Overview of the tax rulings of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between August 11 - 17, 2025:
- Judgmentof July 16, 2025 (A-593/2024): VAT (2015-2018); attribution of the services of prostitutes to the operating company of a relevant establishment and estimation of taxable turnover; Based on the website of the operator of the establishment, the FAC confirmed that the appellant was to be regarded as a service provider vis-à-vis third parties and thus denied that the women were self-employed in the VAT sense. With regard to the estimation of the taxable turnover, the FAC confirmed that the conditions for such an estimation were met, as the turnover generated by the women was not recorded by the appellant. However, the method used by the FTA to estimate the turnover in question was rejected by the FAC and the matter was referred back to the FTA to carry out a new estimate. Partial upholding of the taxpayer's appeal.
- Judgment of July 16, 2025 (A-589/2024): VAT (2014-2017); attribution of the services of prostitutes to the operating company of a relevant establishment and estimation of taxable turnover; see above judgment of July 16, 2025 (A-593/2024) concerning the same complainant.
- Judgment of July 24, 2025 (A-7526/2024): Corporate fee for radio and television (year 2024, period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023); A. operated a company in the calendar year 2023 and owed a corporate fee of CHF 160 based on the RTVA and the RTVO. This was not disputed by A. in principle. However, he essentially disputed his obligation to pay the corporate fee by claiming that the reporting on the topic of "corona" in the public media financed by the corporate fee had been manipulated and censored by them. This violates the Federal Constitution (Art. 5 para. 3 [acting in good faith], Art. 16 BV [freedom of opinion and information] and Art. 17 BV [freedom of the media] and Art. 10 ECHR (freedom of expression). The FAC refers in particular to its judgment of December 15, 2022 (A-3116/2022). In this ruling, it had already dismissed an appeal by the same taxpayer on essentially the same grounds. This ruling is legally binding. The FSC did not accept the appeal against it in its ruling of February 27, 2023 (9C_138/2023). The FAC also held in the present proceedings that the complainant's complaints were unfounded. Among other things, it pointed out that the obligation to pay the corporate fee under the RTVA does not depend on whether a company subject to the fee agrees with the programs broadcast. As a federal law, it is authoritative for the authorities applying the law on the basis of Art. 190 BV. Dismissal of the appeal of the party subject to the levy.
Administrative Assistance:
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
