Facts
[A.] operates a sole proprietorship that aims to carry out tax refund and child allowance procedures in the European Member States. Until February 2023, he was also a partner in a general partnership that represented European guest workers on tax and legal matters.
The Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) registered [A.] in the register of VAT-liable persons as of January 1, 2018. The general partnership invoiced [A.] or his sole proprietorship for tax and legal advisory services for the period from the 1st quarter of 2015 to the 3rd quarter of 2020.
The SFTA issued an assessment notice with an input tax credit for [A.] for the tax periods 2018 and 2019, and supplementary invoices with tax claims for the tax periods 2015 to 2017 and the first to third quarters of 2020. The sole proprietorship filed a legal remedy against the decision for the third quarter of 2020, which the Federal Administrative Court dismissed.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court notes that, according to the wording of the law, the time of receipt of the invoice and not the time of receipt of the service is decisive for the input tax deduction. However, the input tax deduction may be excluded if the services were already consumed before the commencement of the business…