Facts
K., born in 1932, is an architect by profession and the sole or co-owner of several properties. In 1969, he had acquired the property G. in Z. together with A., built on it, and purchased A.'s share in 1982. Since 1979, K. has been registered with the Compensation Fund of the Canton of Zurich as a self-employed person working in the real estate business on a part-time basis.
By decisions dated June 1, 1984, the Compensation Fund set the AHV/IV/EO contributions for the years 1979 to 1985. However, upon appeal, the Fund issued a decision on August 28, 1985, recognizing that the property G. belonged to K.'s private assets and revoked the contested contribution decisions.
On August 30, 1988, K. sold the property G. for 2.7 million Swiss francs. Based on information from the Cantonal Tax Office, the Compensation Fund then issued decisions on June 29, 1992, setting the taxable annual average income for the contribution period 1990/1991 at 661,900 Swiss francs and the annual social security contributions at 64,137.60 Swiss francs.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that the administration had assigned the property G. to K.'s private assets for the years 1979 to 1985 with its decision-like order of August 28, 1985. However, this assignment does not prevent the administration from re-qualifying the property with regard to the distinction between business and private assets, taking into account the actual circumstances from 1986 onwards.
Decision-like orders that determine a completed set of…