Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published in the week of 16 - 22 December 2019.

  • Judgment of 25 November 2019 (2C_102/2019): State and municipal taxes (Zurich) and direct federal tax 2014, sale of shares; the complainant had been self-employed as a tennis instructor since 1992 and bought a shareholding in 1999 (debt financing 50.4%). From then on, he provided his services through the company (no external appearance, no risk as an SE), but declared income from self-employment in 2001-2014 both in his tax return and with the social security authorities; all previous instances qualified the participation as business assets and recorded the capital gain as taxable income; in the present case it can be assumed that the participation rights were specifically used to improve the business results of his own company or its chances of profit, in which case the participation can be classified as business assets; dismissal of the taxpayers' complaints.
  • Judgment of 27 November 2019 (2F_29/2019): Appeal against the judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGer 2C_869/2018) of 20 September 2019 (see our contribution of 20 October 2019); the applicants claim that various facts were inadvertently disregarded; the view of the applicants proves to be unfounded in all points; dismissal of the appeal.
  • Judgment of 25 November 2019 (2C_113/2018): State and municipal taxes of the Canton of Bern 2005, direct federal tax 2005; tax fines; the primary issue of dispute before the Federal Supreme Court was whether the complainant fulfilled the requirements for a voluntary declaration without penalty and therefore had to be exempted from a penalty. In this regard, the Federal Supreme Court concluded that the complainant had already had to assume at the end of 2007 that the tax administration would discover the evaded restoration revenues even without reporting them on the basis of the investigations already underway and that under these circumstances the necessary spontaneity was lacking. Moreover, the Federal Supreme Court held that the judgment of the lower court was also unobjectionable with regard to the sentencing. Dismissal of the appeal.
  • Judgment of 22 November 2019 (2C_460/2019): State and municipal taxes 2013 (Zurich); the appellant does not object to anything that would be capable of making the discretionary assessment confirmed by the lower court appear manifestly incorrect, in particular with regard to provisions for social security contributions and for fluctuations in value; dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal

Non-occurrence decisions / inadmissible complaints:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
Income Tax
Other Taxes