Facts
The appellant, a senior executive at Ciba Spezialitätenchemie AG, had made contributions to the voluntary pension scheme Zürcher Gemeinschaftsstiftung der Schweizerischen Lebensversicherungs- und Rentenanstalt (so-called Suplessa insurance) in 1997 and 1998. The tax administration of the canton of Basel-Landschaft had only partially allowed these contributions to be deducted. The appellant had lodged a complaint with the Tax Appeals Commission of the canton of Basel-Landschaft, which, however, had not granted the complaint and had fully excluded the deductions. The appellant had filed an administrative appeal with the Federal Supreme Court against this decision and requested that the contested decision be set aside and that the taxpayer be assessed for the tax period 1999/2000 with a taxable income of CHF 470,800.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dealt with the question of whether the Tax Appeals Commission had to grant the appellant's complaint. The court found that the Tax Appeals Commission has the same powers as the tax authority in the assessment procedure under Art. 142 para. 4 DFTA and that the reformatio in peius only takes precedence over a possible withdrawal of the complaint if the contested decision is obviously incompatible with the applicable laws and an adjustment is imperative when reviewing the disputed issue. The court further addressed the question of whether the…