Overview of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court’s tax law decisions published between August 10 and 16, 2026:
- Judgment of July 13, 2026 (9C_502/2025): Value-Added Tax; Timing of the Right to Claim Input Tax Deduction in 2020: In the present case, the Federal Supreme Court had to rule on the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court dated July 16, 2025 (A-760/2024); see the overview here. The issue in dispute was whether X. AG could claim an input tax deduction for the 2020 tax period on services it had received in 2014 and 2015 but for which it was not invoiced until the end of 2020. The Federal Supreme Court concluded that such an input tax deduction is not permissible, since X. AG was using the net tax rate method at the time the services were received, and the input tax had therefore already been settled on a lump-sum basis. The subsequent invoicing in 2020 does not justify an additional input tax deduction. The appeal by the Federal Tax Administration (ESTV) was upheld.
- Judgment of July 30, 2026 (9C_317/2026): State and Municipal Taxes and Direct Federal Tax 2022 (Solothurn); The dispute centered on the offsetting of various expenses that were recorded in the accounting records of a sole proprietorship (transportation) and were classified as privately incurred (meals, office space in the private residence, vehicles, progressive-lens eyeglasses, cell phone). The Federal Supreme Court confirmed that the private nature of the expenses constitutes a question of fact and that, according to the “theory of norms,” the burden of proof lies with the tax authority. It left open the question of whether the reduced standard of proof—preponderance of probability—was sufficient in this regard. The lower court’s assessment of the evidence proved to be sound in every respect. The cost of progressive-lens glasses for a person over 50 years of age should be classified as living expenses, and in the case of a single cell phone subscription, the deduction of a private portion did not give rise to any objections. The taxpayer’s appeal was dismissed.
- Judgment of July 23, 2026 (9C_31/2026): 2012 Direct Federal Tax (Aargau): The issue in dispute is whether the lower court erred in upholding the Special Administrative Court’s decision not to hear the appeal filed on August 21, 2023, concerning the taxation of liquidation gains under the 2012 Direct Federal Tax. In this case, the taxpayer was unable to assert any impediment to the timely filing of the appeal, and reinstatement of the deadline was therefore not justified. The taxpayer’s appeal is dismissed.
Non-occurrence:
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
