Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week from 14 to 20 January 2019.
- Judgment of 13 December 2018 (2C_382/2017): Withholding tax; concealed profit distribution; if there is a violation of federal administrative law (fulfilment of the objective factual circumstances), the limitation of the withholding tax claim is governed by administrative criminal law (VStrR); in the case of tax evasion, the withholding tax claim becomes statute-barred after seven years; the limitation period begins to run on the day after the violation was committed; in the present case, the violation consisted in the submission of the false annual financial statements to the FTA; in accordance with the federal court's case law on Art. According to Art. 11 Para. 3 VStrR, the statute of limitations has been suspended since the decision of the FTA and is not yet statute-barred. In this case, a product was sold to a contractual partner over a period of years, but the purchase price was paid to an account of a related foreign company. The obligated persons were not able to show that the Swiss company acted only on behalf or in trust for its foreign related company (and especially in a cross-border relationship there would have been increased requirements of proof in this regard), which is why there is a hidden profit distribution; rejection of the taxpayers' complaint.
Non-occurrence decisions / inadmissible complaints:
- Judgment of 21 December 2018 (2C_1099/2018): Administrative assistance (DTA Switzerland - Sweden); the complaint will not be acted upon
- Judgment of 21 December 2018 (2F_21/2018): Appeal against the decision 2C_742/2017 of 8 October 2018 of the Federal Supreme Court (Regulations on the visitor's tax of the municipality of Bürchen; cf. our contribution of 11 November 2018); the appeal will not be granted.
- Judgment of 7 January 2019 (2C_1148/2018): Direct federal tax and cantonal and communal taxes 2015 (Valais); tax domicile; the complaints will not be acted upon.
- Judgment of 21 December 2018 (2C_1023/2017): Amendment of the cantonal tax procedure law (automatic transmission of salary statements); complaints are not taken into account.
- Judgment of 21 December 2018 (2C_1136/2018): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2015 (Zurich); the complaints will not be taken up.
- Judgment of 7 January 2019 (2C_6/2019): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2015 (Basel-Landschaft); the complaints will not be taken into account
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
