Tax liability of a fee for consent to a easement agreement

Facts

Taxpayer [X.] is the owner of a 4 1/2-room apartment in a property in [A.] . The property is divided into 15 condominium units. Between the commercial premises on the ground floor, there was a passageway belonging to the common property, which was open to the main street and served as an entrance to the two shops. [Y.] intended to merge the shops separated by the passageway, including the passageway. On March 25, 1996, it was decided by a majority vote at a condominium owners' meeting to lease the passageway to [Y.] by means of a long-term rental agreement and to permit construction modifications. [X.] challenged this decision before the competent district court. After [Y.] had already begun with the renovations, [X.] also intervened against the building permit granted by the municipality on September 17, 1996.

On November 19, 1996, [Y.] agreed with [X.] that she would, among other things, consent to the transfer of sole use of the aforementioned passageway and withdraw her pending appeal. In return, [Y.] undertook to pay [X.] an amount of CHF 300,000.--. Subsequently, the condominium owners' association granted [Y.] a easement on the passageway against a one-time payment of CHF 80,000.--. [X.] withdrew her appeal and also approved the construction changes, whereupon she received the CHF 300,000.-- promised to her by [Y.] .

The Cantonal Tax Administration of Graubünden added the amount of CHF 300,000.-- to [X.] 's taxable income declared for cantonal and direct federal tax 1999/2000 and confirmed this with a decision on appeal of April 4, 2001. [X.] lodged an appeal and complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Graubünden, which dismissed the complaint.

Considerations

The Federal Court has joined the proceedings 2A.88/2002, 2A.89/2002, and 2P.55/2002 and partially upheld the administrative appeal 2A.88/2002. The judgment of the Administrative Court of the Canton of Graubünden of October 23, 2001, was annulled in disposition No. 4, and the costs for the federal tax procedure before the Administrative Court in the amount of CHF 3,099.-- were imposed on [X.] .

The Federal Court has established that the amount of CHF 300,000.-- paid by [Y.] to the taxpayer is taxable for direct…