Overview of tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between July 10 - 23, 2023.

  • Judgments of 23 June 2023(A-4346/2020 and A-4352/2020): Customs; revocation of an export assessment, correction of the consignor; The complainant (watch seller) does not succeed in proving that it would have carried out the transport of the watch subject of the complaint to the duty-free warehouse itself (within the scope of an export procedure) or would otherwise have arranged it in any way legally or actually on its own account or on the account of a third party. Since the complainant derives rights from the qualification as exporter (designation as consignor on the export assessment order or revocation of the contested order), it bears the consequences of the unproven facts for which it has the burden of proof. It must therefore be agreed with the lower court that the complainant cannot be regarded as an exporter within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 2 of the Foreign Trade Statistics Ordinance. Consequently, the relevant information in the export customs declaration or in the original export assessment ruling must be considered incorrect. Accordingly, the export procedure has not been properly concluded as a result of the exporter's false declaration in the customs declaration. The revocation of the original export assessment ruling by the lower court was therefore justified in this case. Dismissal of the appeal.
  • Judgment of 29 June 2023 (A-2585/2022): VAT; brokerage in the financial sector; A AG assisted companies in finding investors for their new shares to be issued and declared its turnover from this as exempt financial brokerage within the meaning of VAT Act 21 para. 2 item 19 lit. e; according to the FTA, an exempt brokerage activity only exists if the brokered basic transaction is exempt. According to the FTA, an exempt brokerage activity only exists if the brokered underlying transaction is exempt, which is not the case for the "brokerage of capital contributions" as non-fees; according to the FTA, the interpretation of the norm shows that the brokered underlying transaction must be exempt; dismissal of the complaint of A AG.
  • Judgment of June 19, 2023 (A-2397/2022); Value Added Tax; Decrease in Charges (Tax Period 2018); The complainant could not validly prove that the repayment of cost advances received was a decrease in charges. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.

Administrative Assistance:

Repetitions / Moving on:

  • A-6558/2020: Decision confirmed by BGer with judgment of 13.06.2023 (9C_609/2022
  • A-633/2019: Decision confirmed by BGer with judgment of 22.06.2023 (9C_687/2022)
  • A-2087/2021: Proceedings before the BGer written off with decision of 02.05.2023 (9C_231/2023)
  • A-1052/2022: customs duties; decision confirmed by BGer with judgment of 09.06.2023 (9C_316/2023))
  • A-2332/2019: customs duties; decision confirmed by BGer with judgment of 29.06.2023 (9C_617/2022)
  • A-2572/2021: VAT; decision confirmed by BGer with judgment of 21.06.2023 (9C_698/2022)

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

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