Facts
A. Group AG, with its registered office initially in C., then in D. and later in E. and F., is a company primarily engaged in real estate business. The group also includes A. AG, A. Immobilien AG, and H. AG, all with registered offices in C.
For the 2009 tax year, A. Group AG declared a taxable net profit of CHF 0.-- and taxable equity of CHF 8'874'363.-- in the tax return for the Canton of Zurich. The Zurich Tax Office subsequently issued several orders to examine the tax liability in the Canton of Zurich. Ultimately, it assessed A. Group AG for 2009 with a taxable net profit of CHF 1'090'900.-- and taxable equity of CHF 9'030'000.-- in the Canton of Zurich.
A. Group AG filed an appeal against this assessment with the Federal Supreme Court. It requested that its tax domicile be recognized in the Canton of Zug and that the taxable profit and capital in the Canton of Zurich be set significantly lower.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It concluded that the main tax domicile of A. Group AG was in the Canton of Zurich, as the focus of its business activities was there. The company was active as a general contractor and construction manager for a construction project in C., its accounting was handled by a trusted person of G. in C., and the other group companies also had their registered offices in the Canton of Zurich. The registered office in the Canton of Zug was qualified as a mere letter-box domicile.
The Federal Supreme Court also saw no violation of the principle of legality, as the tax liability in the Canton of Zurich was based on Art. 20 para. 1 of the Federal Act…