Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 2 - 8 August 2021.

  • Judgement of 26 July 2021 (2C_74/2021): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2005-2010 (Geneva); tax evasion; A received monthly payments of CHF 30,000 from a family foundation into her account, the beneficiary being her son, who has US citizenship. She is also the co-owner of a chalet in France, which she sold in 2006, and the owner of a flat in Paris. The tax office became aware of this through an anonymous complaint. Benefits from family foundations constitute taxable income. A. denied that the income was for her. Since it was not known where the son was domiciled and therefore not clear which law applied to determine the age of majority, either way she was liable to pay tax on it. There was also no evidence that the son had reported this to the US tax authorities. With regard to the properties sold, she was asked several times to provide details of the bank accounts and the determination of the amounts in them. She did not comply with this request. The lower court had weighty indications of undeclared assets, which led to a reversal of the burden of proof. In the absence of information on the tax consequences of the amounts evaded by the complainant, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that it was not possible to determine the objective facts of the tax evasion, let alone decide on the amount of the fine. Partial dismissal of the appeal and referral back to the lower court as far as the amount of the fine is concerned.

Decisions in the area of administrative assistance / non-admission:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
International Tax
Treaties
Income Tax