Facts
The appellant [A.] claimed in his tax return for 2008 travel expenses between home and workplace of CHF 11,544.--. The Cantonal Tax Office of Zurich only allowed deductions of CHF 2,676.--. The appellant filed a complaint with the Tax Appeals Court, which was rejected. The Administrative Court subsequently partially upheld the complaint and remanded the case to the Tax Appeals Court for further investigation and a new decision.
The appellant requested the Federal Court to amend the decisions of the Administrative Court of July 10, 2013, June 27, 2012, and April 20, 2011, such that the costs of all previous appeal proceedings before the Tax Appeals Commission, Tax Appeals Court, and Administrative Court be borne by the opposing party. The appellant was to be reimbursed for court costs of a total of CHF 1,029.--. Furthermore, he was to be paid a reasonable party compensation of a total of CHF 2,952.80 for the appeal proceedings before the Tax Appeals Court and the Administrative Court.
Considerations
The Federal Court examined the complaint and came to the conclusion that the remand for a new decision with an open outcome is considered a success. The appellant had ultimately been able to enforce the tax deduction claimed by him almost in full. The lower court had wrongly imposed half of the court costs on the appellant and waived the award of a party compensation.
The Federal Court decided that the complaint was partially justified, insofar as it was directed against the allocation of procedural costs and party compensation in the remand decision of June 27, 2012, and in the cost decision of April 20, 2011. The contested decision of June 27, 2012, was to be set aside insofar as the lower court had imposed court costs on the appellant and denied a party compensation. The decision of April 20, 2011, was also to be set aside insofar as the lower court had imposed court costs on the appellant.
The case was to be…