Facts
In the 1996 financial year, [A. AG] (the appellant) had set aside a provision of CHF 1,000,000 on its real estate assets. The tax administration of the Canton of Bern (KSTV/BE) had initially recognized this provision as justified for business purposes. In the 2008 financial year, the appellant sold two developed properties from its real estate portfolio. In the 2009 and 2010 tax periods, it reduced the provision by CHF 50,000 each time. In the 2011 tax period, the appellant only released the provision by CHF 50,000, so that CHF 850,000 were still reported at the end of 2011. In the 2011 tax period, the KSTV/BE offset a first tranche of CHF 150,000. It announced that it would continuously offset the remaining amount of CHF 700,000 over the next four years. The appeals of the appellant remained unsuccessful.Considerations
The Federal Court states that the provision had long since lost its justification in the 2011 tax period and was no longer justified for business purposes at the end of the 2011 tax period. The loss of around CHF 932,000 that occurred in the 1996 financial year could have been avoided if the formation of the provision had been waived. The Federal Court notes that under Art. 63 para. 2 DBG, previous provisions must be added to the taxable profit "to the extent that they are no longer justified". The tax…