Nicolas Candaux's workshop at the ISIS) seminar on November 6, 2024, entitled "Actualités - Présentation de la jurisprudence récente et des développements législatifs".
Note: This language version is an automatically generated translation. The text may therefore contain linguistic and terminological errors.
view in original language (French)A Swiss fund management company took over the management of another entity’s real estate fund and was registered in the Land Registry as the new owner of the fund’s properties. The Land Registry Office classified this registration as a transfer subject to transfer taxes, in accordance with the cantonal regulations of Fribourg.
In 2019, a real estate company in Geneva set aside provisions to cover future rental and renovation obligations as part of a construction project managed by Pension Fund C. The company guaranteed rental income for the following three years, with payment in the event of no tenant at the end of that period, and committed to covering potential renovation costs. The Geneva tax authorities disallowed these provisions as a deduction, deeming them uncertain and far in the future.
The taxpayers, residents of Schaffhausen, purchased a property in Italy and declared it at 60% of its market value for wealth tax and 3.5% for rental value. They also deducted the cost of the furniture included in the purchase, although this was not specifically mentioned in the contract. The Geneva Tax Administration adjusted the taxable value of the property to 80% of the market value and the rental value to 5%.
In 2012, the taxpayers, residents of the canton of Aargau, sold two parcels of land, part of which was zoned for development and part of which was zoned for agriculture. The dispute concerns the tax classification of the gain realized on this sale, which the taxpayers consider to be taxable as a real estate gain, while the tax authorities consider it to be taxable income.
The taxpayers, residents of the canton of Valais, realized a gain on the sale of a condominium unit (PPE) and also hold an interest in an agricultural land pool (GFA) in France. The dispute concerns the taxation of the gain realized on the sale of the condominium unit, which the Federal Supreme Court (TF) considers a business asset, and the tax classification of the interest in the GFA, as the taxpayers argue that the associated income and assets should not be taxed in Switzerland.
A professional pension fund, established in the canton of Geneva, realized gains from the sale of real estate. It requested a tax exemption, arguing that these gains should be subject to real estate gains tax rather than ordinary income tax, in accordance with Geneva and federal laws on tax harmonization.
The taxpayer, a real estate specialist domiciled in Schaffhausen, ceased his self-employed activity in 2020 and wrote off his co-ownership share in a building as of December 31, 2020, thereby claiming to transfer it to his private assets. Shortly thereafter, he signed a sales mandate for this co-ownership share with a brokerage firm, raising questions about the actual intent of the transfer.
A Geneva-based company realized a profit of CHF 12,400,000 in 2011 from a real estate sale in Valais and established a reinvestment reserve of CHF 8,267,000. In 2016, without reinvestment, this reserve was released. The Geneva Tax Administration (AFC-GE) included this release in the taxation for the 2016 fiscal year.
A married couple sold a property in Founex (VD) in 2012 with a deferred gain, then purchased an apartment in Carouge (GE). In 2021, upon the sale of this apartment, the AFC-GE taxed the deferred gain, but the taxpayers contested the tax rate and the calculation method applied.
The taxpayer, a resident of the Canton of Vaud, holds shares in a Société Civile Immobilière (SCI) in France, which owns real estate in France. The total value of these properties is below the threshold for the French real estate wealth tax (IFI). The taxpayer was therefore not subject to the IFI in France, which raised the question of the taxation of SCI shares in Switzerland.
