absolutely impossibly" without outside help for 60 years according to the doctor's certificate. The taxpayers have neither filled out the questionnaire according to KS 11 nor submitted any other additional evidence that would classify the lower court's findings of fact as inaccurate. Dismissal of the taxpayers' appeal.

Decisions on non-admission and write-offs:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.