Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published in the week of 8 - 14 June 2020.
- Judgment of 6 April 2020 (A-3549/2018): Value added tax (2010 to 2012); decision appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
- Judgement of 29 May 2020 (A-2516/2018): Withholding tax (refund); the disputed issue in the present case was the economic entitlement of the Italian bank to dividends received from a Swiss company from securities purchases and securities lending transactions. For the decision on the refund, the information on the counterparties is necessary and indispensable to clearly determine the full structure of the transactions. Refusal to provide information on the counterparties involved constitutes a breach of the duty to cooperate. The structure of the financial transactions at hand has led to the dividends paid being passed on to third parties. The shares were systematically acquired before the dividends were due, with the aim of transferring the dividends received on the said securities outside Italy or Switzerland to the counterparties of the contracts in full and without withholding tax. Rejection of the appeal.
- Judgment of 28 May 2020 (A-5556/2019): Value Added Tax (2011 - 2014); supply to closely associated persons; basis of assessment; the Federal Administrative Court had to examine the determination or assessment of the claim for additional value added tax in connection with the complainant's supplies to closely associated persons. The assessment of the deductible portion of the land value in the case of a sold house, the assessment basis for a leased vehicle, as well as the assessment of various expenses for purchased materials for the private use of the closely associated partners were disputed in this connection. The Federal Supreme Court concludes that in all the controversial areas mentioned here, the corrections made by the lower court are lawful. Rejection of the appeal.
- Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2661/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2013); Judgement of 27 May April 2020 (A-2659/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 to 2nd semester 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2659/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 to 2nd semester 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2659/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 to 2nd semester 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2661/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 to 2nd semester 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2659/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 to 2nd semester 2014) May 2020 (A-2660/2019): Value Added Tax (1st semester 2010 - 2nd semester 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2657/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2648/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2648/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2657/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014); Judgement of 27 May 2020 (A-2657/2019): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014): Value Added Tax (1st quarter 2010 - 4th quarter 2014) In the present case, it can be assumed, on the basis of the communication between the FTA and the taxpayer, that the tax claim only became non-definitive because of the payment; In the present cases, it concerned the taxation of the amounts paid by the Canton of Valais in connection with protection forests and the biodiversity of forests; It does not concern subsidies within the meaning of the aMWSTG, since it was not the complainant (forest district) that was the beneficiary of the subsidies, but the municipalities that owned the forests; rejection of the taxpayers' complaints.
Decisions in the field of administrative assistance:
- Judgement of 29 May 2020 (A-5064/2019): Administrative assistance - Double Taxation Convention Switzerland - Spain (DTA CH-ES); the appeal proves to be without substance and has been dismissed.
- Judgement of 20 May 2020 (A-2980/2019): Administrative assistance - double taxation agreement Switzerland - Italy (DTA CH-IT); the appeal is partially upheld; the FTA is not authorised to send the bank documents relating to banking relationship No. (...), including the corresponding Form A, to the requesting Italian authority.
- Judgment of 26 May 2020 (A-7302/2018): spontaneous exchange of information concerning tax advance decisions "Rulings" Switzerland - Nigeria; the appeal is dismissed.
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
