At its meeting on 13 June 2017, the National Council, as the first Council to deal with the matter, will adopt a motion instructing the Federal Council to create the appropriate legal basis for ensuring that overpaid VAT on radio and television reception fees can be repaid to all consumers and companies retroactively over a period of five years.
The motion by the National Council's Commission for Transport and Telecommunications (17.3266) refers to the Federal Supreme Court ruling of 13 April 2015 (2C_882/2014) as the reason for this, according to which the fees collected by the Swiss Collection Agency for Radio and Television Reception Fees (Billag) are not subject to VAT. As of the date of the ruling, Billag may therefore no longer levy value added tax (VAT) of 2.5% on reception fees. In its statement, the Federal Council pointed out that a motion by National Councillor Sylvia Flückiger (15.3416) had already been adopted by the National Council on 4 May 2017 and that this motion does not provide for a time limit on the reimbursement. He also pointed out that restitution cases are pending before the Federal Supreme Court and that the creation of a legal basis should only be considered once the Federal Supreme Court has made a final assessment of the restitution issue.
The National Council (first-degree council) accepted the motion in its session on 13 June 2017. In the next step, the motion will be discussed by the Council of States.
The minutes of the National Council meeting are available here.
