Overview of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court’s tax rulings published between August 31 and September 6, 2026:
- Judgment of August 5, 2026 (9C_492/2025): Value-Added Tax 2016–2019; Receipt Tax; The appellant, which operates as a captive reinsurer, received support payments from its foreign parent company without recording an expense for them. The FTA based its assessment on a transfer pricing adjustment pursuant to an APA and prorated this adjustment to the prior periods on an approximate basis in proportion to the net premiums (see our article of July 20, 2025, on the Federal Administrative Court’s judgment A-1652/2025). The Federal Supreme Court (BGer) confirms that, since these services do not contribute to the conclusion of specific contracts, they are not exempt from tax as the activities of an insurance agent or broker (Art. 21(2)(18)(d) of the Value-Added Tax Act (MWSTG)). The argument—raised only before the Federal Supreme Court—that the services constitute a bundle of services with partially tax-exempt components (Art. 19(1) of the VAT Act) concerns a factual issue and fails due to the prohibition on introducing new evidence as well as the taxpayer’s burden of proof, which entails an expanded duty to cooperate in cross-border cases. The criticism of the discretionary assessment remains at the appellate level and does not meet the requirements for a valid appeal. Dismissal of the taxpayer’s appeal
Administrative Assistance:
- Judgment of August 13, 2026 (2C_433/2026): Mutual Assistance (DTA CH-FR); The Panamanian holder of a Swiss bank account objected to the transfer of account records to France and raised four legal issues of fundamental importance. The Federal Supreme Court rejected all of them and did not find any of them to be of particular significance. The appeal was dismissed as inadmissible.
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
