Amendments to Assessments and Tax Decisions – Part 4: Revision

If a tax liable person disagrees with an assessment or a tax decision, they can contest it. Once the legal appeal period has expired, only extraordinary remedies can be taken. One of these is revision.

A revision can modify a legally binding decision. It presupposes that the decision has an original error that is particularly qualified. If there is a reason for revision, the applicant has the right to have the authority consider the application. A classic reason for revision occurs when the applicant presents significant facts or evidence that were not known to them during the earlier process or that were legally or factually impossible to assert at the time, or there was no cause to do so. Moreover, the violation of essential procedural regulations such as the disqualification of biased decision-makers, the right to legal hearing, or the right to access records also constitutes a reason for revision. In addition, a decision is revisited in revision if it has been influenced by a crime or offense. Other reasons for revision can be found in cantonal or federal procedural laws, such as for the Federal Court and the Federal Administrative Court in the Federal Court Act. In some cantons, there are additional reasons for revision in cases of legal abuse or conflicts in intercantonal or international double taxation.

A revision can occur either upon application or officially. The application must almost everywhere be submitted in writing and requires a justification along with a reason for revision. It must also state which part of the decision is to be revised (and possibly the demand for a refund). Any evidence should be attached. The application must be submitted to the authority that made the decision being revised. The deadline for submission is 90 days from the knowledge of the reason for revision, and in a few exceptions, it is 30 days. However, at the latest, the right to file a revision request expires 10 years after the opening of the decision to be revised.

The authority that made the decision then decides on the revision and issues a new decision to the extent requested by the tax liable person. If the application is denied, it can usually be contested with the same legal remedies as the original decision.

Next time, in the last post of our series "Modifications of Tax Assessments and Decisions," we will look more closely at reconsideration and correction.‍

Private tax returns made easy – with Taxea.ch

‍You can easily create your private tax return using our tax app taxea. Learn more about taxea here www.taxea.ch