Decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court (CW 1-2 2022)

Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between 1 - 9 January 2022.

• Ruling of 15 December 2021 (A-4190/2020 and A-4195/2020): VAT (2009-2014); services provided to related or closely associated persons; In the present case, the estimate made by the FTA regarding services provided to related or closely associated persons was disputed because no exact market price existed. Specifically, the case concerned a holiday home that the complainant owned during the relevant period and made freely available to the family. It was undisputed that this was an accommodation service that was taxable. After a thorough review, the Federal Administrative Court found that the FTA had acted in breach of duty in its estimate and referred the matter back to the FTA for a new (lower) estimate of the third-party price for the tax periods that were not yet time-barred. Due to the fact that the right to assess the tax claim in relation to the 2010 tax period has become absolutely time-barred in the meantime, the appeal is upheld. For the 2009 tax period, the old-law absolute limitation period of 15 years still applies. Appeal upheld and referred back to the FTA for the years 2009 and 2011 to 2014.

Decisions in the field of administrative assistance:

• Judgment of December 13, 2021 (F-5670/2020): Administrative assistance DTA CH-FR; Dismissal of the appeal; newly appealed before BGer.
• Judgment of 24 June 2021 (A-5424/2020) / new (BVGE 2021 III/1): Administrative assistance (DTA CH-ES): International administrative assistance in tax matters; procedure with subsequent information of the persons entitled to appeal; Art. 21a StAhiG is only applicable if the persons entitled to appeal have not yet been informed about the request or the administrative assistance procedure; appeal approved.
• Judgment of 13 December 2021 (F-1579/2021): Administrative assistance DTA CH-FR; Dismissal of the appeal; the Federal Supreme Court did not hear an appeal against this ruling.

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.