Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 6 - 12 January 2020.
- Judgement of 16 December 2019 (2C_1009/2019): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2015 (Zurich); the disputed issue was the income tax treatment of an early repayment fee charged to taxpayers because they terminated an existing loan relationship (fixed-rate mortgage) before the end of the contract period and then wished to transfer to another financial institution. As the Federal Court of Justice had already conclusively decided in two earlier landmark decisions (cf. BGE 143 II 382 and 143 II 396), in the present case constellation, equating early repayment fees with a debt interest rate is not considered. Rejection of the taxpayers' complaint.
- Judgment of 16 December 2019 (2C_44/2019): Direct federal tax and cantonal and communal taxes 2014 (Vaud); compensation for the early termination of a rental agreement in the form of a lump-sum payment to pay the future higher rent constitutes taxable income for waiving the exercise of a right (Art. 23 lit. d DBG) and not tax-free compensation. The compensation for the move would also have been taxable, but this should be waived due to the prohibition of reformatio in peius. All compensation is taxable at the time of the acquisition of the fixed entitlement, which is the date of the Settlement Agreement. The Federal Court did not examine whether the taxation at the pension rate was correct because of the commitment to the party petitions. Dismissal of the appeal.
- 16 December 2019 (2C_209/2017): Withholding tax; refund in accordance with the double taxation agreement between Switzerland and Luxembourg (CH-LU); right of use of the LU Company in the case of lending of CH shares against interest-bearing cash collateral (so-called "collateralised financing transaction) from a GB company to the LU company, the payment of a compensation payment and the retransfer of shares of the same type and quantity solely for the purpose of receiving the income in LU and the subsequent onward transfer to GB in order to benefit from favourable taxation of the compensation payment in GB, is denied on the basis of the existence of a contractual obligation to onward transfer and thus a pass-through company. Dismissal of the appeal.
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
