Facts
The appellants, A. and [B.X.] , were provisionally assessed for the tax years 2005, 2006, and 2007. They refused to provide documents for the tax years 2005 and 2006, stating that they had already been definitively assessed. The assessment authority then carried out the definitive assessments and made a correction for non-allowable deductions of insurance premiums. The taxpayers unsuccessfully lodged an objection and appeal against these assessments.
The Federal Court now had to rule on the appeal against the judgment of the Cantonal Tax Court of Solothurn of January 18, 2010. The appellants requested that it be established that the assessment authority and the Tax Court of the Canton of Solothurn had violated federal law. They requested the annulment of the assessments and instruction to the assessment authority to make new assessments.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the admissibility of the appeal and found that the appellants had not sufficiently substantiated their complaints. In particular, there was a lack of sufficient reasoning for the complaints of arbitrariness and violation of the principle of good faith.
The court pointed out that provisional assessments are not final titles of execution within the meaning of Art. 80 DEBA and are not enforceable. Execution can only be requested on the basis of the final assessment decision. The appellants were explicitly informed in the provisional assessment decisions of 2005 and 2006 that no remedy exists against this assessment and that an objection can only be lodged against the final assessment.
The Federal Court found that the assessment authority had rightly made an offset according to its discretion for the premiums of the life insurance policies…