Facts
C. died on April 1, 1996 with his domicile in the Canton of Aargau. His three children were the heirs. The "X." Life Insurance Company reported that a capital benefit of CHF 517,996.- from the pension policy "X." (second pillar) was paid out to the heirs. Thereupon, the Canton of Lucerne levied a special tax on the daughter A.'s, who was domiciled in the Canton of Lucerne, one-third of the benefit. The tax office of the Canton of Aargau also assessed the inheritance tax, taking into account further capital benefits from life, savings, risk and endowment insurance policies of the decedent.
The Canton of Lucerne later issued a "rectification" assessment to also record the benefits from five additional insurance policies of the insurance company Y. A. filed an objection to this assessment, as she was of the opinion that there was an unconstitutional double taxation.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that an inadmissible double taxation exists if the same capital benefits from an insurance are subject to either income or inheritance tax by two or more cantons. The taxation of pension and insurance benefits depends on their tax qualification:
- Benefits from occupational pensions (second pillar) and tied private pensions (pillar 3a) are taxable for the recipient and are assigned to the canton of domicile for taxation.
- Redeemable private capital insurance policies (pillar 3b) are exempt from income tax and are assigned to the canton of the decedent's…