Facts
The estate community of A., consisting of B.A. and C.A., filed an appeal against the decision of the Tax Appeal Commission of the Canton of Valais dated November 16, 2016 regarding the cantonal tax and direct federal tax for the year 2011.
The public inventory dated March 6, 2012 listed provisional tax claims for the direct federal tax 2011 in the amount of CHF 1,462.20 and for the cantonal tax 2011 in the amount of CHF 5,970.60. The heirs accepted the inheritance under public inventory. In the final assessment dated September 3, 2015, the tax administration set the cantonal tax 2011 at CHF 43,369.50 and the direct federal tax 2011 at CHF 24,744.25.
The heirs claimed that based on the provisional tax claims in the public inventory, they could assume that these were the binding tax claims for 2011. They had accepted the inheritance in reliance on this.
Considerations
The Federal Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that the provisional tax claims in the public inventory merely represented a reservation for the taxes that had not yet been legally assessed. The heirs could therefore not have assumed that these were the final tax claims. Furthermore, they would have accepted the inheritance…