Facts
Jakob Baumgartner filed an administrative court appeal in an AHV contribution dispute. The President of the Federal Insurance Court ordered the payment of a costs advance to secure the presumed court costs and set a deadline for it. Baumgartner paid the costs advance on the last day of the deadline at the post office, but erroneously addressed it to the High Court of the Canton of Lucerne, which only forwarded the matter to the Federal Insurance Court after the deadline had expired.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court decided that the deadline for payment of the costs advance is also deemed to have been met if the appellant pays the advance in a timely manner to an incompetent authority. This results from the analogous application of Art. 107 para. 1 OG, according to which the deadline for filing an administrative court appeal is also deemed to have been met if the appellant timely contacts an incompetent authority.
The decisive factor is that the authority addressed is an authority of the…