Statute of Limitations for Value-Added Tax Claims with Loss Certificate

Facts

The complainant X. was requested by the Federal Tax Administration with a supplementary invoice of June 12, 1996, for the accounting period from July 1, 1995, to December 31, 1995, to pay value-added taxes in the amount of CHF 20,000.- plus default interest. For the accounting period from January 1, 1996, to November 18, 1996, the taxpayer declared value-added taxes of CHF 19,398.55 with his own invoice. On November 18, 1996, bankruptcy proceedings were opened against X. After the bankruptcy proceedings were completed, the Federal Tax Administration received a loss certificate of May 26, 1999, for CHF 56,489.70, which also included the two value-added tax claims plus interest up to the opening of bankruptcy. Based on this, the Federal Tax Administration initiated enforcement proceedings against the taxpayer with a payment order of November 28, 2005.

The complainant filed a legal objection with the plea of lack of new assets, which was not granted by the Zofingen District Court. The Federal Tax Administration lifted the legal objection against the payment order in the amount of CHF 40,328.- (value-added tax from July 1, 1995, to November 18, 1996, plus interest). With a decision of December 7, 2006, it confirmed the value-added tax owed to it by X.

X. appealed against this decision, which was rejected by the Federal Administrative Court with a judgment of February 25, 2010. X. requests the Federal Court to overturn the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court and to establish that the value-added tax claims have expired.

Considerations

The Federal Court had to decide whether the five-year statute of limitations for value-added tax claims according to Art. 40 para. 1 VATO or the twenty-year statute of limitations according to Art. 149a para. 1 DEBA applies when a loss certificate is issued.

The court found that the Ordinance of June 22, 1994, on Value-Added Tax (VATO) is still applicable, as the present case occurred during its validity. It pointed out that the issuance of a loss certificate leaves the original claim intact in principle but the claim now expires according to the debt…