Overview of the tax rulings of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court published between February 12 - 18, 2024:
- Judgment of January 4, 2024 (9C_725/2022): Direct federal tax and state and municipal taxes 2011 (Zurich); the dispute concerns the tax period to which an amount of CHF 12.5 million received by the taxpayers A. and B. in 2011 is to be allocated and whether the amount is to be qualified as taxable income from self-employment. The lower court found that the taxpayers had concluded a legal transaction with C. in relation to the sale of future shares. The appellants had received the agreed purchase price immediately after the conclusion of the contract. In return, the buyer did not yet receive the shares of the license company to be founded in the future, but registered shares of D. AG as collateral. The lower court was therefore right to base the temporal income tax allocation on the 2011 tax year. With regard to the qualification of the amount received by the taxpayer as income from self-employment, the lower court relied on the Zurich Tax Appeal Court and found that the development of a patent was carried out with the intention of commercial exploitation. In addition, the taxpayer expended a significant amount of work, invested private funds in his development activities at his own risk and was also active as a member of the board of directors of various companies in this field. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal .
- Judgment of January 29, 2024 (9C_94/2023): Military Service Compensation Levy 2019; the application of the new Military Service Compensation Levy Act (WPEG) from 2019 and the resulting WPE obligation of the complainant for 2019 does not constitute retroactive application of the law (see also the judgment of January 9, 2024 (9C_648/2022) - intended for publication and our article of January 21, 2024). The taxpayer is liable to pay compensation for the year 2019. The then 35-year-old complainant was neither assigned to an army formation nor liable for civilian service and had done neither military nor civilian service. Furthermore, he had not yet fulfilled the eleven-year obligation to pay compensation pursuant to Art. 3 para. 2 WPEG. Dismissal of the appeal of the person liable to pay the levy.
- Judgment of January 25, 2024 (9C_153/2023): Military service substitute levy 2018-2020; in the absence of the requirements for an appeal, the appeal of the person liable to pay the levy is dismissed with regard to the legally assessed substitute years 2018 and 2019. With regard to the substitute year 2020, the taxpayer is also liable to pay compensation. He did not perform military or civilian service, fell below the age limit of 37 years applicable for 2020 (Art. 3 para. 1 WPEG) and had not yet fulfilled the eleven-year obligation to pay compensation pursuant to Art. 3 para. 2 WPEG (see also the judgment of January 9, 2024 (9C_648/2022) - intended for publication and our article of January 21, 2024). The fact that he had reached the age limit at the end of 2017 and was not (no longer) liable for compensation under the old law is irrelevant. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
Non-entry decisions:
- 9C_759/2023 (the executive of the Canton of Aargau [cantonal government, acting through the Department of Health and Social Affairs] cannot invoke a right of appeal based on Art. 89 para. 1 BGG; in the present case, there is a conventional dispute between organs without the qualifying elements in the sense of the second variant of Art. 89 para. 1 BGG)
- 9D_14/2023
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
