Facts
The opposing party [X.] completed an apprenticeship as a commercial employee and then obtained a degree in Business Administration AKAD or a Diploma in Business Administration HWV. From January 2001 to June 2002, he attended a part-time MBA program at the Institute for Financial Management in Bern. In his 2001 tax return, he claimed the costs for this training as continuing education expenses, which the Tax Administration of the Canton of Thurgau, however, rejected. After an appeal procedure, the case ultimately reached the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that the costs for an additional MBA qualification are generally not to be treated as deductible continuing education expenses, but as non-deductible education costs. The decisive factor is that the MBA represents an independent professional qualification with its own value, which significantly improves the career prospects of the graduate. This applies regardless of whether the MBA is obtained after a basic economic education as in the present case or after another education.
Although the MBA degree in the specific case led to the opposing party's promotion to Vice Director, which represents a professional advancement, expenses for further training that lead to a promotion to a better professional position are not considered deductible continuing education costs, but rather investments in the future that supplement the basic education.
Given the costs of over CHF 80,000 for the MBA program, the…