Dismissal of the appeal regarding direct federal tax and cantonal and communal taxes 2007

Facts

The appellant [X.] had not filed a tax return for the tax year 2007 and was assessed by the cantonal tax office of St. Gallen on 8 December 2009 at its discretion. On 22 January 2010, [X.] lodged an objection against the discretionary assessments and simultaneously filed the tax return for 2007. The tax office informed [X.] that the objections had been filed late and that he had to provide evidence regarding his state of health if he wanted to pursue the objections.

On 11 February 2010, [X.] submitted a medical certificate from Dr. med. [Y.] , which confirmed that he was unable to pursue or complete administrative matters such as tax returns due to health reasons. The tax office did not consider the objections due to late filing, and the appeals lodged against this decision were dismissed by the Administrative Appeals Commission of the Canton of St. Gallen. The Administrative Court of the Canton of St. Gallen confirmed these decisions.

[X.] filed a complaint in public law matters with the requests that the contested decisions be annulled, the deadline for the objections of 15 January 2010 be reinstated, and the matter be referred back to the lower court for substantive consideration.

Considerations

The Federal Court dismissed the complaints. The lower court had based its decision on the fact that the objection of 22 January 2010 had undoubtedly been filed late and that there was no reason for reinstating the deadline under Art. 133 para. 3 DFTA. The Federal Court ruled that the medical certificate submitted by the appellant could not be considered as evidence within the meaning of Art. 133 para. 3 DFTA, as it did not provide more detailed information on the reasons for the complete inability to work and did not specify the time when the alleged illness occurred and ceased.

The Federal Court also ruled that the lower court had not obviously incorrectly established the facts by not attributing any probative value to the medical certificate. The appellant had claimed that the tax office had wrongly failed to reinstate the deadline for filing the objections, which the lower court had overlooked in violation of the prohibition of arbitrariness and the right to be heard.

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