Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week from 20 to 26 May 2019.

  • Judgment of 7 May 2019 (2C_495/2018): Direct federal tax and state and municipal tax 2010 (Solothurn); appeal decision; hidden profit distribution; business justification of sponsorship contributions; presentation of new facts; the complainant's appeal is dismissed.
  • Judgment of 8 May 2019 (2C_767/2018): VAT; refund of VAT for the period from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012; cross-border provision of services (telephone consultancy service); no service relationship under VAT law between the appellant and the individual companies providing the services, since the appellant, as a substitute, only invoices the services provided by the individual company; the appellant's appeal is dismissed.
  • Judgment of 9 May 2019 (2C_397/2017): Withholding tax 2006; acquisition of own equity securities; disregard of the maximum holding period for own shares (6 years) pursuant to Art. 4a (2) VStG; forfeiture of the claim for restitution due to at least slight negligence on the part of the complainant; the complainant's appeal is dismissed.
  • Judgement of 6 May 2019 (2C_292/2018): Real estate gains tax (Zurich); economic change of ownership; calculation of the market value of a property; the real estate gains tax falls within the scope left to the cantonal legislator; the Federal Supreme Court examines the application of the law only for arbitrariness; the findings and assessments of the lower instance are not manifestly incorrect; the appellant's appeal is dismissed
  • Judgement of 9 May 2019 (2C_141/2019): Cantonal and communal taxes 2007-2010 and 2012-2014 and penalty taxes 2008-2010 and 2012-2014 (Geneva); the irrecoverability of the claim against company C., which was asserted for the first time before the Federal Supreme Court, is a new fact which cannot be established before the Federal Supreme Court (Art. 99 FSCA); the debts claimed by the complainants (in particular mortgages) have not been proven, which is why the additional taxes (2007-2010 and 2012-2014) and the penalty taxes (2008-2010 and 2012-2014) were correctly levied; dismissal of the taxpayers' appeal.

Decisions not to intervene / inadmissible appeals

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.