Pitfalls in the Application of the Transfer Procedure

The Federal Court recently sentenced an art collector to pay import taxes of around CHF 11 million plus default interest of around 2.5 million. Although the judgment concerned the period from 2008 to 2013, old legal regulations applied to the matter. However, the current provisions of the MWSTG do not differ from these, which is why the judgment remains valid under today’s applicable law.

The background was that the import into Switzerland was carried out by a gallery that had a permit to use the transfer procedure. Apparently, this permit was obtained wrongfully because as confirmed by the court in its judgment 2C_219/2018 of April 27, 2020, only the person who immediately after the import has economic control over the imported goods is entitled to act as an importer. In this case, it was denied that the gallery had control over the artworks, and consequently, the art collector, who had actual control over the artworks at the time and should have acted as the importer, was obliged to pay the import taxes.