Facts
The married couple [A.C.] and B.C.-[D.] were assessed for the state and municipal taxes as well as the direct federal tax 2010 by the tax office of the municipality of [X.] (ZH) according to their discretion, as they had not submitted the tax return for the year 2010. The claim for refund of the withholding tax 2010 was set at CHF 0.--. The married couple filed an objection and requested that they be assessed according to their submitted tax return 2010 and that the refund claim for the withholding tax be set at CHF 70,289.80. The tax office of the Canton of Zurich partially upheld the objection, but rejected the application for refund of the withholding tax. The Tax Appeal Court of the Canton of Zurich also dismissed the appeal of the married couple C.-[D.] against this decision.Considerations
The Federal Court states that the claim for refund of the withholding tax must be asserted within three years after the end of the calendar year in which the taxable service became due, in accordance with Art. 32 para. 1 of the Federal Act on Withholding Tax (WTA). Since the service on which the withholding tax was levied became due in 2010, the refund claim would have lapsed at the end of 2013, unless a legally valid refund application had been filed by that time.The appellants claimed that they had filed the application for refund of the withholding tax 2010 together with the tax return 2010 "around February 27, 2012". However, the Federal Court finds that the appellants were unable to provide proof of the timely submission of the refund application. Since the appellants did not send the application by registered mail or named witnesses for the receipt of the mail, the proof of timely posting of the…