Overview of the tax rulings of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court published between January 27 and February 2, 2025:

  • Judgment of January 16, 2025 (A-5077/2021): Customs duties; subsequent collection; the present case concerns the complainant's subsequent subjection to customs and import tax liability, as well as default interest. According to the customs investigation, the complainant purchased a total of 4,159.50 kg of raw goods (meat). The goods were imported into Switzerland without a customs declaration. According to the contested decision, the uncollected tax amount was set at CHF 60,337.70. After a thorough examination, the Federal Administrative Court came to the conclusion that the lower court had correctly applied the customs law provisions by determining that the appellant was to be qualified as a principal within the meaning of customs law. The lower court therefore rightly designated the appellant as a customs debtor and thus also held it liable as a debtor for subsequent services. The subsequent charges (customs and import tax) were correctly calculated in accordance with the imports attributable to it. Dismissal of the taxpayer's appeal.
  • Judgment of January 8, 2025 (A-1146/2023): VAT, tax liability 2018-2020; there is tax avoidance, as the taxable person only held a vacation home that was made available exclusively to the sole shareholder after an expensive conversion, the assertion of input tax resulted in a considerable tax saving and there is an intention to avoid VAT, as the sole shareholder himself would not be entitled to deduct input tax due to a lack of tax liability. Consequently, the tax liability was rightly denied and the taxable person was deleted from the register of VAT payers. Dismissal of the taxable person's appeal.
  • Judgment of January 20, 2025 (A-3320/2024): Household tax; the taxpayer owes the household tax for the period from January 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019, as she was listed in the residents' register at the relevant address during this period and did not comply with her obligation to register when she moved. For the period from July 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020, she is exempt from the levy as she was in prison and, as a resident of a collective household, is not subject to an individual household levy. The taxpayer's appeal is partially upheld.

Updates

Administrative assistance (incl. updates):

Decisions are listed chronologically by publication date.

Tax topics covered in this post:
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Custom Duties
Other Taxes