Overview of the tax rulings of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between November 24 - December 1, 2024
- Judgment of November 12, 2024 (A-4381/2022): Customs; domestic transportation / cabotage; In the present case, it had to be clarified whether the complainant had failed to declare various coaches with Macedonian license plates under customs law in breach of its obligations or had wrongly failed to pay import duties on them. The complainant itself argues that passengers boarded a new bus at one location in Switzerland and were taken from there to another location in Switzerland. However, the appellant does not consider the facts of cabotage to be fulfilled, as the passengers had each concluded a single transportation contract with the appellant to take them from a place in Switzerland to a place abroad or from abroad to a place in Switzerland. After a detailed examination, the Federal Administrative Court held that it was irrelevant what the transportation contract was. In the present case, the only relevant fact was that the complainant had passengers board at one location in Switzerland and disembark at another location. These facts constitute cabotage. The appeal is dismissed.
- Judgment of November 11, 2024 (A-6789/2024): Withholding tax (refund); In its ruling of October 3, 2024 (9C_635/2023; see our article on this topic), the Federal Supreme Court upheld the appeal of a Danish financial institution and referred the case back to the Federal Administrative Court. In order to comply with the requirements of the Federal Supreme Court, it is necessary to clarify the facts of the case, for which the FTA is originally responsible as an authority with proven expertise in this area. In the present case, it is therefore justified to refer the matter referred back to the Federal Administrative Court by the Federal Supreme Court back to the FTA for further clarification and a new decision ("renvoi sur renvoi"). In this respect, the applicant's appeal must be upheld.
- Judgment of November 19, 2024 (A-1347/2024): Household fee; decision of 1 February 2024; The argument that SRG violated its license conditions in connection with the COVID pandemic is irrelevant with regard to the question of the obligation to pay the fee. Dismissal of the appeal.
- Judgment of November 18, 2024 (A-5082/2021): The appellant fulfilled all the requirements for a tax-exempt import of the disputed aircraft within the meaning of Art. 53 para. 1 let. e VAT Act. This applies both to the use of the disputed aircraft in Switzerland in the period from June 5, 2015 to April 13, 2017 and to the undeclared repair, maintenance and overhaul work on the disputed aircraft purchased abroad in the period from June 2015 to February 2017. Appeal upheld.
Administrative assistance (incl. updates):
Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.
