Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 1 - 7 November 2021:

  • Judgment of 19 October 2021 (2C_424/2021): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2014 - 2015 (Geneva); The dispute in this case was whether the income (success fee share) was income from 2014 or from 2015. The lower court correctly determined that the CHF 1 million was taxable in 2014, as he had already acquired a fixed and determinable claim to it in 2014. Dismissal of the appeal of the taxpaying spouses.
  • Judgment of 27 September 2021 (2C_130/2021): Customs duties; import duties; additional demand ruling; The dispute was whether the taxpayer A. AG had complied with the obligation to use no. 1132-0 (for technical purposes) by recycling the glucose, gluten and flocculated milk. The FCA is of the opinion that the recovery exceeds the requirements of the use obligation and that the taxable person would have been obliged to submit a new customs declaration or pay additional customs duties (Art. 7 ZG) and import taxes in view of Art. 14 para. 4 ZG. What matters is the end use of the goods by the person obliged to make the customs declaration. The import of spelt flour for human consumption or for animal feed purposes is subject to higher rates than the import of spelt flour using the end-use obligation for technical purposes. Dismissal of the appeal of the taxable person A. AG.
  • Judgment of 7 October 2021 (2C_646/2021): State and municipal taxes 2015 (Zurich); International tax segregation; The taxpayer resident in Germany has economic affiliation and limited tax liability in the Canton of Zurich due to her real estate ownership. The cantons are in principle free in structuring the international tax segregation (non-harmonized cantonal law). The Canton of Zurich is guided by the principles of federal law on the prohibition of intercantonal double taxation (Art. 127 para. 3 BV) when delimiting the tax liability for real estate in relation to foreign countries. Zurich real estate owned by a person resident abroad thus falls under the sole tax jurisdiction of the Canton of Zurich as the canton of domicile (collision rule). The debts and the debt interest are to be allocated proportionally to the previously determined tax domiciles according to the situation of all (private and business) assets (repartition rule). Nothing to the contrary results from the relevant double taxation agreement (DTA CH-DE). According to the Federal Supreme Court, the lower court recognized this without any legal error. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
  • Judgment of 29 October 2021 (2C_1006/2020): Cantonal and communal taxes and direct federal tax 2007-2009 (Vaud); Monetary benefits; The offsets accepted at the level of the company were in the present case rightly taken over (incl. fine for tax evasion) at the level of the sole shareholder with 90% or later with 100% participation; Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
  • Ruling of 6 October 2021 (2C_1039/2020): Staats- und Gemeindesteuern 2015 (Thurgau); Ausscheidungsverlust Liegenschaftskanton; In the case at hand, a real estate company domiciled in the Canton of BE, which only has investment properties, made losses in the Canton of AG. It was disputed whether the property-only canton TG had to assume the loss on a pro rata basis. This was denied by the Federal Supreme Court; rather, the assumption of losses was primarily the responsibility of the main tax domicile canton BE, irrespective of the extent to which the profits in BE itself were only those from investment properties. In other words, the Thurgau loss is to be fully offset against gains from investment properties as well as other gains in the Canton of BE. Dismissal of the appeal against the Canton of TG; upholding of the appeal against the Canton of BE.
  • 2C_741/2021 (2C_741/2021): State and municipal taxes and direct federal tax 2018-2019 (Solothurn); service and discretionary assessment; In the present case, the first service of the assessment order could not be proven. The second service is undisputed; the fact that these are (complete) copies is not detrimental. No qualified objection was raised to the discretionary assessment. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
  • Judgment of 6. October 2021 (2C_305/2021): State and municipal taxes and direct federal tax 2013 (Solothurn); simplified accounting procedure (old regulation, which was also applicable to corporations); the lower court's findings of fact, by means of which it concluded that there was tax avoidance and that the salary exceeded the maximum limit of the simplified accounting procedure (due to unjustified lump-sum expenses), are incomplete; dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal and referral back to the lower court for further clarification of the facts.

Non-occurrence / administrative assistance:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
Wealth Tax
Income Tax
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Custom Duties