projects

Tax authorities must verify tax sovereignty before taxing newcomers

BGE 64 I 172Federal Supreme Court Official Reports (BGE) / Band IJul 1, 1938Granted

Open source

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

Giovanni and Santino Pesenti, domiciled in Ticino, worked temporarily in Davos and were taxed by Grisons authorities. They brought a public-law complaint alleging double taxation. The Federal Tribunal held that, before taxing a newcomer from another canton, the tax authorities must verify whether the person is actually subject to their tax sovereignty. Because Davos had simply levied the tax without making that verification, the complaint was admitted. In view of the procedural posture and the fact that the appellants had not first sought restitution directly from Davos, the court exceptionally did not allocate costs.

Omnilex headnote

Before taxing a person arriving from another canton, the tax authority must first ascertain whether the person is actually subject to its tax sovereignty; mere imposition without prior verification is impermissible. In particular, where the factual pattern suggests seasonal work and possible continued domicile elsewhere, the authority must investigate jurisdiction ex officio before levying tax (consid. 2). If the authority fails to do so, the public-law complaint against double taxation is to be upheld. Costs may exceptionally be waived where equitable circumstances so justify.

Full text

L'applieation ;de l'article 52 du Code pel1al suisse modi- fiera eette situation. TI fixe un maximum de dix ans pour la privation des droits eiviques, et, lorsqu'il sera en vigueur, il y aura lieu d'examiner si, afin d'instaurer un droit egal pour tous, cette disposition ne permettrait pas de mettre fin ades privations en eours de plus Iongue duree ou de duree indeterminee. Il y aura aussi lieu d'examiner si -ce qui semble exelu -la duree de dix ans pourrait etre augmentee par les eantons sous forme de eonsequenee administrative de Ia eondamnation penale prononeee en vertu du nouveau droit. Le reeourant etant done eneore prive de ses droits politiques, le Canton de Vaud n'a pas viole l'article 45 aI. 2 CF en luideniant la liberte d'etablissement. Par ces motits, le Tribunal tediral rejette le reeours. IV. DOPPELBESTEUERUNG DOUBLE IMPOSITION 32. Estratto del1a sentenza 7 ottobre 1938 neUa causa Pesenti eontro Comune di Davos e Cantone dei Grigioni. Prima di imporre l'immigrante proveniente da un altro cantone, le autorita fiscali debbono accertarsi se egli e effettivamente soggetto aHa loro sovranitA. Giovanni e Santino Pesenti hanno il loro domicilio a Villa Luganese (Canton Ticino), ove sono sottoposti ai pubblici tributi. Dal 3 maggio al 2 luglio 1938 essi lavorarono presso l'impresa Casty e Cia a Davos. All'Uffieio di poIizia di quel Comune depositarono i loro atti di origine. Pre.' Sfreiheit. N° 33. Le autorita fiseali grigionesi imposero Giovanni e Santino Pesenti, i quali inoltrarono al Tribunale federale ricorso di diritto pubblico per doppia imposta. Il gravame fu ammesso. Oonsiderando in diritto :

  1. -...
  2. -Contrariamente a quanto opinano il Cantone dei Grigioni ed il Comune di Davos, le autorita fiseali, prima d'imporre un immigrante proveniente da un altro cantone, sono tenute a stabilire se egli e effettivamente soggetto alla loro sovranita. Nel easo di immigranti provenienti dal Tieino, speeialmente se si tratta di muratori, le auto- rita fiseali grigionesi sanno ehe di regola essi sono operai stagionali, ehe possono essere imposti soltanto se si domi- eiliano in territorio grigionese. Ora, in eonereto, il Comune di Davos non ha aeeertato se poteva effettivamente imporre Giovanni e Santino Pesenti, ma si e limitato ad imporli. Ne segue ehe esso dovrebbe rispondere delle spese della proeedura davanti al Tribunale federale . Tuttavia, a titolo eecezionale, in eonsiderazione deI fatto ehe i rieorrenti non si sono rivolti direttamente al Comune di Davos eon la loro domanda di restituzione, ehe esso, a quanto afferma, avrebbe senz'altro aeeolta, questa Corte ritiene ehe si possa preseindere dall'aecoUare spese. V. PRESSFREIHEIT LIBERTE DE LA PRESSE
  3. Orteil vom 1. Juli 1938 i. S. von Felten gegen X. Der Kreis der durch Art. 55 BV gedeckten Äusserungen ist unab hängig von der kantonalen Gesetzgebung nach dem Zwecke dieser Verfassungsnorm zu bestimmen. Dass die Berichterstattung über die Strafrechtsprechung der Gerichte in einem konkreten Fall den Tatbestand der straf-

Keywords

double taxationtax jurisdictiontax sovereigntydomicileseasonal workerspublic-law complaintcosts

Extracted by Omnilex

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Key legal question

Whether Grisons tax authorities had to verify that the newcomers were actually subject to their tax sovereignty before taxing them.

Extracted holding

Yes. Before imposing taxes on a newcomer from another canton, the tax authorities must determine whether the person is in fact subject to their tax sovereignty.

Extracted reasoning

The court held that the authorities could not simply levy the tax without first establishing tax jurisdiction. In the case of workers arriving from Ticino, especially seasonal laborers, the authorities knew that taxation was only possible if they had domiciled in Grisons. Davos had not made that verification.

Key legal question

Whether costs of the federal proceedings should be charged to the municipality.

Extracted holding

No costs were charged exceptionally, although the municipality had failed to ascertain tax sovereignty.

Extracted reasoning

As an exception, the court refrained from imposing costs because the appellants had not first approached Davos directly with a restitution request, which the municipality stated it would have accepted.

Continue your research in ChatGPT or Claude

Connect Omnilex to search the legal corpus from your AI assistant.