Facts
On 1 July 2011, Billag AG as the Swiss collection agency for radio and television license fees invoiced X., residing in A./BE, for the reception license fees. X. paid the fee, but not the associated value added tax of CHF 11.28. He argued that the reception license fees were sovereign levies not subject to the objective value added tax obligation.
On 12 February 2013, Billag AG ordered that X. owed the reception fees plus value added tax. X. then filed a complaint with the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), which forwarded the submission as an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court. The court did not enter into the complaint and determined that the decision of Billag AG was null and void to the extent it was disputed.
X., Billag AG, and the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) then filed appeals on matters of public law to the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court ruled that, contrary to the wording of Art. 6 of the Value Added Tax Act, the passing on of value added tax for services provided on the basis of a public-law legal relationship must also be assessed under public law. The legal relationship between Billag AG and the fee payers is of a public-law nature, so disputes over the passing on of value added tax on the reception fee must be settled by way of an order.
The Federal…