Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published in the week of 12 - 18 July 2021.

  • Judgment of 16 June 2021 (A-2178/2021): VAT 2015; reopening of the proceedings following the Federal Supreme Court's decision to dismiss the case for the purpose of clarifying the facts in connection with the allocation of taxable turnover to a law firm or directly to one of the partners (see our article of 16 May 2021); the appeal is upheld insofar as the matter is referred back to the FTA for further clarification of the facts.
  • Ruling of 8 June 2021 (A-1838/2021): VAT, discretionary assessment (2012-2016); The appeal period for an A Mail Plus item begins to run on the day after the item is deposited, even if the item is deposited in the P.O. box of the addressee of the ruling or his legal representative on a Saturday. The late objection was rightly not accepted. Decision not to enter proceedings; new appeal before the Federal Supreme Court.
  • Judgments of 12 May 2012(A-6685/2017; A-6686/2017; A-6687/2017; A-6688/2017; A-6689/2017; A-6690/2017; A-6691/2017; A-6692/2017; A-6693/2017; A-6694/2017; levying of withholding tax; dismissal of appeals; decisions re-appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
  • Judgment of 23 February 2021 (A-2598/2020): Preferential clearance; joint and several liability; The judgment was confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court, cf. judgment of 21 June 2021 (2C_301/2021) and our article of 05 July 2021.
  • Judgment of 7 July 2021 (A-5204/2019): Customs tariff; surgical marking pens; dismissal of appeal.
  • Judgment of 5 July 2021 (A-5536/2019): Collection of withholding tax 2009 - 2012, due date for pecuniary benefits. The FTA taxed pecuniary benefits resulting from the fact that the complainant had waived commission income to which it was entitled and had not accounted for it or had not accounted for it correctly. Insofar as neither a formal waiver of income nor a resolution on the approval of the annual financial statements is available and the corresponding annual financial statements were only submitted to the tax authority in the context of the administrative penalty proceedings, it is justified to assume that the complainant waived its income on the day on which the shareholders' meeting should have approved the annual financial statements at the latest according to the law, i.e. on 30 June in each case. In other words, the shareholders thus tacitly decided on the untaxed income and consequently on the use of the untaxed share of the profits. Consequently, it must be assumed that the taxable benefits became due on 30 June of the year following the financial year. According to the above, the withholding tax claims for this also arose on this date and were due on 30 July in each case. Appeal partially upheld.

Decisions in the field of administrative assistance:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
Treaties
International Tax
Withholding Tax
Custom Duties
Value Added Tax (VAT)