Tax & Legal

The Supreme Tax Court has rejected a tax office assessment attempt on the basis of a hidden distribution of profits because of a delay in agreeing management charges in writing, saying that the double tax treaty related party provision bases the arm’s length standard on amount, rather than on the reason for, or documentation, of a transaction.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that a taxpayer cannot claim forgiveness of the interest due on the tax payment following a transfer pricing adjustment on the grounds that an associated company had no claim for interest receivable on the corresponding adjustment in its home country.

On 6 June 2023, the Federal Ministry of Finance published its new principles for the correction of income pursuant to Section 1 External Tax Relations Act on its website. These are to be applied to all open cases with immediate effect. Only the chapter on relocation of functions is applicable to cases that are realised after 31 December 2021.

In its decision in Hamamatsu Photonics Deutschland (C-529/16) the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that Articles 28 to 31 of the Customs Code (old version) must be interpreted as meaning that they do not permit an agreed transaction value, composed of an amount initially invoiced and declared and a flat-rate adjustment made after the end of the accounting period, to form the basis for the customs value, without it being possible to know at the end of the accounting period whether that adjustment would be made up or down.

In this issue: PwC Reports, Official Pronouncments, Supreme Tax Court Cases, From Europe and From PwC

The Supreme Tax Court has held that the thin capital rules in force up to 2007 are in breach of the non-discrimination clause in the Swiss double tax treaty.