Facts
The Federal Tax Administration and [X.] , a German company, were in dispute over the refund of Swiss value-added tax. [X.] had placed advertisements in Switzerland and had invitation cards and brochures produced. The Federal Tax Administration had rejected the refund of value-added tax because the invoices did not meet the formal requirements. The Federal Administrative Court had partially upheld [X.] 's appeal and ordered the Federal Tax Administration to pay interest of 5% on the refund amount.
The Federal Tax Administration lodged an appeal and requested that the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court be set aside and that it be established that no interest was owed on the refund of value-added tax. [X.] requested that the appeal be dismissed.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined whether the Federal Tax Administration had to pay interest on the refund of Swiss value-added tax to [X.] . It found that the Federal Tax Administration had to refund the value-added tax, but it was not disputed that the Federal Tax Administration had wrongly claimed the tax.
The Federal Court applied the law of its own motion and examined whether the Federal Tax Administration had to pay interest on the refund of value-added tax. It found that the Ordinance on Value-Added Tax (VATO) and the Federal Act on Value-Added Tax (VATA) did not contain any provisions on the interest on refunds to foreign buyers.
The Federal Court came to the…