Overview of tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between September 4 - 10, 2023:
- Judgment of 14 August 2023 (A-4469/2020): Refund of withholding tax (DTA CH-IT); the complainant, resident in Italy, had filed a refund request with respect to withholding tax on dividends and interest. The income was channelled through offshore companies held by the complainant, which were considered transparent in Italy following a tax disclosure program. A forwarding of the income or a corresponding forwarding obligation of the offshore companies was not claimed. The complainant can therefore not invoke the concept of "Durchgriff" as a concept stemming from the concept of abuse of rights in its favor, but must have the chosen legal structure held against it. It is also not helpful that they qualify as beneficial owners under the CRS or FATF rules, since the DTA has an independent definition of the term. Dismissal of the appeal.
- Judgment of 24 August 2023 (A-1111/2023): Value added tax; determination of the final tax claim from the 1st to the 4th quarter of 2017; Art. 86 para. 7 VAT Act (as amended until December 31, 2017); in the present case, the amount of the VAT claim is in dispute. The complainant's VAT accounts are examined and judged to be correct. The VAT claim of the FTA against the complainant is set at CHF 3,600 for the tax periods from the 1st to the 4th quarter of 2017. The appeal is upheld. However, the procedural costs are imposed on the prevailing party, since it caused them by violating procedural rules.
Administrative assistance (incl. updates/re-publications):
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
