Overview of the tax rulings of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between October 21 - 27, 2024:
- Judgment of October 15, 2024 (A-3761/2021): Issue tax; the contribution of several participations to the taxpayer does not qualify as a quasi-merger due to the lack of a capital increase; it cannot be considered together with previous transactions and qualified as a transformation of a sole proprietorship; accordingly, there is no restructuring situation that would exempt the contribution from the issue tax. Nor can the taxpayer invoke the protection of legitimate expectations. The valuation of the contribution is also protected. Dismissal of the appeal.
- Judgment of October 16, 2024 (A-149/2023): Supply tax (1st quarter 2014 to 4th quarter 2017); If the Swiss VAT-liable company maintains foreign permanent establishments, there is no pure (non-VAT-liable) domiciliary company, whereby a business activity is to be assumed. The supplies received are therefore not subject to supply tax. Partial approval of the taxpayer's appeal
- Judgment of October 21, 2024 (A-6887/2023): VAT, supplies to closely related persons (tax periods 2015 to 2018); the FTA must bear the burden of proof if it does not succeed in proving that the sales activity subject to VAT is attributable to the taxable person. Approval of the taxpayer's appeal.
- Judgment of October 18, 2024 (A-5658/2023): VAT (2014 to 2018); place of supply, input VAT correction; In the case of tax-exempt educational services for which no opt-out has been made, the place of supply is decisive for any right to deduct input VAT. In the case of online distance learning courses including live lessons, the place of supply is assumed to be the taxable person's registered office (in Switzerland), as this is where the (technical) coordination is carried out by the complainant. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
- Judgment of October 18, 2024 (A-6645/2023): Remission (customs duties, import tax, default interest); a reason for remission exists for part of the period in question. Partial approval of the appeal.
Updates:
- Judgment of August 5, 2024 (A-5811/2023): VAT (2017 to 2021); non-acceptance (see our article from August 18, 2024); The FSC did not accept an appeal against this decision.
- Judgment of September 17, 2024 (A-5812/2023): VAT; The FTA retroactively entered the taxable person in the VAT register ex officio on the grounds that the taxable person had also provided electronic services to non-taxable recipients from January 1, 2015. As a result, the taxable person was liable to pay tax on the domestic turnover generated during the period in question. According to administrative practice, an additional charge can be waived if the taxable person can prove that the recipient has already paid the supply tax on the services. In the sense of a special case, the large number of service recipients means that explicit proof of the invoiced purchase tax can be waived by submitting individual confirmations from the service recipients. On the basis of the Excel list submitted by the taxpayer with the taxpayer's customer data, it (the FTA) had permitted an approximate determination of the invoiced purchase tax on the basis of Art. 80 of the VAT Act or had carried it out itself. The FTA denied the taxpayer access to the documents in question due to its duty of confidentiality towards third parties. The tax assessment and the procedure of the FTA are not objectionable. Dismissal of the appeal; decision appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
