Facts
E. passed away on March 18, 1982. His daughter A. was the legal heir and received half of the inheritance. On June 1, 1994, the tax administration conducted an interim assessment on A. due to the inheritance on the date of death. On the same day, the final assessments for the direct federal tax for the years 1983/84, 1985/86, and 1987/88 were served to her. A. filed an objection against these assessments, as the deductions for interest on debts claimed by her were not taken into account. The objections were dismissed, whereupon A. filed an administrative court appeal to the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court first had to clarify the issue of the limitation of claims. It came to the following conclusion:
Although the new Federal Act on Direct Federal Tax (DBG) entered into force on January 1, 1995, and provides for absolute limitation, in the present case the provisions of the old Federal Council Decree (BdBSt) apply. The latter does not provide for an absolute limitation period, but the Federal Court has consistently ruled that this is not to be understood as a gap, but as a qualified silence of the legislator.
However, it would be offensive and hardly compatible with the principle of equality before the law if the limitation period for tax claims under the old law could still continue to run even when tax claims that have arisen under the new law are already…