Facts
The appellant [X.] has been widowed since 1984. As she had not filed tax returns for the years 1990 - 1996, the tax commissioner estimated her taxes at her discretion. The resulting tax assessment decisions remained unchallenged at first and have become legally binding. On 25 October 2000, [X.] filed a request for revision of the tax assessment decisions for the years 1990-1996. However, the cantonal tax office rejected the request for revision due to non-compliance with the revision deadline. An appeal filed against this decision was also dismissed by the Cantonal Tax Appeal Commission II of the Canton of Zurich in a decision dated 8 May 2003. [X.] filed an administrative court appeal against this decision with the Federal Supreme Court. She requested that the contested decision be set aside and the matter be remanded to the cantonal tax office for substantive consideration of the request for revision.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court held that the lower court had wrongly applied the cantonal legal provisions on the revision of tax decisions to the refund of withholding tax. Instead, it should have examined the possibility of restoring the deadline under § 15 of the Ordinance on the Refund of Withholding Tax. The Federal Supreme Court considers it proven that the appellant was prevented from attending to her tax matters due to her mental illness. Her representative only became aware of the disputed discretionary assessments on 10 August 2000 and subsequently needed some time to compile the necessary…