Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published in the week of 22 - 28 May 2017.

  • Judgment of 6 April 2017 (A-882/2016): Tobacco tax; amendment of the Tobacco Tax Ordinance (TStV) of 29 April 2015; qualification of water pipe tobacco as fine-cut tobacco; it was disputed whether Art. 2 Par. 6 of the TStV, which leads to a higher taxation of water pipe tobacco, applies; preliminary examination of the regulation provision (concrete norm control) with regard to its legality and constitutionality; the Federal Council exceeds its discretion (equating water pipe tobacco and fine-cut tobacco) and thus violates the principle of legality (E. 4.4.2 f.); the appeal is upheld (for further details, see our article of 23 April 2017); the decision of the Federal Administrative Court has since been appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
  • Judgment of 15 May 2017 (A-6306/2015): Administrative assistance (DTA Switzerland - Spain); requirement of "probable materiality" in accordance with Art. 25bis No. 1 DTA Switzerland - Spain (E. 4.2.2.1); in the present case, the bank data requested are connected with the facts described in the request (E. 6.1.2 ff.); ban on fishing expedition (E. 4.2.2.2), denied in the present case with reference to the Protocol (E. 6.1.1); subsidiarity principle and principle of good faith (E. 4.2.2.3 and E. 4.2.2.4) respected in the present case; the complaint is unfounded and the name of the bank including account details may be communicated (E. 6.4.4); the complaint is dismissed
  • Judgment of 10 May 2017 (A-5508/2015, A-5512/2015): Withholding tax; joint and several liability for the tax of a dissolved legal entity; hidden profit distribution and cancellation practice; partial approval and rejection to the lower instance with regard to appellant 2; rejection of the appeal with regard to appellant 1.

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

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