Facts
After repeatedly and unsuccessfully summoning company R SA to submit the declaration for the 1995 federal direct tax, the Corporate Taxation Office of the Department of Finance and Economy of the Canton of Ticino imposed an ex officio taxation on it on February 5, 1996. Company R SA filed an appeal against the taxation, requesting a two-month extension of the deadlines and claiming that the taxation did not correspond to the facts. However, the appeal was declared inadmissible on July 4, 1996 because the company had not provided the grounds for the appeal or indicated any evidence, as required by law.
The Tax Law Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Ticino annulled the ex officio taxation and referred the case back to the previous authority for a new judgment, considering that the obligation to provide grounds was not a prerequisite for the admissibility of the appeal, but a substantive condition for its acceptance. The Federal Tax Administration therefore filed an administrative law appeal to the Federal Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court upheld the appeal and confirmed the decision on the appeal of July 4, 1996, considering that the federal law on the federal direct tax has maintained the requirement of providing grounds for appeals against ex officio taxation, unlike those against ordinary taxation. According to the Court, this requirement of providing grounds constitutes a procedural prerequisite for…