Facts
On October 30, 2015, the Cantonal Tax Office of Zurich initiated supplementary tax and penal tax proceedings against A.A. and B.A. for the tax years 2005 to 2009. On January 27, 2016, the Tax Office issued a precautionary measure for a total of CHF 140,000,000 against A.A. and B.A. Based on this, the Tax Office issued an attachment order against A.A. on June 17, 2019 to secure the tax claims, in which the Debt Collection Office Maloja was appointed as the lead debt collection office to carry out the cross-cantonal enforcement of the attachment.
A.A. filed a complaint against the enforcement of the attachment with the Cantonal Court of Graubünden, which was dismissed. Thereupon, A.A. appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the complaint. It stated that the cross-cantonal enforcement of the attachment by a lead debt collection office is in compliance with the law. Although the law does not contain an explicit regulation on this, this is to be considered a legislative gap that can be closed by analogy to the provisions on the enforcement of seizure under Art. 89 DEBA.
The Federal Supreme Court considered it permissible for the attachment court to appoint a lead debt collection office in the attachment order, which coordinates the nationwide enforcement of the attachment and calls upon the assistance of other debt collection offices. This serves the efficiency and uniformity…