Overview of the tax law decisions of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published in the week of 15 - 21 November 2021.

  • Ruling of 5 October 2021 (A-4642/2020): Withholding tax, pecuniary benefit; A pecuniary benefit within the meaning of withholding tax may also exist if translated salary payments or compensation are paid to related persons. Translated fees paid to the beneficial owner of the company and to a director of a group company resident abroad qualify as a benefit in kind if their appropriateness is not proven (see our article of 31 October 2021). Dismissal of the appeal; new appeal before the Federal Supreme Court.
  • Judgment of 28 September 2021 (A-5407/2020, A-5409/2020, A-5410/2020): Import duties; cabotage; What was disputed and to be examined was, on the one hand, whether the complainant had the power of disposal over the tractor units in question for the time they were used on Swiss customs territory. On the other hand, it was disputed whether the transport of empty semi-trailers from one place in Switzerland to another in Switzerland constituted prohibited cabotage. With regard to the first question, the Federal Administrative Court concluded that the power of disposal for the tractor units in question remained with the foreign companies. With regard to the second question, the Federal Administrative Court states that it is undisputed that the journey of an articulated vehicle without a semi-trailer or trailer from one location in Switzerland to another location in Switzerland is not considered to be prohibited inland transport because neither goods nor persons are being transported. It is also permissible if a consignment from abroad is distributed to various recipients in Switzerland or if goods are picked up in Switzerland from various consignors and all of them are transported abroad. After a thorough investigation, the Federal Administrative Court accordingly held that the transport of the empty trailers had thus been domestic transport. This is because the trailers were not transported across borders, but only domestically from one place to another. This means that the tractor units that carried out these transports are subject to customs duty. Dismissal of the complaint.
  • Judgment of 26 August 2021 (A-1028/2021): VAT 2010-2014; decision confirmed by judgment 2C_781/2021 of 19 October 2021 (see our article of 14 November 2021).
  • Judgment of 1 November 2021 (A-6573/2019): Customs duties; Due to the weight content, the fruit slices in question are not tariff number 2008.9997 but tariff number 2106.9074. Dismissal of the appeal.
  • Judgment of 21 October 2021 (A-1533/2020): VAT 2011-2014; education and consulting services; the FTA was correct in assuming taxable consulting services; dismissal of the appeal.
  • Judgment of 14 September 2021 (A-377/2021): Authorisation for inward processing; In the present case, it was disputed whether the "violation of equivalence provisions" was to be considered fulfilled. Specifically, the case concerned an authorisation granted to the complainant for the import of parts of the beef truss (corner piece, fish, lower split). The permit contained various conditions, including that the imported goods may be exchanged for domestic goods of the same quantity, nature and quality. However, the Federal Administrative Court concluded that the replacement goods in the present proceedings did not have the same characteristics as the imported goods. Dismissal of the appeal.

Decisions in the field of administrative assistance:

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
International Tax
Treaties