- The Federal Supreme Court ruled on the admissibility of input tax deduction for acquisition tax in the context of consultancy services for the sale of shareholdings.
- A person liable for VAT in Switzerland can only claim input tax if the services were provided during a period when they were already registered for VAT.
- A AG, a company registered for VAT in April 2019, commissioned foreign service providers for consultancy services related to the sale of shares.
- The consultancy agreements were concluded before A AG was registered for VAT.
- The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) refused the input tax deduction, stating that it could only be claimed for services provided after A AG was registered for VAT.
- The FTA assumed a proportional distribution of fees based on the duration of the contracts to determine the extent of the input tax deduction.
- The Federal Supreme Court agreed with the FTA’s requirement of existing tax liability while receiving services.
- A AG had the burden of proof to show that the services were provided after their VAT registration, but failed to provide evidence.
- The court upheld the FTA’s approach of assuming continuous provision of services until evidence is provided.
Source: primetax.ch
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
