Overview of the tax law decisions of the Zurich Tax Appeals Court published in October.

  • StRG ZH, 28 September 2021, GR.2021.7: Intra-cantonal double taxation in the case of segregation losses (this decision is not yet final): The Federal Supreme Court case law regarding the avoidance of segregation losses does not apply to intra-cantonal situations in the Canton of Zurich before 1 January 2019 due to the lack of a legal basis. The taxable corporation (a property dealer) argued that in intercantonal constellations in the property canton, intracantonal operating losses should also be offset in the context of the property gains tax assessment. This was denied by the Tax Appeals Court. In the present case from the 2013 tax year, no operating loss remained for the taxpayer company in the canton of domicile, Vaud; the loss in dispute was based on losses incurred in the previous year in the canton of Zurich, which were also allocated to the canton of Zurich within the scope of the tax segregation. The question of whether these losses are to be offset against the real estate profit generated in the City of Zurich as at 2013 thus concerns a purely intra-cantonal issue. Contrary to the opinion of the taxpayer company, the case law of the Federal Supreme Court concerning the avoidance of segregation losses is not applicable to this case. The intra-cantonal offsetting of losses failed in the Canton of Zurich, which assesses according to the monistic system - as confirmed by the Federal Supreme Court several times - until 1 January 2019 (entry into force of section 224a of the Tax Act) due to the lack of a legal basis. Dismissal of the appeal.
  • StRG ZH, 7 September 2021, DB.2021.99 / ST.2021.140: Unsuccessful delivery to incompetent official office (this decision is final): Disregard due to delay of complaint and appeal. The taxpayer sent the notice of appeal to an incompetent office using an outdated address. Subsequently, the mailing was returned to him or his representative. If this original mailing is forwarded to the appellate authority in an open state by the taxpayer and not by an official body, the question of compliance with the time limit is not based on the original mailing but on the forwarding.

The decisions of the Zurich Tax Appeals Court are available here .