Facts
The appellant, a self-employed doctor, suffered a stroke in 2004, resulting in an 80% disability. Nevertheless, he continued his activity on a reduced scale until 2012. In 2012, he finally abandoned his self-employment and applied for privileged taxation of the liquidation gain pursuant to Art. 37b DFTA. The lower court rejected the application, as it denied the causal link between the disability and the abandonment of the business.
The appellant lodged a complaint with the Federal Supreme Court and requested the reversal of the lower court's judgment and the privileged taxation of the liquidation gain. The Federal Supreme Court reversed the lower court's judgment and remanded the case to the lower court for reassessment.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court examined the requirements for privileged taxation of liquidation gains under Art. 37b DFTA and Art. 1 CGTO. It found that the appellant's disability had occurred in 2004 and that he had finally abandoned his self-employment in 2012. The court also examined the causal link between the disability and the abandonment of the business and found that a natural and adequate causal link existed.
The court rejected the lower court's argument that the application of Art. 37b DFTA could be refused if the abandonment of the business did not occur immediately after the onset of disability. It found that the wording of Art. 37b DFTA does not require a temporal proximity between the onset of disability and the abandonment of the business, and that the teleological interpretation of the provision does not result in a differentiation between the duration of disability and the abandonment of the business.
The court also…