Facts
The appellants A. and B.C.-[D.] sold a land parcel in 2001 that they had acquired from their (in-laws) in 1996. The municipality of [X.] assessed the real estate capital gains tax based on a higher market value, as it assumed a mixed gift in the acquisition in 1996. The Administrative Court of the Canton of Zurich confirmed this calculation. The appellants disputed that the acquisition in 1996 involved a mixed gift and demanded that the real estate capital gain be calculated based on the actual purchase price of 1996. However, the Federal Supreme Court dismissed their administrative court appeal. It held that the Administrative Court had rightly assumed a mixed gift, as the purchase price paid in 1996 was significantly below the market value. Therefore, for the calculation of the real estate capital gain on the sale in 2001, the market value at the time, and not the actual purchase price of 1996, was decisive.Considerations
According to the Federal Supreme Court, the deferral of taxation in the case of mixed gifts is permissible under harmonization law. Even though the purchase contract of 1992 and the land register entry of 1996 are temporally separate, the decisive factor for the tax deferral is solely that there was an obvious disproportion between the performance and the consideration at the time of acquisition by the appellants. The Administrative Court was therefore entitled to base the calculation of the real estate capital gain on the sale in 2001 not on the actual purchase price of 1996, but on the market value at…