Overview of tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published between October 17 - 23, 2022:
- Judgment of 7 September 2022 (2C_401/2021): MWST; Teak tree investment (2012-2016); The services (teak tree investments) provided by the complainant are deemed to be tax-exempt services within the meaning of Art. 21 para. 2 item 19 MWSTG (Art. 3 lit. e MWSTG) and the corresponding input tax deduction (related to these services) is thus excluded. The generation of exclusively tax-exempt services, which cannot be opted for, does not constitute an entrepreneurial activity within the meaning of Art. 10 VAT Act, which is why the complainant is not subjectively liable for tax and the requirements for registration in the register of VAT payers are not met. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
- Judgment of September 22, 2022 (2C_992/2021): Direct Federal Tax and State and Municipal Taxes 2008-2010 (Zurich); The disputed issue is whether the contested assessments or the turnover and profit estimates on which they are based for the erotic businesses operated by the complainant are manifestly incorrect. The lower court did not question that the complainant held the erotic businesses through fiscally independent companies and also acknowledged that the complainants were entitled to the so-called partial income procedure with respect to distributions from these companies for the years 2009 and 2010. In addition, it also did not consider the estimate of the complainants' income to be manifestly incorrect and states that the offset of 6% to 8% of the operating income of the companies adequately takes into account the circumstances and the partial income procedure. The complainants criticize that the lower court, in contrast to the tax office and the lower court, acknowledges the applicability of the partial income procedure, but nevertheless arrives at the same figures or income. The Federal Supreme Court agrees with them and stated that the lower instance should have either adhered to the turnover and profit parameters of the tax office and thereby partially exempted the amounts calculated by the tax office in accordance with the partial income procedure or should have carried out the estimation itself according to dutiful discretion. In contrast to the partial income procedure at the level of the direct federal tax, the partial rate procedure at the level of the Zurich state and municipal taxes has no influence on the amount of the tax factors. Contrary to the complainants, the procedure of the cantonal authorities is not objectionable. Approval of the appeal regarding the direct federal tax 2009 and 2010 and referral back to the lower court for clarification of further factual elements and rejection of the appeal regarding the direct federal tax 2008. Dismissal of the appeal regarding state and municipal taxes 2008 - 2010.
Non-occurrence:
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
