Facts
The appellant X. alone occupies a 5 ½-room single-family home in A., which he acquired from his father in May 2006. In his tax return for direct federal tax 2006, he claimed a deduction for underuse from the deemed rental value, which was denied by the tax administration of the canton of Thurgau and by all cantonal authorities.
On January 31, 2009, X. filed a complaint in public law matters with the Federal Court. He requests that the cantonal final judgment of the Administrative Court of the canton of Thurgau of December 17, 2008, be set aside and the deduction for underuse be granted.
Considerations
The Federal Court rejected the deduction for underuse, as the conditions for such a deduction were not met. The legislative history and purpose of Art. 21 para. 2 DFTA show that the legislature intended the deduction only for cases where the model case of older owners gives rise to a hardship case.
The court found that the appellant had not shown that he would be at risk of having to sell the house or otherwise get into financial difficulties without the deduction for underuse. His situation is therefore to be assigned to the fourth, basically least worthy of protection category, in which…