Facts
The case concerns a self-employed person who wanted to purchase additional contribution years in his pension fund. The lower instance had denied the deduction of this purchase amount from the contributory income, as the possibility of purchase was provided for in the regulations, but there was no mandatory obligation to do so. The appellant saw this as a contradiction to the law and case law.Considerations
The Federal Court decided that for self-employed persons, not only the contributions made due to a normative obligation, but also the voluntarily made, i.e. merely enabled by the statutes or regulations, contributions to occupational pensions can be deducted from the gross income according to Art. 9 para. 2 lit. e OASIA. This follows from the fact that occupational pensions for self-employed persons are generally voluntary and it would therefore be inconsistent with the system to only allow a purchase to be deducted if it is mandatory.
The Federal Court further stated that according to doctrine and practice, voluntarily made purchases are also deductible as long as the statutes or regulations provide for the possibility of a purchase. Limits are set, in addition to the requirements of collectivity,…