Facts
The appellant [A.] was subject to unlimited tax liability in Switzerland in 2012. He received dividends from [X. AG] (now: [Y. AG] ) with its seat in Germany on 14 May 2012 and 8 November 2012. [X. AG] informed its shareholders on 29 October 2012 that the majority of these dividends were distributed from the company's so-called tax equity account and thus did not result in income from capital assets within the meaning of § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 Satz 1 of the German Income Tax Act (EStG) at the level of the shareholders.
The appellant declared an amount of CHF 14'677.45 as taxable dividends from his participation in [X. AG] in his tax return 2012. However, the Tax Commission [U.] taxed the appellant with a taxable income of CHF 165'800.00 and a taxable wealth of CHF 869'000.00, whereby it subjected all dividends distributed by [X. AG] to the appellant in the amount of CHF 118'492.25 to taxable income from movable assets.
The appellant lodged an appeal against this taxation with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Aargau, which dismissed the appeal with a judgment of 30 November 2016. The appellant then lodged a constitutional appeal with the FSCA.
Considerations
The FSCA reviewed the application of harmonized cantonal tax law by the cantonal authorities in the same way as federal law with free cognition. It found that the lower court had rightly determined the taxable dividends according to § 29 Abs. 1 lit. c of the Tax Act of the Canton of Aargau (StA/AG).
The FSCA rejected the appellant's complaint that the lower court had violated the right to inspect files by confirming that he had rightly been denied access to the relevant files of the Federal Tax Administration (FTA). The right to inspect files generally only applies to files that are consulted by…