Dismissal of the appeal against the assessment of direct federal taxes as well as cantonal and municipal taxes

Facts

In 2001, [X.] practiced as a lawyer in Bern and was also the owner of the castle [S.] in [A.]. The tax administration of the canton of Bern assessed [X.] and his wife [Y.] for the tax period 2001 with a taxable income of CHF 717,019.-- for the cantonal and municipal taxes and CHF 732,169.-- for the direct federal tax. The taxpayers filed an appeal against these assessments, which was partially granted. Subsequently, they appealed to the Tax Appeal Commission, which dismissed the appeal and increased the taxable income. The taxpayers filed a complaint against this decision with the Administrative Court, which partially upheld the complaint and remanded the case for a new assessment.

The taxpayers are filing a public law appeal against this judgment of the Administrative Court with the Federal Supreme Court. They request the annulment of the judgment and the allowance of further deductions from the taxable income.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal, insofar as it is admissible

• A doubling of the interest deduction of CHF 50,000.-- for jointly assessed spouses is not provided for under the correct interpretation of Art. 33 para. 1 lit. a DBG. This does not violate the principle of legality or the principle of good faith.
• The claimed heating costs for the rooms of the castle that are not inhabited in the winter cannot be deducted either as maintenance costs or as costs of monument preservation work, as they belong to…